The 4/spl times/4, 1/spl times/2, and 1/spl times/4 semiconductor optic-switch modules for 1550 nm optical communication systems were fabricated by using the laser welding technique based on the 30-pin butterfly package. For better coupling efficiency between a switch chip and an optical fiber, tapered fibers of 10-15 /spl mu/m lens radius were used to provide the coupling efficiency up to 60%. The lens to lens distance of the assembled tapered fiber array was controlled within /spl plusmn/1.0 /spl mu/m. A laser hammering technique was introduced to adjust the radial shift, which was critical to obtain comparable optical coupling efficiencies from all the channels at the same time. The fabricated optical switch modules showed good thermal stability, with less than 5% degradation after a 200 thermal cycling. The transmission characteristics of the 4/spl times/4 switch module showed good sensitivities, providing error free transmissions below -30 dBm for all the switching paths. The dynamic ranges for the 4/spl times/4 and 1/spl times/2 switch modules were about 8 dB for a 3 dB penalty and about 17 dB for a 2 dB penalty, respectively.


Aim: To investigate Disturbed Eating Behavior (DEB) and eating patterns in the context of a teenage population with T1D. Methods: DEB was investigated using Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) test by a psychologist. Questions regarding insulin dosage manipulation or omission to obtain decrease in weight were added. Specific behavioral items from the EDE were used to define DEB: Objective Binge-eating, Self-induced Vomiting for weight control; the use of Diuretics, Laxatives or Insulin Omission for weight loss. Some EDE items provided information about four composite subscales which assesse Restraint, Eating concern, Shape concern and Weight concern. Results: Shape and Weight concern showed significantly higher scores than those observed in the other two subscales (p=0.021). Average scores of each subscale resulted significantly higher in girls than in boys as well as in teen than in pre-teen participants. Objective binge eating (20%) and insulin dosage omission or reduction (17.6%) were the most common DEB (p<0.03). Forty-one percent of participants reported to consume three, 25% four and 34% five meals daily. A significantly lower proportion of females than males resulted to consume breakfast and mid-afternoon snacks. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that caregivers working in pediatric diabetes units should be alert in order to discover some DEB such as medication omission and binge-eating, all indicative symptoms of dissatisfaction of the body and psychological distress in diabetes management. (www.actabiomedica.it)


Previous studies have demonstrated the anticancer activities of tocotrienol on several types of cancer, but its effects on chondrosarcoma have never been investigated. Therefore, this study aims to determine the anticancer properties of annatto tocotrienol (AnTT), γ-tocotrienol (γ-T3) and δ-tocotrienol (δ-T3) on human chondrosarcoma SW1353 cells. Firstly, the MTT assay was performed to determine the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of tocotrienol on SW1353 cells after 24 h treatment. The mode of cell death, cell cycle analysis and microscopic observation of tocotrienol-treated SW1353 cells were then conducted according to the respective IC50 values. Subsequently, RNAs were isolated from tocotrienol-treated cells and subjected to RNA sequencing and transcriptomic analysis. Differentially expressed genes were identified and then verified with a quantitative PCR. The current study demonstrated that AnTT, γ-T3 and δ-T3 induced G1 arrest on SW1353 cells in the early phase of treatment (24 h) which progressed to apoptosis upon 48 h of treatment. Furthermore, tocotrienol-treated SW1353 cells also demonstrated large cytoplasmic vacuolation. The subsequent transcriptomic analysis revealed upregulated signalling pathways in endoplasmic reticulum stress, unfolded protein response, autophagy and transcription upon tocotrienol treatment. In addition, several cell proliferation and cancer-related pathways, such as Hippo signalling pathway and Wnt signalling pathway were also significantly downregulated upon treatment. In conclusion, AnTT, γ-T3 and δ-T3 possess promising anticancer properties against chondrosarcoma cells and further study is required to confirm their effectiveness as adjuvant therapy for chondrosarcoma.


Abstract. Mansouri NJS, Akbarzadeh K, Jahanifard E, Vazirianzadeh B, Rafinejad J. 2021. Species diversity and abundance of scorpions in Ahvaz city, Southwest Iran. Biodiversitas 22: 763-768. Arthropods are one of the most important and diverse phyla of the animal kingdom. This phylum includes several classes of insects and arachnids, which are of medical and veterinary importance. Scorpions are at the top of the group of venomous arthropods in terms of having venomous bites and causing death. Scorpions live mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world and therefore have higher diversity and richness in these regions. This study aimed to investigate the biodiversity and abundance of scorpions in Ahvaz city, Khuzestan province, Iran. It has the highest species diversity and species richness in Iranian scorpions. Scorpions were collected from five regions in Ahvaz using various methods. In total 237 scorpions were collected and identified. They belonged to two families, seven genera and seven species: Mesobuthus eupeus (65%), Hemiscorpius lepturus (23.2%), Androctonus crassicauda (3.8%), Compsobuthus rugosulus (3.4%), Orthochirus zagrosensis (2.5%), Apistobuthus susanae (1.7%), Buthacus macrocentrus (0.4%). Except for H. lepturus (Hemiscorpiidae), other species belonged to the Buthidae family. That all of them were non-burrowing. M. eupeus was the dominant species diversity analysis indicated higher species richness and species diversity for summer (Margalef = 1.07; Shannon = 1.55). Logistic regression analysis showed that the variables of geographical location, humidity, and temperature had a significant relationship with the abundance of scorpion species, while height had no statistically significant.


Lean burn gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines are the most preferred gasoline engines because of their low fuel consumption and high thermal efficiency. However, these engines produce exhaust gases that are particularly rich in oxygen and therefore the present three-way catalytic converter (TWC) is not suitable for converting the generated NOX emission into Nitrogen gases. In this present work, a new method of reducing Nitrogen Oxides emission in a gasoline engine is attempted by using an ordinary oxidation catalyst together with a deNOX(zeolite-based) catalyst. In this work, Na-form of ZSM-5 zeolite was used as a catalyst and cupric chloride (CuCl2) and ferric chloride (FeCl3) where used as transition metals. Cu-ZSM5 and Fe-ZSM5 catalyst were prepared separately in our laboratory. Na+ ion exchange method is used to prepare the catalyst. After that Cu-ZSM% and Fe- ZSM5 catalyst were washcoated separately onto the blank monoliths. Oxidation monoliths ( for oxidation of CO and HC into CO2 and H2O) were purchased directly from market. One oxidation monolith and one zeolite coated monolith were placed in a stainless steel container and canned with inlet and outlet cones ( forming catalytic convertor ). Experiments were conducted on a 2 cylinder Multi Point Port Fuel Injection engine along with a dynamometer. Exhaust emissions such as NOX, CO, HC, O2, CO2 were measured with AVL Di-gas-444 Analyzer. Exhaust gas temperature is measured with the use of a thermocouple. Firstly load tests (4, 7, 10, 13, and 16KW) were conducted on the engine without catalytic convertor was fixed close to the outlet pipe and the test were conducted again with same loading condition as mentioned above. Then by the same above procedure is followed to conduct test with Cu-ZSM5 and Fe-ZSM5 catalytic convertors. From the results it is observed that both Cu and Fe zeolite catalyst minimize emissions than the commercial catalytic converter.


Invasion of brain by tumor cells is an inherent feature of the malignant phenotype. Assays to quantitate invasiveness should provide a powerful tool to investigate this phenomenon. We have developed a modified in vitro assay to measure tumor cell invasion, attachment, and chemotaxis using a barrier of the complex basement membrane Matrigel on gelatin-coated filters. Within 5 hours, 7.8% of U251MGp and 2.6% of SF126 human malignant glioma cells invaded the Matrigel and filter, compared with 0.8% of normal human leptomeningeal cells. The extent of invasion was directly proportional to incubation time and filter pore size and inversely proportional to the Matrigel concentration. Cells from exponentially growing U251MGp cultures invaded more readily (10.9%) than cells from plateau-phase cultures (2.3%); however, labeling studies with bromodeoxyuridine showed that quiescent cells and rapidly dividing cells were equally capable of invading. This suggests that the mechanisms underlying invasion by malignant glioma cells are distinct from those underlying proliferation and indicates the need for therapy aimed specifically at invasive behavior. In a practical application of this assay to test a potential anti-invasive strategy, monoclonal antibodies to the beta subunit of an integrin receptor mediating attachment to the extracellular matrix inhibited invasion by U251MGp cells in a dose-dependent manner. This assay should allow evaluation of the cellular and molecular basis of brain tumor progression and perhaps aid the development of rationally designed drugs that limit tumor invasion. It may also allow prediction of the clinical behavior of neoplasms in individual patients.


In chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients on dialysis, plasma interleukin (IL)-6 levels predict mortality better than other markers. Impact of intraindividual changes of inflammatory markers on cardiovascular (CV) events in CKD patients is unknown. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the relation between CV outcomes and variations of C-reactive protein (CRP), IL-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in CKD. Ninety patients (mean age: 68.5 ± 12.8 years) at different stages (1–4) of CKD were evaluated. Serum CRP, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α were measured basally and after taking statins or angiotensin II receptor blockers. Three patterns were defined for each marker (baseline, mean of two measurements, and variation of the marker: increase or decrease after 6 months). During follow-up (mean time: 72.7 ± 19.8 months), 14 patients died, 11 were included on dialysis program, and 29 suffered a CV event. Patients with persistently elevated IL-6 values had higher risk to develop CV events [OR = 1.21 (1.11–1.32), p = 0.001]. Mean of two measurements of IL-6 was a better predictor for events than a single measurement of IL-6, CRP, TNF-α, and IL-1β. A mean of two determinations of plasma IL-6 greater than 6 pg/mL and previous peripheral vascular disease was related to an increased risk for CV events [2.34 (1.05–5.22), p = 0.037 and 2.95 (1.27–6.93), p = 0.011, respectively] in an adjusted Cox regression model. IL-6 is a better inflammatory marker than CRP, TNF-α, and IL1β at predicting CV events in CKD nondialysis patients. Mean of two measurements is better than simple determinations at predicting CV outcome.


Nicholas Hooper is a British film and television composer. He has scored the award-winning BBC productions Land of the Tiger (1985) and Andes to Amazon (2000), as well as the movies The Tichborne Claimant (1998), The Heart of Me (2002), and The Girl in the Café (2005), among many others. Hooper won a BAFTA Award for Original Score for The Young Visiters in 2004, and a BAFTA for Best Original Television Music for Prime Suspect: the Final Act in 2007.  We discussed his highest profile score to date, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), but also touched upon Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which Hooper had just finished scoring and which is due for release in July 2009. Both Potter scores were completed under the guidance of long-time collaborator, director David Yates.


The aim of this study was to determine  the effectiveness of working memory strategies training on cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation in elementary students. The research method was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test design and control group. The statistical population of the study of all female elementary school students in Maku in the academic year of 2019-2020 was 3621 people. From this population, a sample of 30 people was selected by random cluster sampling and randomly replaced in experimental and control groups. The data collection tools included an affective style questionnaire (ASQ) and a wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) . Data analysis was performed using multivariate analysis of covariance in the SPSS program. Data analysis showed that training of working memory strategies has led to significant differences between groups in cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation (p < 0.05). According to the findings, working memory strategies training has been able to give students the ability to improve their cognitive flexibility and emotional self-regulation processes.


Given the need for a light source, cyanobacteria and other photosynthetic microorganisms can be difficult and expensive to grow in large quantities. Lighted growth chambers and incubators typically cost 50-100% more than standard microbiological incubators. Self-shading of cells in liquid cultures prevents the growth of dense suspensions. Growing liquid cultures on a shaker table or lighted shaker incubator achieves greater cell densities, but adds considerably to the cost. For experiments in which gases other than air are required, the cost for conventional incubators increases even more. We describe an apparatus for growing photosynthetic organisms in exotic atmospheres that can be built relatively inexpensively (approximately 100 dollars U.S.) using parts available from typical hardware or department stores (e.g., Wal-mart or K-mart). The apparatus uses microfiltered air (or other gases) to aerate, agitate, and mix liquid cultures, thus achieving very high cell densities (A750 > 3). Because gases are delivered to individual culture tubes, a variety of gas mixes can be used without the need for enclosed chambers. The apparatus works with liquid cultures of unicellular and filamentous species, and also works with agar slants.


Limited power budgets will be one of the biggest challenges for deploying future exascale supercomputers. One of the promising ways to deal with this challenge is hardware overprovisioning, that is, installingmore hardware resources than can be fully powered under a given power limit coupled with software mechanisms to steer the limited power to where it is needed most. Prior research has demonstrated the viability of this approach, but could only rely on small-scale simulations of the software stack. While such research is useful to understand the boundaries of performance benefits that can be achieved, it does not cover any deployment or operational concerns of using overprovisioning on production systems. This paper is the first to present an extensible power-aware resource management framework for production-sized overprovisioned systems based on the widely established SLURM resource manager. Our framework provides flexible plugin interfaces and APIs for power management that can be easily extended to implement site-specific strategies and for comparison of different power management techniques. We demonstrate our framework on a 965-node HA8000 production system at Kyushu University. Our results indicate that it is indeed possible to safely overprovision hardware in production. We also find that the power consumption of idle nodes, which depends on the degree of overprovisioning, can become a bottleneck. Using real-world data, we then draw conclusions about the impact of the total number of nodes provided in an overprovisioned environment.


Carriers transport and channel turn-on in low temperature polycrystalline silicon (L TPS) thin-film transistors (TFTs) are different from that in MOSFETs. Physical meanings of several key threshold voltages for the channel inversion and turn-on are clarified. Channel inversion starts from the partial inversion of the Si grains at Vg = Vinv_i, and ends with the full inversion of all Si grains at Vg = VinvJ However, the channel turn-on voltage VON is still larger, which includes the channel inversion voltage Tin)', as well as required gate voltage to lower the grain boundary (GB) potential barrier height (qrpb) to the level of 3kT. Drift current dominates both the ON-state and the subthreshold regions ofTFTs. Carriers thermionic emission over GB barrier is the controlling transport mechanism, however, before the channel turn-on the carrier effective mobility of L TPS TFTs follows the Meyer-Neldel rule.


This article discusses the divergent developmental outcomes among postwar South Korea, Taiwan, and South Vietnam. While U.S. aid has correctly been identified as a key factor in the rapid postwar development of South Korea and Taiwan, the failure of aid to establish strong institutions in South Vietnam calls for a closer analysis of how different historical and geopolitical factors explain the greater political stability and institutional capacity of South Korea and Taiwan. In particular, the legacies of Japanese colonialism are seen as having played a key role in establishing the strong developmental states of South Korea and Taiwan, while the postcolonial South Vietnamese state was more fragile. As such, there was greater political resistance to land reform in the latter, and large amounts of U.S. economic and military aid were unable to quell domestic insurgency and establish the basis for economic development.


Adult Still disease (ASD) is a systemic disorder of unknown etiology characterized by high spiking fever, rash, and arthritis. The purpose of this study was to identify genes specifically associated with the active phase of the disease. In this study, we have reported that placenta specific 8 (PLAC8) was a newly specific gene involved in ASD. DNA microarray and validation analysis using human monocytes revealed that the expression of PLAC8 was significantly higher in active-ASD patients than in inactive-ASD patients and healthy controls. In ASD, PLAC8 expression level correlated with serum levels of CRP, ferritin, IL-1β, and IL-18. Stimulation of monocytes with LPS results in PLAC8 upregulation. LPS or nigericin stimulation of PLAC8-overexpressing human monocytic cell line (THP-1), but not mock THP-1 cells, was associated with a significant decrease in IL-1β and IL-18 production. PLAC8 overexpression in THP-1 cells was associated with enhanced autophagy and suppression of IL-1β and IL-18 production. Therefore, we found that PLAC8 was upregulated in activated monocytes, as was IL-1β and IL-18. The upregulated PLAC8 acts on the synthesis of inactive precursors of IL-1β and IL-18 and seemed to suppress the production of IL-1β and IL-18 by negative feedback through enhanced autophagy, resulting in the suppression of ASD. The results highlight the role of PLAC8 in the pathogenesis of ASD and suggest its potential suitability as an activity marker and therapeutic target in ASD.


Abstract Many empirical studies have been conducted to test the assumptions of the slippery slope framework (SSF). However, although the SSF theory has introduced several tax compliance factors that are believed to have associations with trust in tax authorities and power of tax authorities, most studies tend to include only the two main domains of trust and power in the analysis. None of these studies comprehensively investigates the factors. Therefore, this study is dedicated to fully elaborating on these factors and their correlations with the two main domains of trust and power separately and simultaneously. The results show that most factors are proven to significantly influence trust and power. Tax penalties, norms, distributive fairness and retributive fairness significantly and positively influence trust, while audit probabilities, tax penalties, attitudes, norms and retributive fairness have significant and positive correlations with power. The results also confirm the main SSF assumptions that trust leads to voluntary compliance, while voluntary compliance positively affects overall tax compliance. However, this study fails to demonstrate the relationship of power with enforced compliance, while enforced compliance is found to negatively affect overall tax compliance.


Since the later half of the 1990s, there has been a remarkable rise in the use of investor-versus-state arbitration clauses under investment treaties (hereinafter "investment treaty arbitration"). Points at issue that have frequently been raised in arbitration under investment treaties include (1) obligations to compensate for expropriation, (2) obligations to provide fair and equitable treatment, and (3) obligations to grant most-favored nation treatment. Of these, the first two points are often incorporated into arbitration decisions in cases where an investing company has suffered losses in a host country. It is rare that an arbitration tribunal supports an investing company's demand concerning compensation for expropriation. Regarding fair and equitable treatment, however, investors are often awarded compensation, with arbitration tribunals recognizing extensive rights of investors, and adopting a broader interpretation of the fair and equitable treatment obligations than is provided for under general international law (e.g., Metalclad v. Mexico, S. D. Myers v. Canada, Pope and Talbot v. Canada). As to the third point, most-favored nation treatment, recent arbitrations have upheld the principle that the government of a host country must ensure such treatment not only in substance but also in procedure (e.g., E. A. Maffezini v. Spain). This has raised the question of just how far the MFN obligation extends, shedding light on the hitherto undefined scope of the MFN principle. Through these arbitration decisions concerning the accordance of fair and equitable treatment and MFN treatment, it now widely recognized that a host country's obligation to grant such treatment is greater than many countries believed they had undertaken under the various investment treaties. This has prompted some to question the legitimacy of investment treaty arbitration. The question being asked is how a group of anonymous foreigners (arbitrators), in a case brought at the initiative of another foreigner (an investor), can conclude "behind closed doors" (i.e., where open and fair procedures are not ensured) that a decision taken by the national government, which represents all the people of a country, is illegal. Adding fuel to their anger is resentment over the fact that only foreign investors are entitled to use investment treaty arbitration; such mechanisms are not available to domestic investors. This leads to charges of "reverse discrimination." In response to such criticism, measures are being studied to improve the transparency of investment treaty arbitration, as well as to ensure the consistency of arbitration decisions. At the same time, however, some countries are wary of and moving away from investment treaty arbitration, concluding investment agreements that do not adopt investment treaty arbitration as a means of dispute settlement (e.g., the investment chapter of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement). The increasing use of investment treaty arbitration shows that the legalization of international relations (or the institutionalization of third-party dispute settlement procedures) is proceeding beyond the framework of the World Trade Organization. In the past, investors typically turned to arbitration with a complaint against the government of a host country only after withdrawing from the country. Recently, however, there have been an increasing number of cases where an investing company files a complaint while maintaining its operations in the host country. On the side of investors, it should be noted that the increased use of investment treaty arbitration has resulted in greater predictability in the investment environment. Meanwhile, governments, as users of investment treaties or free trade agreements (FTAs) that include provisions for investment, should, when negotiating such a treaty or agreement, bear in mind, that fair and equitable treatment and MFN treatment obligations may generate unforseen impacts when linked to investment treaty arbitration.


This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Clinical Psychology Doctorate (Clin.Psy.D) at the University of Birmingham. It comprises a research component (Volume I) and five clinical practice reports (Volume II).

Volume I (research component) contains two papers. The first paper is a review of the literature, which examines the extent to which specific cognitive impairments should be taken into account when planning memory rehabilitation interventions based on teaching strategies such as cueing and errorless learning. The second paper is an empirical study which compares the effectiveness of implicit and explicit teaching instructions when using the method of vanishing cues to facilitate learning in people with memory impairment arising from acquired brain injuries.

Volume II comprises five clinical practice reports presenting work undertaken in the specialties of mental health (adult and older adult), learning disabilities and neurorehabilitation. The first presents an initial assessment of a 71 year old woman with generalised anxiety alongside formulations of her difficulties from cognitive-behavioural and psychodynamic perspectives. The second report contains a single case experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive rehabilitation intervention in an 81 year old man with Alzheimer's disease. The third report is a service evaluation addressing the needs of psychological therapists working with adults with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism. The fourth report is a case study relating to a 66 year old man with a learning disability and challenging behaviour. An abstract for the fifth report is included, which presented a case study (assessment, formulation and intervention) of a 52 year old woman with Multiple Sclerosis and generalised anxiety.


The reaction of the neutral diphosphanide [((Cl)Im(Dipp))P-P(Cl)(Dipp)] (6) ((Cl)Im(Dipp) = 4,5-dichloro-1,3-bis(Dipp)-imidazol-2-yl; Dipp = 2,6-di-iso-propylphenyl) with methyl triflate (MeOTf) leads to the formation of cationic diphosphane [((Cl)Im(Dipp))(Me)P-P(Cl)(Dipp)](+) (8+) in a stereoselective methylation. In contrast, reacting with the Lewis acid GaCl3 yields cationic diphosphene [((Cl)Im(Dipp))P=P(Dipp)](+) (7+), which is explained by a low P-Cl bond dissociation energy. The significantly polarized P=P double bond in 7+ allows for its utilization as an acceptor for nucleophiles - the reaction with Cl(-) regenerates diphosphanide and the reaction with PMe3 gives cation [((Cl)Im(Dipp))P-P(PMe3)(Dipp)] (9+). In depth DFT investigation provides detailed insights into the bonding situation of the reported compounds.


BACKGROUND
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) symptoms are close to those of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and the differential diagnosis is difficult especially early in the disease. Unfortunately, AD biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and more particularly Aβ1 - 42, appear to be altered in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). However, the level of these biomarkers has never been studied in the prodromal stage of the disease.

OBJECTIVE
To compare these biomarkers between DLB and AD, with a particular focus on the prodromal stage.

METHODS
A total of 166 CSF samples were collected at the memory clinic of Strasbourg. They were obtained from prodromal DLB (pro-DLB), DLB dementia, prodromal AD (pro-AD), and AD dementia patients, and elderly controls. Phospho-Tau181, total-Tau, Aβ42, and Aβ40 were measured in the CSF.

RESULTS
At the prodromal stage, contrary to AD patients, DLB patients' biomarker levels in the CSF were not altered. At the demented stage of DLB, Aβ42 levels were reduced as well as Aβ40 levels. Thus, the Aβ42/Aβ40 ratio remained unchanged between the prodromal and demented stages, contrary to what was observed in AD. Tau and Phospho-Tau181 levels were unaltered in DLB patients.

CONCLUSIONS
We have shown that at the prodromal stage the DLB patients had no pathological profile. Consequently, CSF AD biomarkers are extremely useful for differentiating AD from DLB patients particularly at this stage when the clinical diagnosis is difficult. Thus, these results open up new perspectives on the interpretation of AD biomarkers in DLB.


As originally designed for wired networks, TCP (transmission control protocol) congestion control mechanism is triggered into action when packet loss is detected. This implicit assumption for packet loss mostly due to network congestion does not work well in Mobile Ad Hoc Network, where there is a comparatively high likelihood of packet loss due to channel errors and node mobility etc. Such non-congestion packet loss, when dealt with by congestion control mechanism, causes poor TCP performance in MANET. In this study, we continue to investigate the impact of the interaction between transport protocols and on-demand routing protocols on the performance and stability of 802.11 multihop networks. We evaluate the important wireless networking events caused routing change, and propose a cross layer method to delay the unnecessary routing changes, only need to add a sensitivity parameter α , which represents the on-demand routing's reaction to link failure of MAC layer. Our proposal is applicable to the plain 802.11 networking environment, the simulation results that this method can remarkably improve the stability and performance of TCP without any modification on TCP and MAC protocol. Keywords—Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), on-demand routing, performance, transmission control protocol (TCP).


A method is given measuring shape change with age, utilizing two dimensional body outlines. Problems of standardization for overall size are discussed and it is shown how the method can be used to draw D'Arcy Thompson-type transformation grids. The method is applied to serial measurements on a girl from 31/2 to 19 years of age.


The purpose of the present study was to analyse men's basketball competitions, trying to identify which game-related statistics allow to discriminate winning and losing teams. The sample used corresponded to 306 games from the 2004-2005 Regular Season of the Spanish Men's Professional League. The game-related statistics gathered were: 2 and 3 points field-goals (both successful and unsuccessful), free-throws (both successful and unsuccessful), offensive and defensive rebounds, blocks, assists, fouls, turnovers and steals. The data were analysed in two groups: balanced games (final score differences equal or below 12 points) and unbalanced games (final score differences above 12 points). Discriminant analysis allowed to conclude the following: (i) in balanced games, the variable that best differentiate both groups were the defensive rebounds; (ii) in unbalanced games, the variables that discriminate between both groups were the successful 2 points field-goals, the defensive rebounds and the assists; and (iii) in all games, the statistical analysis identified two variables that discriminate winning and losing teams (defensive rebounds and assists). The defensive rebounds were the only game-related statistic that discriminates both groups in all performed analysis. Coaches and players should be aware of these different profiles in order to increase knowledge about game cognitive and motor solicitation and, therefore, to enhance specificity at the time of practice and game planning.


Evaluation  of  metabolically  energy  of  three  agricultural  by-products  has  been  conducted  on  laying  hens.  The purpose of study was to calculate and to compare the energy values of onion hay, tofu waste and bananas skin. Twelve laying hens were randomly allocated to one out of three types of feeds.  About 50 g of powder form of feeds were forced fed to the experimental hens.  The results indicate that the gross energy varied within the tested feeds. The highest values of apparent metabolically energy (AME) and true metabolically energy (TME) were achieved by tofu waste, while the energy (AME and TME) values of onion hay were higher than those values in bananas skin. The values of TME were 10.04, 11.88 and 9.58 MJ/kg for onion hay, tofu waste and bananas skin, respectively.  It is concluded that the by-product feeds are still having metabolically energy as feeds sources for raising chickens, particularly laying hen.


Gaura lindheimeri Engelm. & Gray 'Siskiyou Pink' (gaura) and Phlox paniculata L. 'David' (garden phlox) were grown for 5 weeks in substrates irrigated at volumetric water contents (Q) of 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, 0.35, 0.40, or 0.45 m 3 m -3 usingacapacitance sensor-controlled irrigation system. Volumetricwater contents of the substrate measured by the capacitance sensors controlling irrigation were correlated with measurements witha separate handheld meter (r 2 = 0.83) and with volumetric water content set points throughout the study (r 2 > 0.98). Only 3.8 (at an irrigation set point of 0.10 m 3 m -3 ) to 53 L (0.45 m 3 m -3 ) of water was used to irrigate gaura and phlox and 0 to 7.74 L of this water leached out of the substrates. Significant leaching occurred only at Q set points of 0.40, or 0.45 m 3 m -3 . Gaura had shorter and fewer branches and reduced dry weight when grown at lower volumetric water contents, but plants irrigated at set points above 0.25 m 3 m -3 were large enough to be marketable. Gaura may be grown with capacitance sensor-automated irrigation using water efficiently and minimizing or eliminating leachate and thus nonpoint source pollution.


Background: Serum uric acid (SUA) has been revealed to be positively associated with the body composition parameters in hemodialysis patients, but few studies have investigated that in patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between SUA and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) and the effect of their interaction on mortality in PD patients. Methods: This was a single-center retrospective cohort study. Patients who underwent multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis between January 1, 2013, and December 31, 2016, and had data on SUA values were enrolled. All patients were followed up until December 31, 2019. Results: In total, 802 prevalent PD patients (57.9% male), with mean age of 46.2 ± 14.2 years were enrolled. The average SUA and ASM were 6.8 ± 1.3 mg/dL and 21.2 ± 4.9 kg. According to multiple linear regression models, SUA was positively associated with relative ASM in middle-aged and older PD patients (standardized coefficients [β] 0.117; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.027, 0.200; p = 0.010). Further sex-stratified analysis showed that the association existed only in males (β 0.161; 95% CI 0.017, 0.227; p = 0.023). Moreover, the presence of hyperuricemia was found to predict lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 0.514, 95% CI 0.272, 0.970; p = 0.040) only in patients with lower relative ASM. And, the adjusted HR of every 1 mg/dL elevated SUA level was 0.770 (95% CI 0.609, 0.972; p = 0.028) for all-cause mortality in the lower relative ASM subgroup. Conclusions: There exists a positive association between the SUA and ASM, and the ASM significantly affected the association between SUA and all-cause PD mortality.


Introduction. The problem of informational violence in modern society permeates all spheres of human activity and affects all its structural aspects. Information violence, expressed in imposing false ideals and meanings of human life, neuro-linguistic programming, in public debauchery and pseudo information, has a negative impact on the evolution of human consciousness. A special form of informational violence is computer gaming addiction, which in foreign and domestic psychology is no longer new, but due to serious negative consequences, it does not only  lose its relevance, but also becomes more acute due to an increase in number of  addicted computer players. Materials and methods. The study used theoretical (analysis of psychological, pedagogical and philosophical literature) and empirical methods (questioning, pedagogical observation, testing, stating experiment, forming experiment, quantitative and qualitative analysis) of the study. Results. As a result of the study, factors of individual and personal development were identified that contribute to the formation of computer gaming addiction with  younger adolescence peculiarities of  development of subjectivity were revealed with balanced and unbalanced development of parameters of subjectivity). The survey sample included 146 students aged 10 to 11 (younger adolescence). A comparative analysis of the results of the study of individual personality factors of adolescents with high and low levels of computer gaming addiction showed significant differences (p <0.001). Discussion and conclusions. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that computer games, being an element of the information environment of modern society, have a significant impact on the development of the mental characteristics of a younger teenager. With children having high rates of ICD, there are low cognitive abilities; low indicators on the following parameters of a subjectivity: awareness of the ability to reflect; awareness of freedom of choice and responsibility for it; understanding and acceptance of another, awareness of self-development.


Stable isotope (C–O) analysis was applied to smithsonites and cerussites from Zn(Pb) nonsulphide ores from Britain and Ireland, to determine the nature of the fluids responsible for the precipitation of secondary carbonates, and any relationship with palaeoclimatic conditions. The carbon isotope compositions of the Irish smithsonites show a major contribution of organic carbon whereas those of both Zn- and Pb-carbonates in the UK deposits indicate contribution of organic carbon and host-rock carbonates. δ18OVSMOW values for cerussite from both areas are about 13‰ lower than those of smithsonites, UK smithsonite δ18OVSMOW values are more variable than those for cerussites and the Irish smithsonites have unusually high values. Isoscape maps indicate that δ18O values for both carbonates are higher in the west and decrease toward the east. This trend correlates with a general decrease in the oxygen isotope compositions of rainwater moving eastward, and suggests that oxidation of sulphides occurred at temperatures of about 15–20°C, under climatic conditions warmer than today. Supplementary material: A comprehensive overview of the investigated sites, detailed data for the samples and SEM images are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4579535


This descriptive study is centred on the representation of climate concepts in the geography textbook and academic books. The study mainly examined how the concepts, which were determined by considering the misconceptions in our previous studies, were presented in the 9 grade newlypublished geography textbook and academic books. Also, the study identified, discussed and showed the ways in which the representation of climate concepts in the textbook might corroborate the students' misconceptions. Secondly, the misconceptions were examined by comparing how they were presented in local and foreign academic books. In addition, appropriate corrections, explanations and visual materials were presented to explain the conceptions. The findings show that the misconceptions or deficiencies mentioned in our previous studies still persist in the newly published textbook and local academic books. It is believed that such a study can help solve the problems related to the misconceptions encountered in geography teaching, and that it can increase the geography teachers', textbook writers' and publishers' awareness of the common misconceptions of the students about climate and thus it can shed light on the definitions and materials that can be used in describing these concepts.


The generality of the Bethe's two-dipole model for light diffraction through a subwavelength aperture in a conducting plane is studied in the radiation zone for coated conical fiber tips as those used in near-field scanning optical microscopy. In order to describe the angular radiated power of the tip theoretically, we present a simple, analytical model for small apertures (radius 40 nm) based on a multipole expansion. Our model is able to reproduce the available experimental results. It proves relatively insensitive to cone angle and aperture radius and contains, as a first approximation, the empirical two-dipole model proposed earlier.


Randomness extractors, widely used in classical and quantum cryptography and other fields of computer science, e.g., derandomization, are functions which generate almost uniform randomness from weak sources of randomness. In the quantum setting one must take into account the quantum side information held by an adversary which might be used to break the security of the extractor. In the case of seeded extractors the presence of quantum side information has been extensively studied. For multi-source extractors one can easily see that high conditional min-entropy is not sufficient to guarantee security against arbitrary side information, even in the classical case. Hence, the interesting question is under which models of (both quantum and classical) side information multi-source extractors remain secure. In this work we suggest a natural model of side information, which we call the Markov model, and prove that any multi-source extractor remains secure in the presence of quantum side information of this type (albeit with weaker parameters). This improves on previous results in which more restricted models were considered and the security of only some types of extractors was shown.


One of the main purposes of Endodontic therapy is to disinfect the root canal system, which is accomplished by removing the pulp tissue or necrotic pulp remnants, any microorganisms present in the root canal system and infected dentin. Root canal cleaning and shaping procedures mainly rely on mechanical instrumentation. However, mechanical instrumentation leaves a smear layer covering the dentinal walls. This smear layer is composed of dentin debris, organic material and microorganisms. Smear layer prevents penetration of intracanal medicaments into the dentinal tubules, prevents complete adaptation of obturation materials to the prepared root canal surfaces, and may act as a reservoir for viable microorganisms that may remain in the dentinal tubules.A number of means have been tested for smear layer removal which includes Chemical, Mechanical, Ultrasonic, and Lasers. This book describes various methods of smear layer removal and also describes a scanning electron micoscopic study comparing the smear layer removal efficacies of four different irrigants viz. EDTA, Smear Clear (EDTA + a cationic & anionic surfactant), MTAD, and NaOCl with distilled water as a negative control.


Understanding of psychopathies in the concept of Russian psychiatrists M.O. Gurevich and M.Ja. Serejskij is analyzed. These authors considered that the principal difference exists between neuroses and psychopathies (neurosis is a reversible disorder capable for development in normal personality). They used two systematics of psychopathies: the first one was focused on the rubric «Psychopathic personalities» of the last lifetime edition of E. Kraepelin's Textbook of Psychiatry, herewith the authors negated the existence of the «antisocial» psychopathy type, instead reckoning to psychopathies the perversions of drives. The second systematics of psychopathies represented the development of E. Kretschmer's constitutional typology, however, M.O. Gurevich, M.Ja. Serejskij, besides the psychopathies of schizoid and cycloid circles, also singled out epileptoid, hysteroid psychopathies, psychasthenia and sexual perversions. The authors believed that the polarity and contrast of character's properties are inherent to four types of constitutional psychopathies, including schizoid, cycloid, epileptoid and hysteroid. The concept of M.O. Gurevich and M.Ja. Serejskij is compared with preceding concepts of psychopathies, including P.B. Gannushkin and their contemporary V.A. Gilyarovsky.


Three different general strategies are proposed for kinetic models of the emergence of homochirality in open systems: flow-through reactors, photochemical energy input, and chemical energy input from a sacrificial reagent. Using a simple, second-order chiral autocatalytic core model, it is shown that all these scenarios lead to similar mathematical description despite the fundamentally different chemical background and practically complete homochirality is reached in all of these cases. It is also argued that the photochemical energy input scenario might not be compatible with a sunlight-driven natural process.


Under what conditions do security seeker states more inclined to initiate cooperation? What determines negotiation outcomes? Standard realist explanations argue that security-seeker states rarely cooperate even if their interests converge. This study proposes an analytical framework which argues that international cooperation and negotiation can best be explained through two theories, arrayed in a multistage model, which takes its fundamental assumptions from theories of structural realism and rational bargaining. Basically, the framework requires, first, the application of structural realist theory to explain the conditions under which states initiate cooperation; and second, the application of a rationalist theory of bargaining in order to explain what determines negotiation outcomes. With respect to the emergence of international cooperation, the framework argues that power symmetry and a large number of actors, as structural factors, conjointly increase the likelihood of international cooperation. A large number of actors with evenly distributed power will be more likely to initiate cooperation because such actors will believe that relative gains and losses from cooperation will not shift the balance of power in favor of one actor. As for interstate negotiation, the framework argues that whether negotiating actors exchange concessions depends largely on the relative bargaining power of the actors rather than their military power. The study focuses empirically on the negotiations for the European Defense Community (EDC) between France and the Federal Republic of Germany and concludes that the limits of European integration lie in the changing relative bargaining power of the member states in a given policy area not the nature of that policy area.


On the deep bottom of the seemingly placid Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park, researchers have discovered a panoply of unusual hydrothermal vents, spires, craters, and domes. Venting much of the park9s heat and affecting creatures from bacteria to bears, the submerged geothermal features promise to shed new light both on Yellowstone9s complex subterranean workings and on the biology of extreme environments. Unfortunately, they also appear prone to massive explosions of steam and may be much more dangerous than huggable favorites like Old Faithful.


The aim of the paper was to ascertain whether bank specific factors significantly impact on return on asset (ROA) as a measure of bank performance. This paper utilized quantitative methodology in ascertaining the relationship between bank internal features and bank performance in Zimbabwe. As all the variables are quantitative in nature, the researchers had no other option but to use quantitative method applying panel data models. The results indicated that bank specific indicators were not significant in determining bank performance but rather bank external factors could play a significant role in determining bank performance. The researchers recommended that the Central Bank embark on a softer stance as the level of capital does not significantly affect the return on assets of the firms, though it enhances soundness and stability of the sector.

 Key words: Bank specific factors, bank performance, multi-currency era, bank performance indicators.


BACKGROUND
Pain is a major health care problem for patients with cancer: despite the existence of guidelines for cancer pain management, undertreatment is a widespread problem. Pain Management Indexes (PMIs) evaluate the congruence between the patient's reported level of pain and the intensity/strength of the analgesic therapy. Negative scores indicate inadequate prescriptions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a Medline search using terms for 'pain management', 'index' or 'measure' to select studies which measured undertreatment in cancer settings. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression identified associations between independent predictors and high prevalence of undertreatment.

RESULTS
Among the 44 studies identified, 26 studies used the PMI as proposed by Cleeland. The range of negative PMI varied from 8% to 82% with a weighted mean value of 43%. In multivariate analyses, factors associated with negative PMI were date of publication before 2001, provenance from Europe or Asia and countries with a gross national income per capita < $40,000 per year and a care setting not specific for cancer. Age was not a significant predictor for undertreatment.

CONCLUSION
Nearly one of two patients with cancer pain is undertreated. The percentage is high, but consists of a large variability of undertreatment across studies and settings.


Models of sediment threshold by grain pivoting or sliding over underlying particles are examined in order to explore their application to evaluations of selective entrainment of gravel by flowing water. Of special interest is whether such process-based models provide satisfactory evaluations of flow competence and the movement of large clasts by floods. A detailed derivation is undertaken, focusing first on the fluid flow and forces at the particle level. The resulting threshold equation for the particle-level velocity is then modified to yield the mean entrainment stress for the flow as a whole. This approach is appropriate for considerations of selective entrainment of grains of varying sizes within a deposit, the sorting being due to their relative projection distances above the bed and the dependence of their pivoting angles on grain size and shape. The resulting threshold equations contain a number of coefficients (e.g. drag and lift) whose values are poorly known, but can be constrained by requiring agreement with the Shields curve for the threshold of grains in uniform deposits. If pivoting coefficients based on laboratory measurements with tetrahedral arrangements of particles are used in the models, smaller degrees of selective sorting are predicted than found in the field measurements of gravel entrainment. However, if reasonable modifications of those coefficients are made for expected field conditions, then the models yield good agreement with the data. Sliding models, where sorting is due entirely to projection distances of the grains above the bed, yield somewhat poorer agreement with the field data; however, the sliding models may have support from laboratory experiments on gravel entrainment in that the data and theoretical curves have similar concave trends. The existing measurements lack documentation of the mechanisms of grain movement, so it is not possible to conclusively determine the relative importance of grain pivoting versus sliding. In spite of such uncertainties, the results are encouraging and it is concluded that pivoting and sliding models for grain entrainment do have potential for field computations of selective entrainment and flow competence.


As community engaged research (CEnR) increases in popularity and recognition, specific guidance on partnership approaches that are more likely to lead to community benefits is needed. Here, we describe a qualitative interview study aimed at better understanding community and academic perspectives on elements of genuine collaboration within a project's new community–academic partnership. This partnership involved a large, public, urban university, a tribal nation government program, a small, rural, community-based university, and a local high school working together to develop CEnR on air quality. Interview questions were formulated from a literature review examining the relationships between trust, cultural relevance, and community involvement in research with partnership processes, roles, and strengths. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals from the community–academic partnership: six University of Washington research team members and six community partners. Guidance for an authentic collaborative partnership supported by interview analyses includes incorporating elements of partnership and project sustainability from the earliest phases and throughout; promoting funding mechanism responsiveness to relationship building and community partner involvement in budget decision-making; acknowledging community strengths, knowledge, and expertise and applying them; establishing roles that reflect community partner capacity building goals; and recognizing community diversity and dynamics to promote representation.


An algorithm is proposed for calculating laser divergence on the basis of recurrence numerical sequences akin to the Fibonacci series. A refractive analog of a multilobe mirror is described.


Abstract Bauxite reaction residue (BRR) produced from the poly-aluminum chloride (PAC) coagulant industry is a solid acidic waste that is harmful to environment. A low temperature synthesis route to convert the waste into water glass was reported. Silica dissolution process was systematically studied, including the thermodynamic analysis and the influence of calcium and aluminum on the leaching of amorphous silica. Simulation studies have shown that calcium and aluminum combine with silicon to form hydrated calcium silicate, silica–alumina gel, and zeolite, respectively, thereby hindering the leaching of silica. Maximizing the removal of calcium, aluminum, and chlorine can effectively improve the leaching of silicon in the subsequent process, and corresponding element removal rates are 42.81%, 44.15%, and 96.94%, respectively. The removed material is not randomly discarded and is reused to prepare PAC. The silica extraction rate reached 81.45% under optimal conditions (NaOH; 3 mol L−1, L S−1; 5/1, 75°C, 2 h), and sodium silicate modulus (nSiO2:nNa2O) is 1.11. The results indicated that a large amount of silica was existed in amorphous form. Precipitated silica was obtained by acidifying sodium silicate solution at optimal pH 7.0. Moreover, sodium silicate (1.11) further synthesizes sodium silicate (modulus 3.27) by adding precipitated silica at 75°C.


Many different forms of nebulizer treatment for asthma have been developed over the last few years, including several which have reached international concensus. Nevertheless, there are no widely recognized recommendations concerning the role of nebulization in the treatment of asthma in adults. We present here the main elements on the pathophysiological basis of nebulization treatment of asthma, the physical and chemical parameters of nebulization, the different nebulizers and the substances which can be administered and their costs. The indications for home nebulizer treatment of asthma in adults include asthma with chronic sinusitis or nasosinus polyposis, asthma with hypersecretion with or without bronchial dilatation, severe poorly controlled asthma, corticodependent asthma. The aim of this discussion on nebulizer administration is to reduce the amount of systemic corticosteroid delivery and underline the need for quality research in this area.


Background Approved US indications for trastuzumab include adjuvant treatment of HER2−overexpressing breast cancer in anthracycline-based (ACTH) or non-anthracycline-based (TCH) regimens. The objective of this study was to compare trastuzumab persistence across adjuvant breast cancer treatment regimens for US health plan enrollees. Materials and Methods : This retrospective cohort study using the IMS LifeLink™ Health Plan Claims Database included adjuvant breast cancer patients, defined as those with a mastectomy or lumpectomy and a primary breast cancer diagnosis (index diagnosis) from 1/1/2006 to 12/31/2008. Additional inclusion criteria were: aged ≥18 years; a second primary breast cancer diagnosis ≤90 days of the first; no other primary or secondary neoplasms ≤180 days before or ≤90 days after the index diagnosis; a first trastuzumab claim (index claim) and ≥1 carboplatin, cyclophosphamide, taxane, or anthracycline claim ≤210 days of the index diagnosis; and no trastuzumab claim before the index diagnosis. Regimens were classified as ACTH (doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, a taxane, trastuzumab) or TCH (docetaxel, carboplatin, trastuzumab) from therapies observed after the index claim. Trastuzumab persistence (days from the index claim to earliest of trastuzumab discontinuation, a new malignant neoplasm, end of plan enrollment, 360 days after the index claim, or end of available data) was reported for patients with ≥2 trastuzumab claims and compared across regimens using the Kaplan-Meier estimator and Cox proportional hazards models. Results : 550 breast cancer patients met all study criteria (291 ACTH, 259 TCH, 46 unassigned); patients receiving TCH were older (median 52 vs. 50 years; P=0.018). For years 2006–2008, the annual share of the cohort initiating ACTH decreased from 69.3% to 35.2%; patients initiating TCH increased from 26.7% to 56.5%. Patients receiving ACTH were treated with trastuzumab for fewer days (mean=256, median=334) versus patients on TCH (mean=282, median 344, P=0.018). Fewer patients on ACTH remained on trastuzumab at day 90 (83% vs. 91%), day 180 (71% vs. 79%), day 270 (61% vs. 72%), and day 360 (20% vs. 26%). Compared to patients on TCH, patients on ACTH continued to be treated with trastuzumab for a shorter duration post-index after adjusting for age, region, plan type, prescriber specialty, and comorbidities (HR=0.77, 95% CI [0.63, 0.95]; P=0.016). Discussion : The share of adjuvant breast cancer patients initiating TCH increased from 2006 to 2008, while use of ACTH decreased over the same time period, and patients treated with TCH remained on trastuzumab for a longer period of time. From a clinical standpoint, patients derive maximum benefit from their medications when they are persistent long-term, which can lead to economic benefits with regards to lower overall healthcare costs. Further analyses will evaluate whether adjuvant breast cancer regimens differ in weight-adjusted cumulative trastuzumab doses received during therapy. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P5-18-08.


"Life Balance: Multidisciplinary Theories and Research" is a unique text that offers empirical research and theories to a concept not yet recognized in the scientific community. Dr. Kathleen Matuska and Dr. Charles Christiansen proficiently address the various ways to conceptualize life balance as distinguishable among other positive state constructs. Some chapter topics include: Problematizing Life Balance: Difference, Diversity, and Disadvantage; Emotional Regulation, Processing, and Recovery after Acquired Brain Injury: Contributors to Life Balance; The Importance of Experienced Challenges in a Balanced Life-Micro and Macro Perspectives; Multiple Roles and Life Balance; Optimal Life Style-Mix: An Inductive Approach; Defining and Validating Measures of Life Balance: Suggestions, A New Measure, and Some Preliminary Results; Life Balance: The Meaning and the Menace in a Metaphor; and, The 'Hurried' Child: Myth vs. Reality. Resulting from an informed discussion among international scientists who gathered for a discussion on life balance, this text compiles conceptual commonalities, associations, and discrepancies affiliated with life balance research. Who will be interested in "Life Balance: Multidisciplinary Theories and Research?": occupational therapy and occupational science communities; professionals in wellness and holistic health; and, those in psychology and sociology. This groundbreaking and forward-thinking text, co-published with AOTA Press, implements a multidisciplinary approach to learning about life balance with contributions from psychological, sociological, occupational, economical, leisure, and family studies.


We present some exact results on the behavior of branching and annihilating random walks, both in the directed percolation and parity conserving universality classes. Contrary to usual perturbation theory, we perform an expansion in the branching rate around the nontrivial pure annihilation (PA) model, whose correlation and response function we compute exactly. With this, the nonuniversal threshold value for having a phase transition in the simplest system belonging to the directed percolation universality class is found to coincide with previous nonperturbative renormalization group (RG) approximate results. We also show that the parity conserving universality class has an unexpected RG fixed point structure, with a PA fixed point which is unstable in all dimensions of physical interest.


In this paper, in order to manage both computing and network resources effectively in optical grid networks, we propose a dynamic management method which is implemented in a job manager. The proposed method adjusts the number of tasks which are transmitted to a computing site with PID control so that a resource manager can store a constant number of tasks, resulting in an effective utilization of computing resources. Moreover, lightpaths are established and released dynamically by comparing output signal of PID controller with the maximum number of transmitted tasks, resulting in an effective utilization of network resources. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method, and then we investigate the impact of PID parameters. In numerical examples, we show that the proposed method can manage computing and network resources at the same time more effectively than a conventional method.


Introduction/ Background

Recently, histopathology has seen the introduction of several tools such as slide scanners and virtual slide technologies, creating the conditions for broader adoption of computer aided diagnosis based on whole slide images (WSI) to reduce observation variability between pathologists. This change brings up a number of new scientific challenges such as the sustainable management of the semantics associated to the grading process, image analysis and annotation in order to facilitate pre-filled report generation. The College of American Pathologists cancer checklists and protocols (CAP-CC&P) [1] are reference resources for complete Anatomic Pathology (AP) reporting of malignant tumors. Current terminology systems for AP structured reporting gather terms of very different granularity [2][3] and have not yet been compiled in a systematic approach. Semantic data models are formal representations of knowledge in a given domain that allow both human users and software applications to consistently and accurately interpret domain terminology [4][5].
Aims

Our objective is to i) analyze the histopathological knowledge for breast cancer grading available in the reference CAP CC&P and ii) to build a sustainable formal representation of this knowledge based on existing bio- medical ontologies in NCBO Bioportal [6][7] and UMLS semantic types [8].
Methods

Our methodology was first experimented in the context of two cancer grading methods for invasive (Nottinghamsystem) and ductal in situ breast carcinoma. A corpus consisting of 5 texts or "notes" was first selected by an AP expert from the two corresponding CAP CC&Ps. From each note the expert also extracted a list of keyconcepts to be used as a "gold standard". We used NCBO Annotator [9] for automatic analysis of the corpus. Annotator supports the biomedical community in tagging raw texts automatically with concepts from relevant biomedical ontology and terminology repositories. The methodology used consists in:

i) Automatic textual analysis and annotation of the corpus based on the 417 ontologies available on the NCBO platform. We selected a subset of ontologies based on the number of identified concepts and evaluated their relevancy with respect to the gold standard.

ii) Semantic modeling of the automatically extracted concepts into a sustainable formal representation based on their UMLS semantic types.
Results

We identified NCIT, SNOMED-CT, NCI CaDSR Values set, LOINC and PathLex as the ontologies providing the highest number of annotated concepts. Table 1 shows as percentages the coverages of the concepts of each note by the annotations of the 5 reference ontologies. Percentages can add to more than 100 for a single note due to the possible overlap in ontologies coverages. Table 2 uses the same format when only concepts from the gold standards are counted to quantify annotations. From the list of extracted concepts, we made a preliminary formal representation of the histopathological knowledge based on the UMLS semantic types of concepts. Figure 1 shows the so proposed semantic modeling in the context of tubular differentiation. The novelty of this approach is the federation of the knowledge issued from different sources (CAP CC&P, NCBO ontologies and UMLS Metathesaurus) and the sustainable management of the associated semantics. This opens the perspective of building an AP observation ontology that will allow an accurate representation of AP reports understandable by both human and software applications.


Summary form only given. We present a model that comprehensively addresses the goals of partitioning an application software mesh into clusters of modules and assigning (or mapping) the clusters onto the most appropriate processors in the computational grid. Our approach to solving this challenging combinatorial problem is based on a computational model known as a cascaded Boltzmann machine, which advantageously blends the principles of neural computing and simulated annealing to achieve high quality partitions in a practical amount of execution time. We develop implementations of the algorithms, and focus on the study and refinement of the operational parameters that determine the performance of the Boltzmann algorithms. Through computational experimentation and empirical observations, we are able to characterize the speed and effectiveness of this partitioning and mapping process. We also note that the partitioning and mapping algorithm itself can be implemented as a parallel computation.


Abstract Respiratory distress and stridor are common presenting symptoms for children in the emergency department. Most of these children will have common illnesses such as bronchiolitis or croup. Clinicians, however, must maintain a broad differential diagnosis and a healthy skepticism in the approach to each child's case so as not to miss uncommon or atypical presentations. We describe the case of a child with stridor in whom an airway hemangioma was ultimately diagnosed.


We study the contours of the code of silence among the police in two Eastern-European countries (the Czech Republic (CR) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)). These two countries have experienced relatively recent, but dramatically different paths towards democratisation of the police. We surveyed 604 Czech police officers and 451 officers in BiH regarding their willingness to report misconduct and expectations about the willingness of fellow officers to report misconduct. The results indicate that, although the code of silence is present among supervisors and line officers in both countries, the code is stronger among line officers than among supervisors. In addition, it appears that officers and supervisors in both countries have a good grasp of the extent of protection the code will actually provide. We also report that the code is more homogeneous among the line officers and supervisors in BiH than in the CR, and that tolerance of the use of excessive force is stronger in Bi than in the CR. Both of these...


Many tests have been done to ameliorate the side effects caused by doxorubicin (DXR) chemotherapy. Croton cajucara is a plant that presents several biological beneficial properties. The aim of this study was to verify whether C. cajucara methanolic extract (EMeOH) prevents the DXR-induced testicular alterations and whether presents mutagenic or antimutagenic activities. Mice received DXR combined or not with EMeOH (312.5, 625 or 1250 mg/Kg) for 5 weeks. The fertility index and the micronucleous assay were realized in the male mice. The testes were removed and embedding in paraffin for the stereological and morphometric analyses. There were significant reductions in all parameters analyzed in the mice treated with DXR alone or with EMeOH. The plant extract doses evaluated presented no mutagenicity, antimutagenic properties and reduction of the DNA damage. Thus, EMeOH did not ameliorate the DXR-testicular damage, but the mutagenicity tests indicate a possible chemoprotective action of this plant extract.


We have used the polymerase chain reaction to identify mouse proteins similar in primary structure to the endothelial cell mitogen Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). One amplified product encoded mouse Placenta Growth Factor (PIGF). The pattern of PIGF gene expression in mouse embryos was studied by in situ hybridization. Transcripts encoding mouse PIGF were abundant in trophoblastic giant cells associated with the parietal yolk sac at early stages of embryogenesis. VEGF transcripts were also detected in trophoblastic giant cells raising the possibility that these cells may secrete heterodimers consisting of one PIGF subunit and one VEGF subunit. The secretion of PIGF and VEGF by trophoblastic giant cells is likely to be the signal which initiates and co-ordinates vascularization in the deciduum and placenta during early embryogenesis.


To study the mechanisms behind treatment resistance, we have previously established a large panel of antiestrogen resistant breast cancer cell lines based on the estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cell line, MCF-7. It seems to be a general phenomenon that MCF-7 cells switch from ER driven to human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) driven cell growth upon development of fulvestrant resistance. To obtain a broader knowledge of the resistance mechanisms, we have established four fulvestrant resistant subclones from the ER-positive breast cancer cell line, T47D. The parental T47D cells were confirmed to be estrogen responsive and short-term treatment of the parental T47D cells with fulvestrant severely reduced cell growth as well as protein expression of ER and the estrogen regulated proteins, insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor alpha (IGF-1Rα) and progesterone receptor (PR). All four fulvestrant resistant cell lines had reduced mRNA and protein expression of HER1 and HER4 compared to T47D, while HER2 was highly up regulated in the fulvestrant resistant cell lines and ER was lost. No difference in response to the HER2 inhibitor trastuzumab or the specific HER2 kinase inhibitor AG825 was observed between the fulvestrant resistant cell lines and T47D, indicating that HER2 is not the main driver of fulvestrant resistance in T47D cells. We found no indication of involvement of the two classical signaling pathways downstream of the HER receptors (Ras/Raf/Erk and PI3K/Akt). However, the JNK inhibitor SP600125 preferentially inhibited growth of two tested fulvestrant resistant cell lines. Withdrawal of fulvestrant for several weeks did not result in regain of ER expression, or in change of HER receptor expression, supporting a stable resistant phenotype. In conclusion, loss of ER expression explains the lack of effect of fulvestrant in the T47D fulvestrant resistant cell lines. Noteworthy, the observed over expression of HER2 in the fulvestrant resistant T47D cells does not seem to be the main driver of cell growth, as HER2 targeted therapies like trastuzumab and HER2 kinase inhibitor did not exert a preferential growth inhibition of resistant cells. These breast cancer cells with high endogenous HER2 expression will be used as a model mimicking HER2 positive breast cancer which does not respond to standard HER2 targeted therapies. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2012;72(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-04-18.


Abstract Background Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is common, first-line treatments are often only partially effective, and reliable predictors of treatment response are lacking. Here, we assessed resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) at pre-treatment and during early treatment as a potential predictor of response to a novel attention bias modification procedure, gaze-contingent music reward therapy (GC-MRT). Methods Thirty-two adults with SAD were treated with GC-MRT. rsFC was assessed with multi-voxel pattern analysis of fMRI at pre-treatment and after 2–3 weeks. For comparison, 20 healthy control (HC) participants without treatment were assessed twice for rsFC over the same time period. All SAD participants underwent clinical evaluation at pre-treatment, early-treatment (week 2–3), and post-treatment. Results SAD and depressive symptoms improved significantly from pre-treatment to post-treatment. After 2–3 weeks of treatment, decreased connectivity between the executive control network (ECN) and salience network (SN), and increased connectivity within the ECN predicted improvement in SAD and depressive symptoms at week 8. Increased connectivity between the ECN and default mode network (DMN) predicted greater improvement in SAD but not depressive symptoms at week 8. Connectivity within the DMN decreased significantly after 2–3 weeks of treatment in the SAD group, while no changes were found in HC over the same time interval. Conclusion We identified early changes in rsFC during a course of GC-MRT for SAD that predicted symptom change. Connectivity changes within the ECN, ECN-DMN, and ECN-SN may be related to mechanisms underlying the clinical effects of GC-MRT and warrant further study in controlled trials.


Validation of agents' decision making is one of the central epistemological problems in empirical agent-based model (ABM) simulations. This paper focuses on the need for reliable decision- making models for land change science with direct relevance to modelling human-environmental systems for policy implications and natural resources management. This paper presents a set of key issues or caveats that affect the validation. At the same time, we present alternatives by providing examples of a more stakeholder- centric way of parameterizing human behaviour and decision making, and a case study is described in the light of critical multiplism.


[1] Hanging fluvial valleys form at mouths of tributaries that are unable to incise as quickly as the trunk stream. Although hanging valleys at tributary mouths are uncommon, in very rapidly eroding ranges, such as the Himalaya, they can attain heights of ∼1 km and display mean channel slopes exceeding 30°. Given a hypothesis based on bed load–saltation erosion for how such features form, this study addresses the question of why hanging valleys are not more common and what limits their growth. We implement a numerical model of bed load–saltation erosion for a tributary junction experiencing base-level fall to explore conditions that may lead hanging valleys to form or subsequently degrade owing to climate variability. We find that increased frequency of bed load mobilization and enhanced bed load supply can drive the degradation of hanging fluvial valleys. Moreover, when trunk aggradation overtops the hanging valley, the knickpoint tends to be removed during subsequent degradation of the alluvial surface. Channel narrowing, increased bed load size, or bed load supply each can inhibit the formation of hanging fluvial valleys. Under steady hydrological and sedimentologic conditions, bed load–saltation models predict hanging valleys could be quite common where main stem erosion is rapid. The frequency and magnitude of changes in climatically modulated sediment loads in natural systems, however, typically overwhelm factors that promote hanging valley formation without such bed load variability. Because rates of channel aggradation commonly outpace rates of hanging valley formation, we propose that hanging valleys tend to be preserved only in regimes where trunk-stream erosion exceeds several millimeters per year.


Band-offsets at BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction and enhanced photoelectrochemical response: theory and experiment Dipika Sharmaa, Vibha R. Satsangib, Rohit Shrivastava, Umesh V. Waghmarec, Sahab Dassa aDepartment of Chemistry, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra-282 110 (India) bDepartment of Physics and Computer Sciences, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra-282 110 (India) cTheoretical Sciences Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore-560 064 (India) * Phone: +91-9219695960. Fax: +91-562-2801226. E-mail: email@example.com. Study on photoelectrochemical activity of pristine BaTiO3, Cu2O and BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction has been carried out using DFT based band offsets and charge carriers effective mass calculations and their experimental verification. The results of DFT calculations show that BaTiO3 and Cu2O have staggered type band alignment after the heterojunction formation and high mobility of electrons in Cu2O as compared to the electrons in BaTiO3. Staggered type band edges alignment and high mobility of electrons and holes improved the separation of photo-generated charge carriers in BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction. To validate the theoretical results experiments were carried out on pristine BaTiO3, Cu2O and BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction with varying thickness of Cu2O. All samples were characterized by X- Ray Diffractometer, SEM and UV–Vis spectrometry. Nanostructured thin films of pristine BaTiO3, Cu2O and BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction were used as photoelectrode in the photoelectrochemical cell for water splitting reaction. Maximum photocurrent density of 1.44 mA/cm2 at 0.90 V/SCE was exhibited by 442 nm thick BaTiO3/Cu2O heterojunction photoelectrode Increased photocurrent density and enhanced photoconversion efficiency, exhibited by the heterojunction may be attributed to improved conductivity and enhanced separation of the photogenerated carriers at the BaTiO3/Cu2O interface. The experimental results and first-principles calculations compare well, thus suggesting that such calculations have the potential to be used in screening various metal oxide heterojunction before performing the experiments thereby saving precious chemicals, time and energy. Keywords: Photoelectrochemical, Water splitting, heterojunction, Cu2O, BaTiO3 References: [1] Surbhi Choudhary, et al. Nanostructured bilayered thin films in photoelectrochemical water splitting - A review: International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, (2012). [2] Dipika Sharma, Anuradha Verma, V.R. Satsangi, Rohit shrivastav, Sahab Dass Nanostructured SrTiO3 thin films sensitized by Cu2O for Photoelectrochemical Hydrogen Generation. International journal of Hydrogen Energy;42:,4230-4241, 2014.


Failures of electric submersible pumps (ESPs) are common occurrences in the oil industry, resulting in production disruption that amounts to thousands and in some cases millions of barrels of lost or deferred oil production annually. Timely detection of ESP developing problems will enhance the capability to timely and proactively attend and fix operational ESP issues that may cause ESP shutdowns. Early warning automated surveillance systems will significantly minimize production losses associated with ESP downtime.
 Traditional ESP surveillance systems provide alarms when ESP performance signals drift out of a preset range (i.e., low pressure, high current, high temperature); however, finding the root cause of the problem requires time, engineering expertise and sometimes the use of specialized tools to properly diagnose the underlying abnormal condition. After years of experience, highly trained ESP surveillance engineers are able to diagnose ESP problems by cross-referencing performance signals and finding patterns like slope increase, signal stability, unexpected step changes, etc. Pattern recognition is one of the most common applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms, which can be naturally trained to automatically detect patterns and irregularities in ESP data.
 This paper presents an account of the development and testing of an ESP surveillance system based on AI with the ability to automatically detect and correctly diagnose ESP problems in the early stages of development.


Many surgical procedures have been described for the treatment of mucous cysts. We report a case series of a surgical technique that excises the cyst along with overlying skin and reconstructs the defect using a Wolfe graft harvested from the wrist crease. This technique can be applied to cysts in all locations, even those adjacent to the nail. The procedure has been performed on 51 mucous cysts with satisfactory results, a very low recurrence rate (4%) and negligible complications.


A number of patients have come under our observation who have shown intercostal paralysis and considerable weakness of the diaphragm early in the paralytic stage of anterior poliomyelitis; yet the accessory muscles and the diaphragm have been able to support sufficient respiratory movement to keep the patient alive until, in the course of a few days, the paralyzed intercostal muscles began to improve and the patient went on to almost complete recovery. Although this is not the usual termination of these cases, it occurs often enough to stimulate the desire to give all patients with respiratory paralysis this opportunity to recover normal breathing by maintaining artificial respiration over a period of hours, or even days. LIMITATIONS OF PRESENT METHODS OF PROLONGING LIFE The means of prolonging life in these patients are limited to the available methods of applying artificial respiration. Of these, the manual methods are not adapted to prolonged


The classic account of object recognition, which proposes that object detection precedes categorization, was challenged by recent behavioral evidence. The present study investigated the temporal relation between object detection and categorization by employing ERP measures. Participants performed a dual-choice go/no-go task based on the outcomes of object detection and categorization. A no-go lateralized readiness potential, which indexed motor preparation, was obtained only when detection determined responding hand and categorization determined go/no-go, indicating that detection was completed earlier and thus activated preparation. Additionally, the N200 effect, which indicated the completion of go/no-go, was obtained 70 ms earlier when detection determined go/no-go than when categorization determined go/no-go. Our ERP results indicate that object detection is completed earlier than categorization, which supports the traditional models of object recognition.


The proband (patient 1), a 25-year-old woman, was the product of normal pregnancy and delivery. Her parents were first cousins from Lebanon. She sat at 6 months and crawled at 12 months. At age 3, she was noted to have developmental delay, hypotonia, and ataxia. The following year, she had a febrile illness and suspected absence seizure. EEG showed 4–5 Hz spike and slow wave complexes and she was treated with sodium valproate. At age 6, seizure frequency increased but improved with the addition of ethosuximide. Brain MRI at age 10 revealed increased T2 signal in both thalami and upper brainstem (figure). Serum and urinary amino acids, white blood cell lysosomal enzymes, serum lactate and pyruvate, liver function, and ammonia were normal. CSF neurotransmitters, glucose, and lactate were normal, although GABA was not measured. Her condition then remained static with occasional absence seizures. At age 22, she developed paroxysmal episodes of chorea in the neck, arms, and trunk associated with drowsiness, triggered by fever or hot weather (video 1). These occurred 4–5 times a year, lasting from 1 to 10 minutes. In all episodes, she remained responsive to verbal stimuli. Prolonged interictal video EEGs showed intermittent 4–6 Hz generalized epileptiform discharges, although no motor events were recorded.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the rationales for, the trends and the impacts of innovations in the public management system of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Design/methodology/approach
This study has adopted an interpretative and exploratory approach. To this end, extensive reviews have been made of government documents, reports of international organizations and relevant academic research articles.

Findings
The findings show that the UAE Government has embarked on a massive innovation program to bring dynamism and to feed the requirements of the UAE Vision 2021. As pressured by both external and internal forces, the directions of innovations in the UAE public management system correspond to the global trends. The results of innovations are positive in terms of the enhancement of efficiency, effectiveness, citizens' satisfaction and citizens' trust in public services.

Originality/value
This paper links theoretical insights from different sources to analyze the dynamics of public management innovations in the UAE which will be helpful for further comprehensive empirical research in the future.


Over the past decade many new evaluation methods have emerged for evaluating user experience with children, but the results of these studies have tended to be reported in isolation and cultural implications have been largely ignored. This paper reports on a comparative analysis of the Fun Toolkit and the effect of culture on game preference. In total 37 children aged between 7 and 9 participated in the study, from a school in the UK and Jordan. The children played 2 different games on a tablet PC and their experiences of each were captured using the Fun Toolkit. The results showed that culture did not appear to affect children's preference and Fun Toolkit is a valid user experience tool across cultures.


A recent case of seal finger which was misdiagnosed and hence mistreated at the patient's first presentation is described. The patient was eventually referred to a hand specialist and after the correct treatment with tetracycline, responded well without any long-term sequelae. Seal finger is an occupational injury that occurs to those who work directly or indirectly with seals. The disease entity has been described in both Scandinavian and Canadian literature. The causative microorganism was unknown until 1991, when Mycoplasma phocacerebrale was isolated from both the finger of a patient with seal finger and from the mouth of a seal that bit the patient. Although rare, the disease is not uncommon in marine workers, biologists and veterinarians. Prompt identification based on patient history and treatment with oral tetracycline is pendant to a favourable patient outcome.


Within the EASY-NET network program (NET-2016-02364191), Work Package 1 Lazio evaluates the effectiveness of a structured audit and feedback (A&F) intervention compared with the web-based regional periodic publication of indicators in improving the appropriateness and timeliness of emergency healthcare for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This work describes the A&F methodology and presents the results of the first feedback delivered. The intervention involves sending periodic reports via e-mail to participating hospitals. The feedback reports include a set of volume and quality (process and outcome) indicators, calculated by facility through the health information system of the Lazio Region and compared with regional mean, target values and values calculated for hospitals with similar volumes of activity. Health managers and clinicians of each participating hospital represent the "feedback recipients". They are invited to organize clinical and organizational audit meetings to identify possible critical issues in the care pathway and define, where necessary, improvement actions. A total of 16 facilities are involved. Twelve facilities present high volumes in all volume indicators, while three facilities present low volumes for each indicator. Concerning the quality indicators, four facilities do not present critical indicators or had average results, three facilities do not present critical indicators but show average results in at least one of the indicators and six facilities present a critical value for at least one of the indicators. The first report highlighted some critical issues in some facilities on several indicators. During the audit meetings, each facility analyzes these issues, defining appropriate improvement actions. The outcome of these actions will be monitored through subsequent reporting to support the continuous care quality improvement process.


An important but difficult problem in clinical trials is to determine the presence of cured patients when long‐term survivors are observed. The likelihood ratio test has been studied for this purpose in the gamma mixture model. However, its asymptotic null distribution is not readily available due to a violation of boundary conditions in the standard asymptotic theory. In this paper, a simulation study is employed to examine a proposed asymptotic null distribution of the likelihood ratio test. We find that the distribution can also be used to approximate the asymptotic null distribution of the likelihood ratio test in the Weibull and log‐normal mixture models when the censoring rate is not too light. However, the simulation study also shows that null distribution of the likelihood ratio test deviates significantly from the suggested distribution under moderate sample sizes when the censoring rate is small or the hazard rate is large. Consequently caution is needed in this case to determine the presence of cured patients. Finally, the results are used to confirm the presence of cured patients in a leukaemia study. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study aims to examine the relationship between human resource development and the performance of Siulak Mukai sub-district office employees in Kerinci regency. The respondents in this study are 13 people from Siulak Mukai sub-district office of Kerinci Regency. This type of research is quantitative research. The results of this study indicate: (1) There is a relationship between the development of human resources and the performance of Siulak Mukai subdistrict office of Kerinci Regency, Category strong relationship. This is evidenced from the calculation of correlation coefficient of 0.796 located at the interval between 0.60 to 0.769.  (2) The amount of contribution or contribution of variable of human resource development performance of office employee of Siulak Mukai sub-district of Kerinci Regency is 59,21% while 40,79% influenced by other variable not discussed in this research. (3) Based on the t test with the provision of error rate = 0.05. Db = n-2 (33-2) = 31 so that obtained table = 1.799 and counted = 3.9933 in this case counted from the table which means the relationship of human resources development with the performance of employees office Siulak Mukai head of Kerinci Regency is significant.


The production of content-appropriate discourse in academic English has proved a difficult task for learners in different disciplines in Colombian universities. There is plenty of blame to go around: among other problems, educators frequently point to the belief that language courses (isolated from university subjects) automatically promote linguistic skills transferable to a specific subject-language, the informal approach to subjects demanding high-skill communicative proficiency, the abuse of L1 informal register in both L1 and L2 academic writing and speaking; the idiosyncratic academic culture dominated by a blinkered return-of-investment thinking, and the lack of academic rigour leading to distinct increments in existing knowledge. In such a scenario, it becomes apparent that a practical, unambiguous approach is to be taken in order to facilitate the implementation of a more seamless integration of language and content in Colombian EAP classrooms.


Longitudinal KD(asterisk)Ps are used in ground-based solar magnetographs to eliminate seeing effects by rapidly changing their retardation characteristics. Although one of the main applications for longitudinal KD(asteriak)Ps has been their use as a variable retarder for 'imaging' applications, an understanding of their limitations is important when developing scientific instruments that make very accurate polarization measurements. This paper discusses some of the problems associated with the use of these devices in the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) vector magnetograph, including temperature, field of view errors, and electrical characteristics.


This article describes a substitution model of states' responses to dissident behavior and a statistical test of some sequential hypotheses that are derived from the model. It is motivated by an interest in understanding the sequential response of states to dissident activity. That is, if dissidents protest, what will the state do next? Similarly, if dissidents are cooperative, what will the state do next? The author argues that the answer to both of these questions depends on the interaction of the state's most recent behavior (i.e., repression or accommodation) and the dissident's response. The model produces the hypothesis that states substitute repression for accommodation, and vice versa, in response to dissident protest. Statistical analysis of evidence from Peru and Sri Lanka, 1955 to 1991, suggests that the model captures well the sequential responses of the Peruvian and Sri Lankan governments to dissident behavior during that period.


Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are rare mesenchymal-originated tumors with more than 50 different histologies identified. Not every histology in STS responds to immunotherapy and immunologic predictive markers are lacking. The purpose of this study is to establish an immune classification of STS by analysis of the transcriptome. This was performed by using a deconvolution method that allowed us to quantify 8 immune populations and endothelial cells. As a secondary objective, we searched for a surrogate biomarker that could be assessable in the clinic. We analyzed transcriptomic data of four publicly available datasets, accounting for 608 complex genomic STS, including leiomyosarcoma (LMS, 35.4%), dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS, 33.9%) and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS, 30.8%). By using the MCP-Counter deconvolution method, we characterized the tumor microenvironment (TME) of these tumors and established a robust immune classification that is consistent through various cohorts. We classified the patients into 5 Sarcoma Immune Classes (SIC), labeled as A1, A2, B, C1 and C2. The A1 and A2 groups are associated with very low to low immune infiltrates. Conversely, SIC C1 and C2 tumors are characterized by strong to very strong expression of signatures associated to all immune cells. SIC B tumors are characterized by a high expression of endothelial cell signature, an intermediate presence of neutrophils, and a rather low infiltration by other immune cell types. Regarding functional orientation of the TME, gene signatures associated with immune cells chemotaxis activation and survival, expression of major histocompatibility complex class I, and regulatory T-cells are highly expressed in SIC C1 and C2, modestly expressed in B and A2, and very lowly expressed in A1. Interestingly, immune checkpoint genes exhibited strong expression differences between SICs. SIC C2 had a strong expression of PD-1, PD-L2, CTLA-4 and TIM-3 genes. We also found that the lymphoid structure-associated B cell chemoattractant chemokine CXCL13 is remarkably highly expressed in C2 class. CXCL13 is associated with the presence of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS). Although all histologies are distributed in each SIC group, LMS are more commonly found in the immune low SIC A1 and A2 groups, and we also extended our analysis to other histologies such as synovial sarcoma or gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Our classification is associated with clinical outcome, and SIC group C (C1/C2) has the longest overall survival, as compared to SIC A group (A1/A2) (p = 0.015). We then validated SIC classification using STS FFPE samples (n=32). SIC classification by RNA expression was correlated with quantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) of CD3 (T-cells), DC-Lamp (activated dendritic cells), CD20 (B cells), CD8 (CD8+ T-cells), and CD34 (endothelial cells). Densities of CD3 (p=0.0033), CD8 (p=0.004) and CD20 (p=0.00043) were significantly higher in SIC C tumors. Tumor SIC B groups have a higher, albeit nonsignificant (p=0.6) expression of CD34+ endothelial cells. In the validation cohort, SIC group C is associated with a better prognosis (p=0.053). We further investigated whether TLS were a marker of the immune-high SIC C group. Not surprisingly, TLS-positive tumors were found only in SIC C2 (100%, 9/9) and C1 (50%, 3/6) groups of the validation cohort. We expanded the validation cohort (n = 93) to analyze the correlation between TLS and CD3+/CD8+/CD20+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. We found that the presences of each type of TILs all are significantly associated with the presence of TLS (CD3, CD8, CD20, all p values Citation Format: Wei-Wu Tom Chen, Florent Petitprez, Cheng-Ming Sun, Laetitia Lacroix, Aurelien de Reynies, Antoine Italiano, Maud Toulmonde, Carlo Lucchesi, Yec9han Laizet, Catherine Sautes-Fridman, Wolf Herve Fridman. Immune-based classification of soft-tissue sarcoma is associated with clinical outcome and unveils tertiary lymphoid structures as surrogate biomarker for the clinic [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Fourth CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; Sept 30-Oct 3, 2018; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2019;7(2 Suppl):Abstract nr PR03.