As a result of retrospective analysis of 105 case histories of patients with obstructive jaundice of non-malignant genesis and of studied group of patients in 2000-2008 years we discovered peculiarities of modification, of liver's enzymes and integral hematologic indices. We ascertained that at the admission to hospital hematologic indices and liver's enzymes of patients differed from the ones in check group. All the patients had surgeries in one of two ways laparotomy or endoscopy. At endoscopic intervention in comparison with laparotomies hematologic indices and liver's enzymes decreased faster and patients' state flattened out earlier.


Perfection culture of salt industry in China and the development of local cultural industries have dialectic relationship strategies.There are important linkages with each other and a relationship of mutual promotion.Salt culture industry development is based on local cultural industry development strategy,overall planning and development of local cultural industry.It contributes to the realization of industrial salt culture construction and development.To solve the problems in the development process of the salt in the cultural industry,will help to play a diverse value industrial salt culture,development and protection of cultural resources is not only conducive to salt,and contributes to the development of the local economy,and more help to the early realization of promoting socialist cultural power construction.Understanding this relationship is conducive to the further development of industrial salt culture.


In this study, the protective role of salicylic acid (SA) in relation to the water status, chlorophyll content, antioxidant defense and glyoxalase system was investigated in drought stressed mustard (Brassica juncea L. cv. BARI Sharisha 11) seedlings. Two sets of 10-d-old seedlings were subjected to two different levels of drought (10% and 20% PEG, 48h), where one set of seedlings was supplemented with 50 μM SA. The relative water content (RWC), Chl b and Chl (a+b) decreased at any level of drought, while Chl a content decreased only at severe drought (20% PEG). Drought stress caused a sharp increase in proline (Pro) content. A sharp increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 was observed in both levels of stresses. Decline in AsA content and increase in GSH and GSSG content was observed at both levels of drought. Compared to control the activities of catalase (CAT) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) did not change due to drought stress. The activity of glutathione reductase (GR) slightly increased only at 10% PEG, while ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity increased at any level of stress. The activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and glyoxalase II (Gly II) decreased only at severe stress (20% PEG), while dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glyoxalase I (Gly I) activities decreased at any level of stress. Spraying with SA alone had little influence on the non-enzymatic antioxidants and the activities of antioxidant enzymes. However, supplementation of SA in drought stressed seedlings increased the RWC and Chl content, increased the AsA and GSH, decreased the GSSG content and maintained a higher ration of GSH/GSSG. Salicylic acid supplemented drought stressed seedlings also enhanced the activities of MDHAR, DHAR, GR, GPX, CAT, Gly I, and Gly II as compared to the drought-stressed plants without SA supplementation, with a concomitant decrease in H2O2, and lipid peroxidation level. These results suggest that the exogenous application of SA assisted the plants to become more tolerant to drought stress-induced oxidative damage by enhancing their antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems.


The information industry assumes that information is seen as a valued resource that enables organizations and individuals to improve their effectiveness, efficiency, and overall competitiveness. For the information industry to bridge rather than divide further the global economy to information rich and information poor, we need to understand how firms, particularly local firms, can pioneer or participate in the information industry in emerging economies that do not inherently embrace information as a valued business resource. This research examines how one local firm shaped the external environment to pioneer a local information industry in Mexico and how it competes in a newly opened local market against foreign competitors. In doing so, the paper extends the resource-based view of the firm to a developing country context. The dynamic capabilities of strategic foresight and flexibility, coupled with a core competency of trustworthiness, are found to be critical in effecting internal and external change in an unstable environment.


The LISE code is intended to simulate medium-energy and high-energy fragment separators with electrostatic and/or magnetic selections. It is based on first-order optics and transport integral convolution techniques. Fragment separators such as LISE3, SISSI/LISE3 and SPEG at GANIL, FRS at GSI, COMBAS and ACCULINA at Dubna, A1200 and A1900 at NSCL, and RIPS at RIKEN are based on the separation of projectile-like fragments, and can be easily simulated via optical configuration files. The reaction mechanism assumed in this program is projectile fragmentation, suitable to simulate experiments at beam energies above 30 A MeV. However, built-in tools such as the physical calculator, nucleus database utilities, relativistic reaction kinematics calculations and beam optics transport calculations make it a very useful tool below this energy limit as well. The program can therefore be used for forecasting and tuning experiments using heavy-ion beams with energies ranging from 10 keV up to a few GeV per nucleon.  2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the best brownies treatment which has the lowest energy value, fiber content and the highest antioxidant activity in different figs fruit formulations. The research design used was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The organoleptic assay using panelists of untrained women of childbearing age (WUS). The effectiveness test produces the best treatment on the substitution of 60% of figs with yield value of 0.98. There is a significant difference in the brownies acceptance in the Friedman statistical test (Chi-square count > Chi-Square table). The parameters that analyzed were carbohydrate, protein, fat, water content, ash content, total crude fiber, antioxidant activity (IC50) and calory value. Statistical tests using Anova and Duncan Multiple Comparison showed significant differences in nutrient levels in brownies treatment (significance <0.05). The results showed the highest carbohydrate content in brownies without treatment was 23.16% and the treatment of 20% figs was 21.18%. Protein content without treatment was 7.43% and highest in the treatment of 20% figs was 7.16%. The highest fat content in brownies without treatment was 20.21% and the highest in the treatment of 20% figs was 19.72%. The best water content in brownis without treatment was 26.66% and in the treatment of 20% figs was 35.21%. The best ash content in the 60% brownies treatment was 1.26% and in the 40% treatment was 1.43%. The best crude fiber content is in the formulation treatment of 60% figs by 2.42% and the treatment of figs by 40% with a fiber content of 2.18%. The highest IC50 in the treatment of 60% figs was 117.15 ppm. The best treatment of steamed brownies in figs formulations has the highest of fiber content and the highest antioxidant activity among all treatments.

Keywords: Antioxidant, brownies, figs fruit, nutrient, organoleptic

ABSTRAK
Tujuan penelitian adalah mengetahui perlakuan terbaik brownis yang memiliki nilai energi paling rendah, kadar serat dan aktivitas antioksidan tertinggi pada formulasi buah tin yang berbeda. Rancangan penelitian yang digunakan adalah Rancangan Acak Lengkap (RAL). Uji organoleptik menggunakan panelis tidak terlatih pada kelompok wanita usia subur (WUS). Uji efektivitas menghasilkan perlakuan terbaik pada substitusi 60% buah tin dengan nilai hasil 0,98. Terdapat perbedaan nyata daya terima brownis pada uji statistik Friedman (Chi-Square hitung > Chi-Square tabel). Parameter yang dianalisa adalah kadar karbohidrat, protein, lemak, kadar air, kadar abu, total  serat kasar, aktivitas  antioksidan (IC50) dan nilai energi. Uji  statistik menggunakan Anova
dan Duncan Multiple Comparison menunjukkan perbedaan kadar zat gizi yang nyata pada perlakuan brownis (signifikansi<0.05). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan kadar karbohidrat tertinggi pada brownis tanpa perlakuan sebesar 23,16% dan perlakuan 20% buah tin sebesar 21,18%. Kadar protein tanpa perlakuan adalah 7,43% dan tertinggi pada perlakuan 20% buah tin sebesar 7.16%. Kadar lemak tertinggi pada brownis tanpa perlakuan sebesar 20,21% dan tertinggi pada perlakuan 20% buah tin adalah 19,72%. Kadar air terbaik pada brownis tanpa perlakuan sebesar 26,66% dan pada perlakuan 20% buah tin sebesar 35.21%. Kadar abu terbaik pada brownis perlakuan 60% sebesar 1,26% dan pada perlakuan 40% adalah 1,43%. Kadar serat kasar yang terbaaik ada pada perlakuan formulasi 60% buah tin sebesar 2,42% dan perlakuan buah tin 40% dengan kadar serat 2,18%. IC50 tertinggi pada perlakuan 60% buah tin sebesar 117,15 ppm. Perlakuan terbaik brownis kukus formulasi buah tin memiliki nilai kalori terendah, kadar serat dan aktivitas antioksidan yang tertinggi diantara semua perlakuan.

Kata kunci: Antioksidan, brownis, buah tin, organoleptik, zat gizi


238 Background: Oligometastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (omCSPC) represents an early state along the progression of metastatic disease in which patients experience improved outcomes compared to those with higher disease burden. Despite the generally more indolent nature, much heterogeneity still exists with some patients experiencing a more aggressive clinical course unexplained by clinical features alone. Here we correlate tumor genomics with modes of progression (MOP) and patterns of failure (POF) following treatment for omCSPC. Methods: We performed an international multi-institutional retrospective study of men treated for metachronous omCSPC, who underwent tumor next generation sequencing (NGS) with at least 1 year of follow-up. Descriptive POF and MOP were reported with respect to presence of genomic alterations in pathways of interest. Genomic pathways of interest included TP53, SPOP, WNT ( APC, CTNNB1, RNF43), DNA double strand break repair, cell cycle genes ( Rb1, CCND1–3, CDKN1B, and CDKN2A), and PI3K/AKT/mTOR. MOP were defined as oligoprogression (1-3 lesions), polyprogression (≥4 lesions), or long-term control (LTC, no radiographic progression at last follow-up). POF included location of lesions at first failure. Overall survival (OS) was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Genomic associations with patterns/modes of failure were compared with chi-square test. Results: 221 patients were included for analysis with the majority having either 1 (47.5%) or 2 (27.3%) metastatic lesions at oligometastasis. 5-yr OS was associated with MOP 92% vs 89% vs 69% (p<0.01) for LTC, oligo- and polyprogression respectively. TP53 mutations were associated with significantly lower rates of LTC (24.4% vs 46%, p<0.01) and cell cycle mutations associated with high rates of polyprogression (36.7% vs 15.7%, p<0.01). With respect to POF, bone failure was significantly more common within tumors harboring mutations in TP53 (41.2% vs 23.1%, p=0.01) and less common with SPOP mutations (4.2% vs 27.8%, p=0.02). Finally, visceral failures were more common in tumors harboring either WNT pathway (20% vs 5.1%, p<0.01) or SPOP (17.4% vs 5.2%, p=0.04) mutations. Notably, SPOP and WNT pathway mutations cluster together (p<0.01). Conclusions: Tumor genomics provides novel insight into patterns of failure and modes of progression following treatment for metachronous omCSPC. Patients with TP53 and cell cycle mutations have a higher likelihood of progression and TP53, SPOP, and WNT pathway mutations may have a role in metastatic organotropism.


The invention discloses an internal small hole air intake stay wire type air damper, which is an air damper which enables uniform-speed starting of an automobile glove box. The air damper comprises a cylinder, a cylinder cover, a stay wire, a piston, an O-shaped ring, a spring and the like, wherein the O-shaped ring which is arranged on an internal piston of the cylinder of the damper, is provided with a tongue piece having a valve function in the middle, forms a damping system for internal air inlet and outlet together with an exhaust hole and an air inlet hole in the piston. During air inlet, the tongue piece valve is closed, air enters the damper through the air inlet hole to have a damping effect, and the glove box is started at a uniform speed. When the glove box is closed, the tongue piece valve of the O-shaped ring in the damper is opened, and air is quickly discharged through the exhaust hole.


Objective: School-based interventions (such as life skills training) have become the mainstay for prevention of some behavioral problems. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of a social skills training program on a group of students who were in the first grade of high school in an urban area of Tehran, Iran. Method: In a before-after study, a kind of social skill education program named Right Choices' was used for high school female students. The entire studentsof a class in a high school participated in the study. The students' age ranged from 14-16 years. All of the participants lived in an urban area. Demographic characteristics were recorded in a designed questionnaire and included the name, age, educational level of the students and their parents, and prior history of psychiatric and medical condition. The total problem score and each of the subscale scores of the students before and after the study were calculated and compared. Results: The mean age of the 33 participants in the study whose SDQ answer sheets were completed was equal to 15.156.2 years (14 to 17 years). The mean total problem score of the participants in the beginning of the program was equal to 14.35. After the program, the students' total problem score and all of the subscale scores improved, however, the differences between pre- and post intervention scores were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Social skills training program may impact the problem behaviorsof the adolescent girls.


This study explores information systems security implications posed by Bring Your Own Device concept in financial services firms. Thus, the findings and recommendations from this study will help financial services and other organisations to be cognisant of the importance of BYOD policy formulation. The use of BYOD has become prevalent in the workplace due to the increased dependence on the Internet and advancements in technologies. It is beneficial to the organisation in that employees buy, use and insure their own devices, thus, the organisation does not bear these costs. However, there is a huge cost to the company if the use and connection of BYODs to the company's Information Technology infrastructure is not regulated and monitored. BYODs expose information and information systems assets to threat actors. Financial institutions handle very sensitive information, making them a target for data breach and the adoption of BYODs more hazardous. A qualitative research method was conducted with eight (8) purposefully selected participants working in the Risk, IT and Information Systems Security departments of the financial institution. Telephonic interviews were conducted in line with the national protocols of the global Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The study revealed the absence of a BYOD policy and employees could use any number of personal devices without restrictions. Users were aware of information systems security policies and protocols because of the annual training and awareness programmes.


The performance of an ANAMMOX(anaerobic ammonium oxidation) fixed-bed reactor was tested and the process kinetics characteristics of the reactor was analyzed.The ANAMMOX reactor was successfully operated within 86 days with denitrifying activated sludge as inoculum.When operated at a hydraulic retention time of 2 h and influent total nitrogen of 608 mg·L-1,corresponding to a nitrogen loading rate of 7.34 kg·m-3·d-1,the maximum total substrate removal rate of 6.11 kg·m-3·d-1 was observed.Second-order and a modified Stover-Kincannon models well fitted the ANAMMOX fixed reactor under the substrate non-inhibition conditions.The maximum total substrate removal rate achieved in this study was still far lower than the theoretical value 12.4 kg·m-3·d-1 deduced from the Stover-Kincannon model,which indicated great potential in improving reactor performance.


ABSTRACT Although not as renowned as the assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, on October 27, 2017 some of the elected representatives of the Catalan Parliament, those who are in favor of Catalonia's independence from Spain, unilaterally declared Catalonia's independence against the Spanish Constitution, Spanish laws and the decisions of the courts. This article studies the main violations of Spanish democracy that occurred in those three years from 2015 to 2017, plunging Catalonia into a territory at the edge of security and democracy.


The intrinsic point defect influence data for [Formula: see text]–Si3N4 by far are incomplete and experimental clarification is not easy. In this contribution, the effects of vacancy ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) and interstitial ([Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) defects on the electronic properties of H-passivated [Formula: see text]–Si3N4 (0001) surface are explored based on density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The results show that it is easier to form [Formula: see text] vacancy defects in the surface layer under Si-rich conditions. The existence of N vacancies makes the bottom of conduction bands shift downwards, and the top of valance band is away from Fermi level. The presence of [Formula: see text] makes the system have the characteristics of p-type semiconductor, and the closer to the inner layer, the narrower the range of additional energy bands and the greater the degree of localization of electrons. The closer the Si atom vacancy is to the surface, the smaller the photon energy corresponding to the maximum absorption coefficient is. Compared with the N vacancy system, the Si vacancy system has higher reflection ability in the low energy region. For the interstitial defect systems, [Formula: see text] is easy to form on the surface layer, and [Formula: see text] is easy to produce in the inner layer. The [Formula: see text] system has a new additional energy level at the Fermi level, and as the [Formula: see text] is closer to the inner layer, the energy range of the additional energy level is also narrower. In the [Formula: see text] system, the new additional energy levels appear at the Fermi level and the intermediate band. The results have positive significance for the design of this advanced structural and functional integrated ceramics. The absorption coefficient and reflection coefficient of [Formula: see text] system are much higher than those of other systems when the energy is greater than 2.5 eV.


The Scientific Misconduct Fraud in science is a very marginal phenomenon. Yet, in each case, there is a great deal of commentary. The most recent occurrence, called the Schon affair after the name of the researcher involved, was no exception to the rule. It certainly involved the elements that constitute the ideal case of fraud: a prestigious laboratory, the Bell Laboratories, a subject in the front of research in microelectronics and some prestigious reviews as Science and Nature. Faced with these cases, one can investigate the flaws of a system – conceived by scientists themselves – intended to evaluate scientific work submitted for publication. Fraud, such as hoaxes and plagiarism, proves that there is no such thing as a system without flaws. Yet more important was the calling into question of the scientific community's dominant image as a social group which gives itself tacit rules of operation. Hence, the demand made by researchers themselves – under the pressure of public opinion – to clarify these norms, in other words to write them down in a kind of researcher's code of conduct. Briefly, the Republic of scientists writes its own code of conduct.


This report deals with the identification of samples of nematodes recovered from Tropidurus nanuzae Rodrigues, 1981, with the description of a new species, and is a part of a major study on helminth parasites of reptiles in Brazil, taking into account previous data on this subject. The main approach is that referring to the first occurrence of subulurid nematodes in a reptilian host, since they have been assigned previously to birds and mammals.


This paper uses literature,expert interviews,questionnaire survey,mathematical statistics and logical analysis,outstanding sports teams of Jiangsu Province,Coaches coaching capacity assessment classification project investigation and analysis,to tease out the commentary category items Coaches coaching ability index system and the main content.Excellent sports teams,Jiangsu Province,the project evaluation categories Coaches coaching system includes three levels of capacity to a total of 41 indicators,of which 7 2 33 3 targets and indicators.Analysis of the importance of the related indicators,as well as coaches at all levels,the strength of the level of the indicators.This research results in order to further enhance the ability to clear the coaches coaching direction for the athletic sports training,assessment category management departments to appraise the project to provide a theoretical coaches coaching reference.


Numerically intensive calculations are not well supported by Prolog, yet there are important applications that require tightly coupled symbolic and numeric calculations. The Aquarius Numeric Processor (ANP) is an extended numeric Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) based on the Berkeley Programmed Logic Machine (PLM) to support integrated symbolic and numeric calculations. This extension expands the existing numeric data type to include 32- and 64-bit integers, single and double precision floating-point numbers conforming to the IEEE Standard P754. A new class of data structure, numeric arrays, is added to represent matrices and arrays found in most scientific programming languages. Powerful numeric instructions are included to manipulate the new data types. Dynamic Operand Coercion (DOC) provides dynamic type checking and coercing of operands. The ANP and PLM together provide for the efficient execution of symbolic and numeric operations written in AI languages such as Prolog and Lisp.


Background: West Syndrome, or infantile spasms, is a seizure disorder characterized by axial spasms in clusters, hypsarrhythmia, and psychomotor delay within the infant's first year of life. Infantile Spasms are believed to have originated in the brain stem with projections going to the cortex to cause hypsarrhythmia and to the spinal cord causing seizures. In this research, we were looking to see if IL-6 plays a role in the development of infantile spasms before seizures and looking at the expression of IL-6 before and after NMDA in beta vs. saline primed animals. Methods: Immunohistochemistry, or IHC, is a staining technique used to amplify certain proteins to make them more visible under the microscope. Betamethasone is a drug administered to the rat mothers whilst pregnant at G15. Betamethasone is a way to mimic prenatal stress to see its affect on the mice after they are born and its role in seizure susceptibility to induced Infantile Spasms. Density analysis is one method used instead of counting because the staining did not have defined cellular patterns visible enough to accurately count. Using a computer program (ImageJ), we subtracted the foreground intensity from the background. Results: In our research, it was found that the controls (saline-injected) had a foreground to background density number of roughly 16. Anything above that would imply there is greater background to foreground staining, therefore there are more positive proteins being accounted for. Where the staining is darker, or the number is greater than 16, it implies that there is a greater amount of IL-6 positive cells. It was concluded that there was a lower number and lighter staining in the beta animals than the saline animals. There was a 25% decrease in color density meaning there was a decrease in the IL-6 presence in the beta animals. presence in the beta animals. Conclusions: Prenatal stress (ie. beta) affects the development of the immune system during infancy. Changes in IL-6 expression may underlie mechanisms affecting seizure susceptibility in stressed animals however further experimentation is needed to test this. From these results it is clear that prenatal stress affects development and expression of inflammatory proteins, such as IL-6, and this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the pathology of infantile spasms leading to development of better, more effective treatments in the future. It can be said that priming alone (prenatal saline vs beta) does not affect baseline expression of IL-6 protein in the superior cerebellar peduncle (scp) however after induction of spasms on postnatal day 15 with NMDA there is a greater increase in IL-6 expression in beta primed animals compared to saline (beta NMDA vs saline NMDA). Discussion: This data suggests that although beta priming does not immediately affect IL-6 expression or regulation, it does change the regulatory pathways associated with controlling its expression (ie. immune pathways) and therefore after an insult, such as NMDA-induced spasms, there is an overcompensation and increased expression of IL-6. IL-6 is proinflammatory therefore it may suggest a general increase in inflammatory response after NMDA in pups exposed to betamethasone. The increased IL-6 presence may also contribute to differences in seizure threshold in beta animals, which are lower. IL-6 can be proconvulsant therefore after initial spasms, increases in IL-6 may lead to increased vulnerability to future spasms. Prenatal stress (ie. beta) affects the development of the immune system during infancy. Changes in IL-6 expression may underlie mechanisms affecting seizure susceptibility in stressed animals however further experimentation is needed to test this. From these results it is clear that prenatal stress affects development and expression of inflammatory proteins, such as IL-6, and this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the pathology of infantile spasms leading to development of better, more effective treatments in the future.


A two-dimensional (2D) cellular automaton (CA) model is proposed to simulate the ferrite-austenite transformation in binary low-carbon steels. In the model, the preferential nucleation sites of austenite, the driving force of phase transformation coupled with thermodynamic parameters, solute partition at the ferrite/austenite interface, and carbon diffusion in both the ferrite and austenite phases are taken into consideration. The proposed model is applied to simulate the ferrite-to-austenite transformation during isothermal heating at 760°C that is in the ferrite and austenite two-phase range, the austenite-to-ferrite transformation during continuous cooling, and carbon diffusion during tempering at different temperatures for an Fe-0.2969 mol.% C alloy. The results show that during the isothermal heating, austenite nucleates and grows. The austenite grains are mostly located at the boundaries of ferrite grains. The carbon concentration in austenite is higher than that in ferrite. The simulated microstructure agrees reasonably well with the experimental observation. During the continuous cooling process, the austenite-to-ferrite transformation occurs accompanied with carbon diffusion. After cooling from the heating temperature of 760°C to room temperature with a cooling rate of 2°C/s, the carbon concentration field is nearly uniform, while a higher cooling rate of 5°C/s results in a non-uniform carbon concentration field. After tempering at different temperatures for 20 min, the uniformity of carbon distribution increases with increasing tempering temperature. The simulation results are used to understand the mechanisms of the observed experimental phenomena that a cold-rolled low-carbon enameling steel presents different yield strengths after different heat treatment processes.


Associate Professor of Theology Brian MacLaren typifies the dissatisfaction of the emergent over the format and praxis of modern churches. Such reactions ignore Psalm 1 in setting forth the source and impact of a proper worldview, a definitive conclusion about a proper worldview, and a formal approved conclusion as to a proper worldview. Though Emergent churches might identify themselve s as evangelical, they still r egister dissatisfaction with the existing evangelical church, a dissatisfaction that spills over and affects emergent's doctrine of salvation. The language of Emergent churches ignores a number of traditional soteriological terms and redefines others. Emergent soteriology replaces biblical emphasis on a person's eternal destiny with emphasis on one's future condition and status in t he pres ent life, i gnoring the impact o f present behavior on future destiny. Because of selling short the words of Scripture, Emergent perspectives also are woefully errant in understanding the work of Christ on the cross. Emergents have rev ised the m eaning of the well-known ac rostic TULIP, depriving it of meanings given it in the Bible. They have an inclusivist view of the eternal destiny of the unsaved, leaning toward the position of universalism. Rather than following the worldview of Psalm 1, the movement has fallen into a pattern resulting from present-world philosophy.


We have seen that Bernoulli Processes and Poisson Processes can be used to model the behaviour of software. Bertrand Ricque raised the question how the concepts of Bernoulli and Poisson processes relate to the IEC 61508 notions of "Continuous/highdemand mode" and "low-demand mode". Those concepts of "mode" occur in Tables 2 and 3 of IEC 61508-1:2010 [1, Part 1: General Requirements], which set the safety requirements for safety functions. I explore here the relation between the statistical concepts and the IEC 61508 "modes".


In this paper the effect of durability modelling on the design of a textile reinforced concrete (TRC) building element is studied. The effect of long-term evolution of the strength is discussed for self-bearing sandwich elements with TRC faces, used as wall cladding elements. In this paper, focus is put on design according to ultimate limit state. Several strength loss models are calibrated on accelerated ageing experiments. These calibrated models are then used to make long term predictions for the sandwich panels and results are discussed.


This paper studies the effect of improved early-life health care, through assignment to a special care nursery (SCN), on childhood development and school achievement. We use linked administrative data in the Northern Territory of Australia and exploit the fact that assignment to SCN is largely based on rules of thumb involving low birth weight thresholds. We find large positive effects of SCN assignment on development at age five and some persistent improvements in test scores. Our results suggest that costly early-life health interventions, that are shown to increase survival probabilities of children in the short run, can also substantially boost cognitive and non-cognitive skills.


Significance The mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) belongs to the emerging class of higher-order signaling machines that adopt a filamentous state on activation and propagate in a prion-like manner. Structures of helical filaments are challenging due to their size and variable symmetry parameters, which are notoriously difficult to obtain, but are a prerequisite for structure determination by electron microscopy and by solid-state NMR. Here we describe a strategy for their efficient de novo determination by a grid-search approach based exclusively on solid-state NMR data. In combination with classical NMR structure calculation, we could determine the atomic resolution structure of fully functional filaments formed by the globular caspase activation and recruitment domain of MAVS. A careful validation highlights the general applicability of this approach. The controlled formation of filamentous protein complexes plays a crucial role in many biological systems and represents an emerging paradigm in signal transduction. The mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) is a central signal transduction hub in innate immunity that is activated by a receptor-induced conversion into helical superstructures (filaments) assembled from its globular caspase activation and recruitment domain. Solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectroscopy has become one of the most powerful techniques for atomic resolution structures of protein fibrils. However, for helical filaments, the determination of the correct symmetry parameters has remained a significant hurdle for any structural technique and could thus far not be precisely derived from ssNMR data. Here, we solved the atomic resolution structure of helical MAVSCARD filaments exclusively from ssNMR data. We present a generally applicable approach that systematically explores the helical symmetry space by efficient modeling of the helical structure restrained by interprotomer ssNMR distance restraints. Together with classical automated NMR structure calculation, this allowed us to faithfully determine the symmetry that defines the entire assembly. To validate our structure, we probed the protomer arrangement by solvent paramagnetic resonance enhancement, analysis of chemical shift differences relative to the solution NMR structure of the monomer, and mutagenesis. We provide detailed information on the atomic contacts that determine filament stability and describe mechanistic details on the formation of signaling-competent MAVS filaments from inactive monomers.


A decade has passed since the first meeting of Endoscopy Forum Japan (EFJ) was held in 1999 aiming for internationalization, standardization, and cooperation between engineers and endoscopists.den_1002 1 Since one of the primary commitments of EFJ was to develop our international senses, all presentation and discussions have been conducted in English. An equally important goal is to standardize endoscopic procedures, in both diagnostic and therapeutic methods and related procedures. Furthermore, we are actively promoting joint academic and industry research to stimulate to each other for the further advances in GI endoscopy. Over the years, EFJ has played a key role in the development and spreading of new endoscopic diagnosis and therapeutic methods and technologies. The new ideas and insights derived from these conferences have been circulated around the world as supplemental materials from Digestive Endoscopy. The organizing committee of EFJ published a book of the results we have achieved in the last one decade entitled New Challenges in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in order to distribute our results to the endoscopists and to contribute to the development of endoscopy all over the world in 2008. EFJ's third term was started with new and younger board members of the organizing committee in 2009 by the following members, chairman; K. Yasuda, M.D., secretary general; M. Muto M.D.,program committee;M.Fujishiro M.D.,A.Irisawa M.D., T. Itoi, M.D., Y. Saito, M.D., N. Uedo, M.D. and H. Yamano, M.D., Editorial member;A. Kawaguchi, M.D. and S. Tanaka, M.D., advisory board; M. Kaminishi, M.D. (President of JGES) and H.Tajiri, M.D (chairman of EFJ's second term). The 11th EFJ was held on 1 and 2 August in Otaru, Hokkaido. Forty-three Japanese endoscopists including organizing committee members attended this two-day event, as well as seven of the world's foremost doctors: Dr Michel John Bourke (Australia), Dr Dong-Kyung Chang (Korea), Philip Wai Yan Chiu (Hong-Kong), Dong-Ki Lee (Korea), Choon Jin Ooi, (Singapore), Hsiu-Po Wang (Taiwan), and Yun-sheng Yang (China). The forum was divided into two sessions of Clinical and New Technology. The clinical session was to discuss the current situation and the future perspectives in the following aspects: Consensus session for appropriate managements of bleeding non malignant gastro-duodenal ulcers, Indication for endoscopic resection of colorectal polyps and surveillance guidelines, and Stone management of the bile duct. The new technology session was conducted in the format of and interactive hands-on trial of the following prototype models: Forward View Convex EUS scope and Optical Coherence tomography (OCT). And each group presented a summary of group-work report on the second day. Dr M.J. Bourke gave a special lecture on "ANZELFT" a platform for multicenter collaborative research in the evening on first day. The involvement of colleague from foreign countries and the active discussions that happened at the forum are extremely crucial to achieve the universal goal in future strategy of techniques and cooperative researches with many countries. We would like to thank all of the participants for their excellent presentations and discussions and for sparing their time to prepare the manuscripts for this supplement. I really appreciate Dr Atsushi Kawaguchi and Dr. Shinji Tanaka, the Editorial board members of EFJ, for their great effort to publish this supplement and also the Editorial Board of Digestive Endoscopy for their support and giving us the opportunity to publish the results of EFJ 2009. We also express our deepest appreciation to Olympus Medical Systems Corp. for their continuous support.


As for a Global Technical Regulation (GTR) legform impactor, which is discussed at the United Nations ECE/WP29/GRSP, a flexible pedestrian legform impactor (Flex-PLI) and a rigid legform impactor (TRL-LFI) are proposed. However, as for the Flex-PLI, evaluation test for its repeatability and reproducibility has not been confirmed. Besides, its advantage over the TRL-LFI must be demonstrated in full-scale vehicle tests. In this research, several kinds of loading tests were conducted on the Flex-PLI, and its favorable repeatability and reproducibility was confirmed. Besides, vehicle tests were performed using the Flex-PLI and the TRL-LFI, and the Flex-PLI demonstrated its higher biofidelity and load measurability in full-scale vehicle tests.


This research was undertaken with gracious support of the UK Technology Strategy Board Project No: TP11/ HVM/6/I/AB194F. RECLAIM project contributions are gratefully acknowledged from: Airfoil Technologies International Llc, Cummins Inc, De Montfort University, Delcam plc, Electrox Ltd, Manufacturing Technology Centre Ltd, TWI Ltd, Precision Engineering Technologies Ltd, and Renishaw plc.


The utility model discloses a display bracket base, which comprises a base body, wherein the base body is provided with a mounting hole for mounting a bracket; a switch assembly, a negative ion generator and a control circuit board are arranged in the base body; the back side wall of the base body is provided with a power supply USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface connected with a computer host, and a first USB interface connected with a USB interface of the computer host; the switch assembly, the negative ion generator, the power supply USB interface and the first USB interface are all connected with the control circuit board; the front side wall of the base body is provided with a second USB interface connected with the first USB interface; the top of the base body is provided with a button matched with the switch assembly; the top of the base body is also provided with a window through which the negative ion generator can transmit negative ions. The display bracket base is convenient for plugging in mobile equipment such as a U flash disk, and has a function of purifying air.


Salt and alkali tolerance of some important agricultural kharif and rabi crops was studied in pots on natural soils of varying grades of salinity and alkalinity in Uttar Pradesh. The tolerance was tested on the basis of germination and subsequent stand of crops during early period of their growth. A list of crops with varying tolerance to salts and alkali has been drawn out for various classes of saline and alkali soils on the basis of the investigation. The relative tolerance of these crops has been discussed. It has generally been observed that kharif crops are more sensitive to salts but can fairly stand the soil alkali. Rabi crops, on the other hand, are more tolerant to the salt, but sensitive to soil alkali. Amongst kharif crops maize, urd, cotton, jowar, paddy, madua and dhaincha are more tolerant. Paddy can resist alkali but is susceptible to salinity. Amongst rabi crops wheat and barley have shown better tolerance than others. Crops like pea, gram, masoor, berseem, oats, linseed and mustard are most sensitive to salt and alkali conditions.


The awareness of halal cosmetics has been rising among Muslim consumers, particularly female youths in Indonesia, for years. However, it has always been contentious whether this trend is stimulated by the increasing religiosity and Islamic religious understanding among the populace. The study aims to investigate the reasons behind the consumption and its links to the understanding of halal cosmetic products among female Muslim university students, particularly those living in Yogyakarta. For the study, 105 female Muslim students were questioned via a google-form survey, followed by in-depth qualitative phone interviews with 12 of them to gather the required data. The study presents that even though valuing more the safety, quality, and Halal certification status of cosmetic products they have been consuming, female Muslim students prefer to put first the two factors before the third one, followed by others, including the price, adverts, friends' recommendation. It is revealed that they have shown good knowledge and understanding to look out carefully the ingredients, how to use and safety warning of cosmetic products rather than simply choosing them for religious reasons. Various understanding regarding the halal certification of cosmetic products and its social and religious implications for Muslims have played essential roles in influencing the preference of these female Muslim students.


Research suggests that genetic syndromes associated with intellectual disability often have specific cognitive and behavioural profiles. It has been suggested that educational approaches need to reflect these profiles. Parents (n = 381) and teachers (n = 204) of children with one of four syndromes, fragile X syndrome, Prader‐Willi syndrome, Williams syndrome and velo-cardio-facial syndrome were surveyed. Syndromes were compared with respect to what parents and teachers had researched or been told with respect to appropriate educational approaches. Parent and teacher reports were subsequently compared with actual published guidelines on the syndromes. Teachers were also surveyed on what they felt were successful approaches based on actual experiences of teaching the children. Parent and teacher reports of efficacious strategies for supporting their children based on what they had been researched or been told differed across syndromes as might be anticipated. However, differences between parents and teachers and between parent/teacher reports and the published guidelines suggest that parent and teacher knowledge of guidelines is deficient and/or that parents and teachers are accessing knowledge elsewhere. With respect to teaching practices, there were much less differences between the syndromes than in the published guidelines indicating that differences between syndromes in guidelines may not be as evident in practice.


A NEW METHOD IS DESCRIBED WHICH HAS BEEN FOUND SUITABLE FOR SUPPLYING MASS DATA ON ROAD ACCIDENT EXPOSURE FOR THE COMPARISON OF RISK POTENTIALS OF VARIOUS DRIVERS, VEHICLES, AND ROAD NETWORKS. A SELECTION OF ACCIDENT INVOLVEMENT RATES OF CARS PER 100,000,000 MILES OF PERFORMANCE, OBTAINED BY THE ABOVE METHOD, IS PRESENTED. THE RATES GIVEN, COMPARE RISK POTENTIALS OF CARS OF VARIOUS AGE, CLASSES AND YEARS OF MANUFACTURE, USED IN METROPOLITAN BRISBANE IN 1961. THE EFFECT OF THE AGE AND SEX OF THE DRIVER, THE DAY OF WEEK ON WHICH THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED, AND THE POWER/WEIGHT RATIO OF THE VEHICLES INVOLVED ON CAR-INVOLVEMENT RATES ARE DISCUSSED. /RRL/


With the advent of the Internet and digital libraries, as well as the proliferation of multilingual information, sophisticated methods of representation and indexing, and the retrieval of such information is essential. In recent years, the amount of electronically available information has escalated. The non-English information (information in Asian and European languages) is growing rapidly. Although several reports are available on cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) with European languages, no research on Japanese-Chinese CLIR has so far been reported. In this thesis, I concentrate on these two languages, which are quite different from European languages in the sense that semantically rich ideographic Han-characters (hereafter, Kanji) are used in the writing systems of both languages. I explore several strategies using the Kanji and Kanji-derived-semantics for indexing and retrieval of Japanese and Chinese information. The Kanji-based Interlingual framework proposed in this thesis for Japanese-Chinese information retrieval is a flexible vector-space framework. Therefore, projection and dimensionality reduction techniques, such as the singular value decomposition (SVD), are easy to incorporate with this framework. SVD, the underlying technique of the latent semantic indexing (LSI) is capable of a term-to-concept mapping. This thesis includes experimental results based on such conceptual enhancements. The goal of this research is to investigate the unique characteristics of Japanese and Chinese and to propose a suitable framework for Japanese-Chinese IR and CLIR, which takes advantage of existing developments in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Information Retrieval (IR) techniques. The proposed vector-space framework based on Kanji-semantics ∗ Doctor's Thesis, Department of Information Science, Graduate School of Information Science, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, NAIST-IS-DT-9861207, August, 30, 2001.


The wireless control technology, power line carrier technology, GPRS and other embedded technology are used to designs a home emergency system which receives start signal from users by wireless and uses GPRS to send help messages to specific persons, moreover starts the alarm and controls the lights to twinkle by PLC technology, so if the users are in trouble they can get help as soon as possible. The experiment result shows that this scheme can achieve the expected effect.


About 10% of the elderly who live at home complain of some limitations in mobility, while the elderly who live in certain institutions are more than 90% dependent on at least one daily activity. The results of research conducted by Anna Hudakova and Anna Hornakova regarding mobility and quality of life in elderly and geriatric patients found that 16% had low mobility, 32% had moderate mobility and 52% had high mobility in geriatric patients with a sample of 321 respondents. The method used is the delivery of material ( counseling) and training by competent resource persons. Through community service activities, efforts are made to improve the degree of public health. Effective ROM (Range Of Motion) counseling and training activities for the elderly can improve the health and independence of the elderly to meet the needs of daily activities in an effort to support government programs namely the Healthy Living Community Movement (GERMAS), especially the elderly community.


Voice based interaction in a smart home has become a feature of many industrial products. These systems react to voice commands, whether it is for answering a question, providing music or turning on the lights. To be efficient, these systems must be able to extract the intent of the user from the voice command. Intent recognition from voice is typically performed through automatic speech recognition (ASR) and intent classification from the transcriptions in a pipeline. However, the errors accumulated at the ASR stage might severely impact the intent classifier. In this paper, we propose an End-to-End (E2E) model to perform intent classification directly from the raw speech input. The E2E approach is thus optimized for this specific task and avoids error propagation. Furthermore, prosodic aspects of the speech signal can be exploited by the E2E model for intent classification (e.g., question vs imperative voice). Experiments on a corpus of voice commands acquired in a real smart home reveal that the state-of-the art pipeline baseline is still superior to the E2E approach. However, using artificial data generation techniques we show that significant improvement to the E2E model can be brought to reach competitive performances. This opens the way to further research on E2E Spoken Language Understanding.


With the progress and development of science and technology, the wave of digital civilization characterized by digitalization and networking has brought about a major change in economic development, society and life style. The booming development of the digital economy has promoted the construction wave of the digital economy infrastructure. Digital infrastructure, as a channel of data circulation and a necessary element of the in-depth development of digital economy, has become an important development direction and investment direction of the development of digital economy, and has also attracted the attention of the country and the government. After summarizing the relationship between predecessors and digital infrastructure, digital economy and economic development, this paper analyzes the specific mechanism of digital economy to economic development from the macro level, and changes the traditional factor utilization mode and factor form by analyzing digital infrastructure. It analyzes how the digital infrastructure affects the development of the economy. At the same time, the difficulties of the current digital infrastructure construction are also analyzed, and the relevant suggestions are put forward.


Before discussing potentials for expansion, I want to be sure we have a common understanding of the main terms of my subject. For example, fiber production is referred to by your Executive Secretary Hans Nienstaedt from an economic and silvicultural point of view as "a crop to be harvested in a total system beginning with the harvesting of the tree seed and ending as a roll of paper coming off the end of the paper machine." I am sure that the combined papers of this conference may cover such a broad definition — but I will not.


A device for describing an ellipse. An enclosed arcuate first slot extends through a cylindrical shell. A path-generating disc fits inside the shell and enables the shell to rotate relatively thereto, and to it is secured a square bottom plate having a plurality of sharp points for centering the device. The disc has a diametrically-extending slot and, perpendicular thereto, a diametrically-extending recess in its upper surface. A cylindrical cam has a path-defining circular projection that rides snugly back and forth in the disc's recess. A cylindrical face of the cam has a radial opening aligned with and leading into another diametrical slot and a tangential opening parallel to that slot. An eccentricity-determining rod fits through the radial opening into the cam's slot, with sliding adjustment; its inner end extends out vertically into the disc's slot, for movement back and forth therealong. A radius rod, having one end secured in the cam's tangential opening, extends out through the shell's slot, and its outer end carries scribing means. A circular top closure for the shell has a slot parallel to the disc's recess and a scale along one edge of the slot for indicating the amount of eccentricity for which the device is set.


In China there are about 20 species of edible sea cucumbers that have long been considered as a traditional medicine and tonic food. Nutrient analyses show that either the body wall or the intestine of sea cucumber has a higher nutrient value. The protein content of dried sea cucumber is more than 50 % in most edible species, while glucosaminoglycan has been detected in sea cucumber providing evidence of the pharmaceutical value of the sea cucumber. The clinical function of sea cucumber is reviewed in this paper. In order to meet the increasing demand and to protect the natural resources, the highest priority for fisheries authorities has been given to seed production of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) and to development of techniques for fanning and ranching. Sea cucumber fanning and ranching is a key part of the aquaculture sector in northern China, including the Liaoning and Shandong Provinces. The total landings from fanning reached over 5 800 tonnes (dry weight) in 2002, with the sea cucumber either directly sold to restaurants or processed as dried edible and medicinal products. China has become the largest producer of sea cucumber worldwide. Fanning methods and ranching techniques were introduced. The confusion of the quality of and species used for processed products have become the main issues retarding market development, while overexploitation of earthen ponds used for fanning sea cucumber could possibly induce a disaster similar to the shrimp viral diseases experienced in the early 1990s. Suggestions for further development involves seed production, new models of fanning and ranching, quality control of final products as well as proper resource management to protecting these endangered species


The COVID pandemic cast a harsh light on the structural and systemic health inequalities that exist in American society and in U.S. medical education. Black and Brown communities were disproportionately affected, and the pandemic highlighted the need for a diverse physician and healthcare workforce. Both the lack of equitable, high-quality healthcare in underrepresented communities and the obstacles that students who are underrepresented in medicine (URiM) experience in medical school are direct consequences of the structural racism that flourishes in U.S. medical schools and healthcare institutions. In this article, we explain structural racism and how it has manifested itself in medical education, including the lack of diversity among faculty and leadership, implicit biases and stereotypes about people of color, and discriminatory language used in evaluations of URiM students. We conclude with potential solutions for addressing structural racism in medical education. These include increasing diversity among faculty and leadership, implementing antiracist curricula, and providing mentorship and support for URiM students. Ultimately, we aim to promote discussion and action to eliminate structural racism in medical education in America.


We report a case of calcium oxalate arthropathy in a woman undergoing intermittent peritoneal dialysis who was not receiving pharmacologic doses of ascorbic acid. She developed acute arthritis, with calcium oxalate crystals in Heberden's and Bouchard's nodes, a phenomenon previously described in gout. Intermittent peritoneal dialysis may be less efficient than hemodialysis in clearing oxalate, and physicians should now consider calcium oxalate-associated arthritis in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis who are not receiving large doses of ascorbic acid.


ABSTRACT Urban malaise or unhappiness with city life is common in developed countries. City dwellers, particularly those in the largest metropolitan areas, are reported to be the least satisfied with their lives. Using the US General Social Survey (1972–2016), this paper explores the latest happiness trends. The results confirm earlier findings of urban malaise: Americans in general are happiest in smaller cities and rural areas. However, the advantage of rural living is declining – rural Americans are becoming less happy relative to urbanites. Most interestingly, the results show that the latest generation, termed 'Millennials' (1982–2004), as opposed to earlier generations, are the happiest in large cities (an estimated magnitude larger than earning an additional US$100,000 in family income annually). The possible reasons for this trend are explored and directions for future research are discussed.


Snacking, unlike meals, can happen in short, sporadic bursts, often coupled with distractions, thereby rendering the detection of such episodes a challenging problem. Despite the importance of understanding snacking behavior to monitor the dietary habits of individuals, few eating detection systems report their efficacy for detecting snacking episodes. Furthermore, due to the nature of the study designs, most eating detection systems are suited for detecting long and continuous eating events such as meals. Through a semi-naturalistic user study in the lab with 18 participants, we present our system for detecting short and sporadic chewing episodes, which are present in snacking, passively using Nokia eSense earbuds. We find that IMU data from earbuds have limited generalizability (n=18) for detecting short chewing episodes for unseen participants. Our study unpacks the significance of personalization (n=14) in short and sporadic chewing detection and quantifies the data necessary for developing such systems using a personalized approach.


Ensemble is a system that uses a collection of trusted personal devices to provide proximity-based authentication in pervasive environments. Users are able to securely pair their personal devices with previously unknown devices by simply placing them close to each other (e.g., users can pair their phones by just bringing them into proximity). Ensemble leverages a user's growing collection of trusted devices, such as phones, music players, computers and personal sensors to observe transmissions made by pairing devices. These devices analyze variations in received signal strength (RSS) in order to determine whether the pairing devices are in physical proximity to each other. We show that, while individual trusted devices can not properly distinguish proximity in all cases, a collection of trusted devices can do so reliably. Our Ensemble prototype extends Diffie-Hellman key exchange with proximity-based authentication. Our experiments show that an Ensemble-enabled collection of Nokia N800 Internet Tablets can detect devices in close proximity and can reliably detect attackers as close as two meters away.


INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study was to document the surgical experience of the Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit (R3MMU) at Kandahar Airfield Base while Canada was the lead nation for the facility. This study will help inform on future staffing, training, and deployment issues of field hospitals on military missions.

METHODS
From February 2, 2006, to October 15, 2009, the Canadian Forces Health Services served as the lead nation for the R3MMU. We retrospectively reviewed the electronic and the actual operative database during this timeframe to assess surgical workload, types of surgical procedures performed, and the involved anatomic regions of the surgical procedures.

RESULTS
During this timeframe, there were 6,735 operative procedures performed on 4,434 patients. The majority of our patients were Afghan nationals, with Afghan civilians representing 34.8%, Afghan National Security Forces 31.6%, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces 25.3%. The number of operative procedures by specialty were 3,329 in orthopedic surgery (49.4%), 2,053 general surgery (30.5%), 930 oral maxillofacial surgery (13.8%), and 272 neurosurgery (6%). The most frequently operated on body region was the soft tissue, followed by the extremities and then the abdomen. Thoracic operations were very infrequent.

CONCLUSION
Our operative data were slightly different from historical controls. Hopefully, this data will help with planning for future deployments of field hospitals on military missions.


Identifying the primary foraging grounds of abundant top predators is of importance in marine management to identify areas of high biological significance, and to assess the extent of competition with fisheries. We studied the search effort and habitat selection of the highly abundant short-tailed shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris to assess the search strategies employed by this wide-ranging seabird. During the chick-rearing period 52 indi- viduals were tracked performing 39 short foraging trips (1-2 days), and 13 long trips (11-32 days). First-passage time analysis revealed that 46% of birds performing short trips employed area-restricted searches, concentrating search effort at an average scale of 14 5 km. Foraging searches were more continuous for the other 54%, who travelled faster to cover greater distances, with little evidence of area-restricted searches. The prey returned indicated that continuous searchers consumed similar prey mass, but greater prey diversity than area-restricted search birds.On long trips 23% of birds travelled 500-1000 km to neritic (continental shelf) habitats,showing weak evidence of preference for areas of higher chlorophyll a concentration, and foraged at a similar spatial scale to short trips. The other 76% performed rapid outbound flights of 1000-3600 km across oceanic habitats commuting to regions with higher chlorophyll a. The spatial scale of search effort in oceanic habitat varied widely with some performing broad-scale searches (260-560 km) followed by finer-scale nested searches (16-170 km). This study demonstrates that a range of search strategies are employed when exploiting prey across ocean basins.The trade-offs between different search strategies are discussed to identify the value of these contrasting behaviours to wide-ranging seabirds.


There is no firm evidence that patients with breakthrough cancer pain respond better to fentanyl effervescent buccal than to the "lollipop" formulation.


OBJECTIVE To establish chiral HPLC methods for the enantiomeric separation of fourteen drugs,such as flurbiprofen and bambuterol.METHODS Enantiomeric separation of fourteen compounds was performed on a chiralpak AD column.The chiral separation of eight acid compounds(flurbiprofen,ketoprofen,mandelic acid,fluvastatin,o-chloro mandelic acid,etodolac,ibuprofen and naproxen)and six basic compounds(bambuterol,propafenone,cetirizine,nitrendipine,felodipine and nimodipine)was investigated with the mobile phase of consisting n-hexane,ethanol and different proporation of trifluoroacetic acid(TFA)or triethylamine(TEA).The mobile phase compositions were systematically investigated to obtain the optimal chromatographic profile.RESULTS The ratio of n-hexane/ethanol and the contents of acid or basic additive were the primary influencing factors for chiral separation.The good resolutions of acidic compounds flurbiprofen,ketoprofen,mandelic acid,fluvastatin,o-chloro mandelic acid,etodolac and ibuprofen were obtained with the resolution factors of 11.0,12.5,4.70,5.30,1.90,1.50 and 1.60 respectively,while the content of n-hexane was 90%~99% and TFA content was 0.1%~0.3%.The separation of enantiomers of naproxen wasn't obtained.After gradually enhanced the ratio of n-hexane and the content of TEA in mobile phase of n-hexane-ethanol-TEA,the baseline enantioseparation was obtained for basic compounds propafenone,cetirizine,bambuterol,nitrendipine and felodipine,and their resolution was 8.20,3.0,1.90,1.90 and 1.60 respectively,but nimodipine couldn't be separated.CONCLUSION Twelve compounds are separated successfully on the chiralpak AD column under suitable chromatographic conditions.


This article offers a compromise position in the longstanding and often heated debate between proponents of the Management Driven Model for teaching undergraduate Legal Environment of Business courses and those scholars supporting the Litigation Driven Model. The goal in both camps is to stimulate a desire to learn. This is especially challenging for business law professors, however, as undergraduate business students usually enroll because it is required, not because they have a deep and profound interest in learning the law. This study was designed to gain a greater understanding of the learning outcomes associated with the mock trial as an active teaching method used by those who advocate the Litigation Driven Model. Participating in a product liability mock trial presents students with the complex interplay of administrative regulations and common law with all the harsh constraints of time pressures, less than perfect trials, and financial objectives. The results may intrigue and satisfy those who believe that the use of legal constraints in business decision making is developed only through the Management Driven Model.


The utility model provides a novel fireproof cable rack which comprises a rack body, the rack body comprises a vertical fixing rod, transversal supporting rods are connected with the fixing rod, a baffle clamping groove is formed in the bottom of the supporting rod, a plurality of clamping grooves of the fixing sleeve are formed in the top of the supporting rod side by side, a fireproof baffle is inserted into the baffle clamping groove, a cable fixing sleeve is inserted in the clamping groove of the fixing sleeve, the cable fixing sleeve comprises an L-shaped base matched with the clamping grooves of the fixing sleeve, and a shrink-ring is connected with the base. The rack provided by the utility model has the advantages that the rack has a simple structure, is convenient to assemble, firm and reliable in fixing, can effectively avoid the separating of the cable from the rack and scratching, can fully protect the cable from being damaged by pulling or bending , and is good in fireproofing.


In the recent era, service quality has played a key role in each organization. This study aims to evaluate the service quality performance of ChilliesineIndian restaurants located in Taichung city of Taiwan. In this context, we have adopted the DINERSERV questionnaire after reviewing various literature. Importance performance analysis methodology has been used to understand the service performance of each service item. The study will evaluate and analyze the service quality desired as per the customer in Taichung city under the context of the service quality. IPA being a marketing tool to give a vivid picture for managers to make decision and understand their competitive advantage and improve on the rest.


Recent evaluative studies of local economic policy have emphasised the measurement of policy impacts and cost-effectiveness above all else. More effort could usefully be made to understand the mechanisms by which policy effects are produced and the circumstances which condition their effectiveness. The paper outlines a simple conceptual framework to help explain in broad terms why local industrial policies are or are not effective at creating employment. The framework is illustrated with examples drawn from an initiative in London. This involved the provision of financial assistance to local firms, but did not prove very successful at creating or securing jobs, partly because circumstances were unfavourable and the problems deep-seated. The implication is that for local policies to be effective in these conditions wider-ranging and more carefully targeted interventions are required.


Over the past two decades, the Chinese have become richer?and taller. Economic reform has transformed China's economy from a plan-centred economy into a market-centred one, raising incomes, creating considerable private wealth and reducing the incidence of poverty. Higher real incomes generally make for more food, better quality food, and better access to health care and education. That these factors have combined to improve the nutritional status of most Chinese is no better illustrated than by the marked rise in the average heights of school-age children since the late 1970s. Despite the strong upward trend in stature, as shall be seen, there are wide regional variations in the increases in height. These regional disparities largely correlate with regional variations in economic development. Not surprisingly, the better off and faster growing regions have experienced a greater rise in the nutritional status of children, as measured by average height and weight for age, than those living in areas that have witnessed slower economic development. But beyond this broad generalization, some surprising important trends are evident. In some parts of China, nutritional standards have risen by a considerably greater extent than might be expected from the available economic data. There have also been downturns in the nutritional status of sectors of the population during certain periods, and parts of the populace have not shared at all in China's economic boom. To cite just a couple of examples from this paper: the national average height of urban girls declined between 1979 and 1985, strongly suggesting a poorer nutritional intake in China's cities during the early reform period than had previously been thought; and the mean stature for almost all


In this paper we describe new achievements of surface current measurements obtained by space-borne Along-Track Interferometry (ATI). We show how tidal currents can be mapped using the TerraSAR-X satellite and adequate dual-channel SAR data processing techniques. We present results from tidal currents at the Orkney Islands that clearly demonstrate the potential and suitability of the method.


We introduce a game-theoretic framework to study the hypothesis testing problem in the presence of an adversary aiming to prevent a correct decision. Specifically, this paper considers a scenario in which an analyst has to accept or reject the null hypothesis H0 characterized by a probability mass function (pmf) PX based on the evidence provided by a test sequence. In turn, the goal of the adversary is to take a sequence generated according to a different pmf and modify it in such a way to induce a decision error. PX is known only through one or more training sequences. We derive the asymptotic equilibrium of the game under the assumption that the analyst relies only on first order statistics of the test and training sequences, and compute the asymptotic payoff of the game when the length of the sequences tends to infinity. We introduce the concept of indistinguishability region, defined as the set of pmfs that can not be distinguished reliably from PX in the presence of attacks. Two different scenarios are considered: in the first one the analyst and the adversary share the same training sequence, in the second scenario, they rely on independent sequences. The obtained results are compared with a version of the game in which the pmf PX is perfectly known to both the analyst and the adversary.


Single-step dyeing in conjunction with formaldehyde-free durable press finishing of cotton textiles is discussed. The efficacy of polycarboxylic acids (BTCA and CA) as crosslinkers when used individually and as mixtures of various ratios in conjunction with direct dyes is investigated. Wrinkle recovery and dye fixation levels are compared with the conventional two-step dyeing and finishing process. Effects of additives on dye fixation and wrinkle recovery also are addressed.


The deterministic behaviour of a sequential self-assembling system may be expressed in the form of an algorithm that predicts the products of self-assembly at any ratio of input subcomponents.


Basic principles of multiple objective planning are discussed. The need for careful, nonoverlapping, empirically measurable definitions of each objective is brought out. The limits placed on multiple objective planning by the absence of a set of social weights are pointed out, and the possibility of deducing these weights from congressional actions is discussed. The regional development objective receives particular attention.


Multidrug efflux pump is the main reason for bacterial multidrug resistance, and it's a chal- lenge for the treatment of infectious diseases. Analysis of multidrug efflux pump offers us the mecha- nism and treatment ideas of bacterial multidrug resistance. New advances have been made in the study of Escherichia coli AcrAB-TolC efflux pump structure and its regulation, which provides data for the multidrug resistance research in pathogenic bacterium. Progress in this area is reviewed here.


Ten years ago, a seemingly titanic wave of contention swept the globe. This article reflects on how the impact of a wave of contentious political action that is now a full decade old manifests today. These "legacies of contention"—the historically contingent impact of contentious episodes—can variably re-enforce, undermine, or depart substantially from the original focus of a given contentious episode, a sign of how difficult it can be to extrapolate from the causal impact of contentious politics in the near-run. Herein we discuss the fates of some of the 2011 contentious episodes, including Syria, Greece, Israel, England, and the United States.


Many model studies using artificial skies have been made in this country and overseas for the prediction of daylight conditions of interiors. Using artificial skies is preferable for model studies to working under the natural sky. The conditions of the natural sky with the specific luminance and luminance pattern can be obtained with the artificial model which has the advantage of remaining stable for long periods of time.R. Kittler has reviewed the development of artificial skies from 1914 to 1957, but most of these are not satisfactory for the advanced studies of the day. J. Longmore and D. C. Croghan have been discussing artificial skies recently constructed in England such as a rectilinear box type by the Building Research Station (1963), a reflecting dome type by Pilkington Brothers Limited (1962), and a transilluminated dome type by the Cambridge University (1962). These are representative of the three types of artificial skies which are currently being used in any country.An artificial sky was constructed at the Building Research Institute in Tokyo in 1966. In designing the new sky the following conditions were satisfied as a as possible.1. The sky surface is adjustable for the luminance distribution of the C. I. E. standard overcast sky.2. It has the average sky luminance of more than 2000 asb (640cd/m2).3. Visually, it gives to observers the appearance of the natural sky.4. A ground surface of known reflection factor can be placed.5. A model room about 0.8m at is width can be used, minimizing the horizon error.6. The working space is large enough to conduct an experiment.7. High temperatures in the working space because of the radiation from lamps should be avoidecd8. The conditions of an experiment can be easily understood by laymen. The new sky belongs to a transilluminated dome type, but the dome is set in a four-cornered room.The size of the room is 7.9m wide and 5.5m deep with a 3.3m ceiling. The sky is represented with the hemispherical F. R. P.(fibre reinforced polyester) plastic dome. The dome consists of six pieces which are joined so as not to reveal the joint. The diameter of the dome is limited to 4.1m because of the limitation of the space, and the dome is fitted with 40 cm tall steel legs. As it is considered that the proper width of a model should be less than 1/5 of the dome diameter, a model which is 0.8 m at is width can be used.All lamps are installed on the ceiling surface. They are one hundred and twenty-two 1.2m, 40W'white' fluorescent lamps (4500°K), ten 150W spot type PAR lamps, ten 150W flood type PAR lamps, ten 150W spot type reflector lamps. The electric source is 100V50c/s. The total bare lamp output is 441, 400lm. All these lamps are divided into seven blocks, each being adjusted separately. Fluorescent lamps give direct light mainly to the upper part of the dome while incandescent lamps give indirect light mainly to the lower part by reflection from the wall. The window surface and the exposed side of the dome are coverd with white curtains. In this way the dome can provide the luminance surface which is equivalent to the C. I. E. standard overcast sky, and the average sky luminance reaches more than 2000 asb (640 cd/m2).This sky has the following special advantages.1. As the dome is uniform and the graded luminance distribution and the slight changes of color are seen, this sky bears a close resemblance to the real sky. Therefore using this sky is effective for the subjective appraisal of watching the conditions of the sky through the model window.2. This is made in an ordinary-size square room and consists of a simple set such as the light sources on the ceiling, the reflection walls, and the plastic dome put on the floor. These matters have the advantages of simple design and low cost.


Previous researchers have much success using the model Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) as a forecasting model for hydrological analysis. Reliability of ANFIS models need to be tested, especially to farecast of the tidal. In this research, ANFIS models which built using data tidal observations in Tanjung Buton (2004). The result of tidal forecasting by using ANFIS models show excellent results with value the test statistic parameters of the correlation coefficient (R) more than 0.87 that is in category of very strong correlation, statistic parameters of RMSE (root mean square error) 0.445 m, and the test parameters of the average valuation relative error by 11,8%. In comparison the tidal forcasting results used ANFIS models with tidal forcasting results used the Admiralty method, values of the parameter test by mean relative error used ANFIS model is smaller with value of 11.8%, while values of the parameter test by mean relative error used Admiralty method is larger that is 22.4%. Keywords: hydrological analysis, tidal forecasting, softcomputing, ANFIS.


Optical surfaces produced by machining processes place a great burden on the accuracy of the machine tool system. For example, if the motion is produced by linear slide system and actuated by lead screws driven with gears, the machine is limited in figure and surface finish accuracy. A new machine is described, based on only rotary motion, pivoting on air bearing spindles. The new machine, called an Alpha-Theta machine, affords greater accuracy, elimination of lead screw drives, and also minimizes rewelding of chip material to the cut surface. The Alpha-Theta machine is a new generation single point turning machine.


Incentives used by private and public wellness promotion programs should offer unnecessary extras as "carrots" and should employ "sticks" that do not deprive individuals of needed services or resources. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.


The study emphasizes the significance of design strategy as a means to accomplish the innovation process, wherein companies utilize design thinking to develop innovation strategies encompassing various dimensions such as business, organizational, marketing, and technological innovation. Additionally, the study discusses disruptive innovation strategies and their impact on industries and markets. The study concludes that while innovation can result from Strategy, the absence of Strategy and innovation can lead to business failure. Timely adjustment of strategies and alignment with focus areas and available resources lay the foundation for successful innovation.
In summary, this research highlights the causal relationship between Strategy and innovation, emphasizing the importance of design strategy and disruptive innovation in driving organizational competitiveness and market success. Integrating innovation into Strategy and embracing design thinking as a problem-solving approach is crucial for companies to thrive in today's dynamic business environment.


Ureaplasma urealyticum have been suspected of causing a variety of reproductive disorders and infertility in men. Decreased fertili~ation rates in mice in vitro and in vivo caused by u. realytIcum are well known. The present study was designed to examine the effect of the coincubation of spermatozoa with two stains of u. realyticum of the sterile filtrate of those on consecutive pregnancy rate and litter size. Spermatozoa of 8 12 weeks old male mice (CB6 Fl) were released from the vas deferens directly in HAM's FlO and allowed to capiciate for 30 min. Subsequently the spermatozoa were coincubated with u. realyticum (101, 103 cfu/ml), the sterile filtrate of u.urealyticum or HAM's FlO (control group). Before insemination the spermatozoa were washed twice with HAM's FlO to eliminate the germs in germs in suspension. 8 12 weeks old female mice (CB6 Fl) were super-ovulated by intraperitoneal injection injection of 4 i.u. PMSG followed 47 h later by 4 Lu. hCG. Another 10 13 h later the female mice were anesthetized, the body wall was opened by a small incision and intrauterine insemination took place by injecting 15 ul of the coincubated s~ermatozoa into each uterus horn, using a sterile glass mlcr?pipe~ 17 da~s after insemina~on the animals were killed by cervical dislocatIon and the utenne horns were examined for pregnancies. The pregnancy rate of the control group was 39.3%, while coincubation with bacteria or sterile filtrate decreased pregnancy rate to 14.3 28.6%. In the same manner the litter size worsened from 11.3 embryos/mouse (control group) to 2.0 9.1 embryos/mouse. Coincubation of spermatozoa with u. realyticum or its sterile filtrate results in lower pregnancy rate and decreased litter size compared with the control group.


The new technology of induction tetraploid is reported. Tetraploid was induced by inhibiting polar body I and Ⅱ in eggs from dioploid Crassostrea gigas fertilized with haploid sperms at concentration of 1.5mg/dm 3 CB for 40min at 4 min after fertilisation, and 2000 spats were obtained. The tetraploid was 85%, the triploid was 5% and the triploid/tetraploid mosaics was 10%. This is the first report about the survival triploid/tetraploid mosaics spats.


In this paper, we give a new technique to find families of Hadamard matrices with maximum excess. In particular, we find regular or biregular Hadamard matrices with maximum excess by negating some rows and columns of known Hadamard matrices obtained from quadratic residues of finite fields. More precisely, we show that if either (2m + 1)2 + 2 or m2 + (m + 1)2 is a prime power, then there exists a biregular Hadamard matrix of order n = (2m + 1)2 + 3 with maximum excess. Furthermore, we give a sufficient condition for Hadamard matrices obtained from quadratic residues being transformed to regular ones in terms of four-class translation association schemes on finite fields. The core part of this paper is how to find "switching" sets of rows and columns.


We find asymptotic formulas for the eigenvalues of the Sturm-Liouville operator on the finite interval, with potential having a strong negative singularity at one endpoint. This is the case of limit circle in H. Weyl sense. We establish that, unlike the case of an infinite interval, the asymptotics for positive eigenvalues does not depend on the potential and it is the same as in the regular case. The asymptotics of the negative eigenvalues may depend on the potential quite strongly, however there are always asymptotically fewer negative eigenvalues than positive ones. By unknown reasons this type of problems had not been studied previously.


The design of a new type of the digital servo control system of the shipborne radar is introduced in this paper.The coordinate transformation technology is adopted to compensate with real time the attitude angles (rolling angle R,pitch angle P and course angle H)of the swinging ship on the azimuth and elevating axis of the radar antenna in order to stabilize the radar antenna.The control system adopts the new control algorithms,such as variable speed integrating PID and non linear PID,meeting the technical requirements of the loop scan,sector scan,sector scan adaption,locating track and elevating control of the radar antenna.The realizing methods of the functions,such as loop scan,sector scan,sector scan adaption and locating track and the performance test results are given.


Apple et al. (1) recently presented an analysis of the effect of imprecision (CV) on false positive cardiac troponin I (cTnI) results. After examining their methodology, we have identified problems with the model and arguments.

Key mathematical details are omitted, and some assumptions appear unrealistic. The authors model the plasma cTnI concentrations in a healthy reference population by an exponential distribution and the analytical error as gaussian using 2 assumed CV profiles: a baseline profile and the same scaled by a factor of 0.40. We observe 2 difficulties.

First, the baseline profile is incompletely specified, and the points provided (CVs of 37.5%, 25.0%, and 9.4% at true cTnIs of 0.05, 0.07, and 0.14 μg/L) imply SDs that decrease with increasing cTnI, which does not reflect reality (2)(3). Further, the "SD of the blank" (cTnI = 0 μg/L) is entirely unspecified. To contrast, we constructed empirical profiles using mean concentration data and CVs from a recent paper comparing 15 cTnI assays (4). Fig. 1a⇓ compares the 5 cTnI assays whose data overlap the concentration range 0.05–0.14 μg/L to those used by Apple et al. (1 …


We tighten the sample complexity of empirical risk minimization (ERM) associated with a class of generalized linear models that include linear and logistic regression. In particular, we conclude that ERM attains the optimal sample complexity for linear regression. Our analysis relies on a new notion of stability, called preconditioned stability, which may be of independent interest.


PET/CT has been reported to be effective for the diagnosis and staging of malignancy.However,the quality of images is influenced by the artifacts.Metal material widely used in dental restoration and prosthesis,due to its good performance in biocompatibility and biomechanics,is the main cause of artifacts.Patients with worn metal restoration and prosthesis have them removed for the purpose of PET/CT.It is unacceptable because of the costs and pain.However,if not,artifacts would distort the image.This paper reviewed the research progress of the relationship between dental metallic prosthesis and PET/CT artifacts.


We present 1.3 and 3.3 mm polarization maps of Orion-KL obtained with the BIMA array at approximately 4'' resolution. Thermal emission from magnetically aligned dust grains produces the polarization. Along the Orion "ridge" the polarization position angle varies smoothly from about 10° to 40°, in agreement with previous lower resolution maps. In a small region south of the Orion "hot core," however, the position angle changes by 90°. This abrupt change in polarization direction is not necessarily the signpost of a twisted magnetic field. Rather, in this localized region, processes other than the usual Davis-Greenstein mechanism might align the dust grains with their long axes parallel with the field, orthogonal to their normal orientation.


The problems that could arise with a correct statistical processing of astronomical data and a search for linear statistical dependences are analyzed. It has been shown that the use of standard statistical software can yield incorrect results. The iterative procedure of processing based on multi-year experience is proposed. It covers all stages: creation of sampling, discarding of outliers, search for statistically significant regressors, excluding insignificant regressors, finding out multiparametric dependencies and their analysis, etc. This paper is a methodological one and is it describes some potential traps in the statistical processing of observational data. We forewarn against some actions that may lead to data selection or to incorrect conclusions about the influence of some factors on the quantity being studied. Some examples of problems associated with data selection, correlation between regressors, Malmquist bias and correction are given.


The objective of this research work is to show the relevance of asymmetries in estimating volatility. The methodology consists in the application of ARCH-type models and implied volatilities of options (IV) to estimate Value-at-Risk (VaR). These for a portfolio of stock index futures for various time horizons. The empirical analysis is carried out for the futures contracts for the Standard and Poors 500 and Mexican Stock Exchange Indices. According to the results, the IV model is superior in terms of precision compared to the ARCH-type models. It is recommended to use the relevant statistical gains when asymmetries are included with respect to when asymmetries are not used. The referred gains range from 4 to 150 basis points of minimum capital risk requirements. The originality of the present work consists of showing the importance of considering the asymmetric effects with IV and ARCH-type models in volatility forecasts within risk management analysis. It is concluded that the methodology means gains in monetary terms.


Since the oil crises of the 1970s building professionals have become increasingly aware of the effects of their design decisions on the energy consumption rates in buildings. Often this has led to strategies that have compromised aspects of human requirements such as thermal comfort or air quality. When this has been combined with an architectural approach that often takes little heed of local climate or custom the result has been uncomfortable buildings that are disliked by and have often affected the health of their occupants. The comfort of building occupants is dependant on many environmental parameters including those provided by the building envelope, building environmental services and control systems. Inadequate design and control can lead to reductions of occupant comfort, energy efficiency and cost efficiency. To achieve a high quality internal environment with good energy and cost efficiencies, the interactions between the contributory factors must be taken into consideration. An examination of the notion of indoor environmental quality and the potential for control strategies and methodologies for this multivariate problem are considered within the contexts of energy efficiency and running costs. The use of fuzzy logic control is examined as a technical response to this dilemma. A high level fuzzy supervisor was used to make control decisions on the best course of action to achieve high levels of indoor environmental quality while taking into account effects on energy and cost efficiency. Simulation results indicated the potential for improvements in system operation.


We present a 4/spl times/4 optical cross-connect architecture with optical add/drop multiplexer function. Four channels of 622 Mbit/s signals and a channel of 2.5 Gbit/s are generated and cross-connected. The 2.5 Gbit/s signal has been converted for a wavelength shift of 4.8 nm. After 28.4 km non-zero dispersion shift fiber propagation, the bit error rate is below 10/sup -12/.


The paper gives the description of some specific phonetic characteristics of The Baranja Transcription of Dusan's Code. The following was taken into consideration: the faith of semi-vowels, the faith of the vowel jat, the change of the group вьinto 8-, vowel 1, the change of 1 into ο at the end of the word and the end of the syllable, the results of the old iotation in groups *tj, *dj, special iotation, groups; ьт- i вьс-. Several examples of the substitution of the semi-vowel for the vowel a have been registered in the manuscript. Ekavian substitute of jat is the mutual characteristic of the Serbian Church Slavonic and Serbian vernacular language. Some examples of the unchanged group вь-have been registered, which are in accordance with the norm of the Serbian Church Slavonic; in addition, those examples in which 8- appears are also present, which is in accordance with the Serbian vernacular language. In the manuscript, the example of keeping the vowel l that have been registered are typical of the Serbian Church Slavonic language; moreover, in accordance with the norm of the Serbian Church Slavonic language is also the keeping of the final l and the l at the end of a syllable. The Baranja Transcription contains not only the examples of the Serbian vernacular, but also those of the Serbian Church Slavonic results of the old iotation in the groups *tj, *dj. The same goes for the cases of special iotation. Unlike the Serbian Church Slavonic group чг- which in the studied document can only be seen twice, the vernacular group шт- is frequent. In the group вьс- typical of the Serbian Church Slavonic language, no metathesis can be found in the transcription.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial disease that exhibits cognitive deficits, neuronal loss, amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles and neuroinflammation in the brain. We developed a multi-scale predictive modeling strategy that integrates machine learning with biophysics and systems pharmacology to model drug actions from molecular interactions to phenotypic responses. We predicted that ibudilast (IBU), a phosphodiesterase inhibitor and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) antagonist, inhibited multiple kinases (e.g., IRAK1 and GSG2) as off-targets, modulated multiple AD-associated pathways, and reversed AD molecular phenotypes. We address for the first time the efficacy of ibudilast (IBU) in a transgenic rat model of AD. IBU-treated transgenic rats showed improved cognition and reduced hallmarks of AD pathology. RNA sequencing analyses in the hippocampus showed that IBU affected the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in the TLR signaling pathway. Our results identify IBU as a potential therapeutic to be repurposed for reducing neuroinflammation in AD by targeting TLR signaling.


An inhibitor of factor Xa (fXa), the m-substituted benzamidine AXC1578 (1a), was structurally modified with the aim of increasing its potency. In particular, pyruvic acid and propionic acid substituents were incorporated into the P1 benzamidine moiety to introduce a favorable interaction with the oxy-anion hole in the catalytic triad region of fXa. This strategy was based on computational docking studies using the extracted active site of fXa. The validity of the computational model was supported by the acquisition of X-ray crystal structures of the 1a-trypsin and 3b-trypsin complexes (the homology around the active sites of fXa and trypsin is high). The above modifications significantly increased the inhibitory activity toward fXa, whereas the high selectivity for fXa versus thrombin was maintained or enhanced. Compounds 3b, 3c, 3e, and 4b are considered to be potential lead compounds for the development of orally active anticoagulant drugs because they demonstrated potent activity when administered orally to cynomolgus monkeys.


The importance of the haemagglutination-inhibition test does not need to be stressed. It is a fact that the inhibition titre of a single serum has no constant value, but may vary in repeated estimations. This may be due to the use of different virus or erythrocyte suspensions or to differences in environmental circumstances, such as temperature. Duplicate tests carried out at the same time and with the same materials yield identical results. This makes it necessary to compare a serum obtained during convalescence from the same case. The ratio between the two titres shows whether an influenza infection has taken place or not. Although it is commonly accepted that a titre rising by two twofold dilutions (a fourfold rise) is significant, some workers will accept even a twofold rise (Sartwill & Long, 1948; Rasmussen, Stoles & Smadel, 1948). Such observations have been made on pairs of sera taken from the same indicidual with not more than a 5-week interval between them.


An award-winning pianist and celebrated screenwriter/playwright. A digital-music composer. Student-faculty exhibitions and performances and much more. See what's in store this fall via Dickinson's Calendar of Arts.


The present study was conducted in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. Two tehsils, namely Looni and Falodi were selected on the basis of highest production and area. Six villages were selected randomly from the selected tehsils. The present study was carried out to ascertain the marketable surplus, sales pattern, market arrivals, and prices in the cultivation of cumin crop. Primary as well as secondary data were utilized in the study. The marketable and marketed surplus ranged between 95% to 97% on different sized farms. The sample farmers disposed of 85.74% surplus cumin seed in the Mandor regulated market, and only 14.26% of the surplus cumin seed was disposed in the villages to village traders. 53% was sold in the first quarter immediately after harvest (March to May), and the remaining 47% was marketed in the remaining three-quarters of the year (August to February). Small-size farmers disposed off their total surplus cumin seed in one lot as against the medium and large-size farmers, who disposed off their total surplus in two and more lots. It was noted that 63% of the cumin produce arrived in the first quarter (March-May) of the year. The arrivals were 17.93%, 8.54%, and 10.02% in the second, third, and fourth quarters. Farmers got 10.36% higher price by selling cumin in the second quarter over the post-harvest season (peak season or first quarter). Sale of cumin in the third and fourth quarters of the year was not found to be advantageous. The correlation coefficients between monthly wholesale prices and arrival of cumin in the corresponding months and in the subsequent months were -0.578 and -0.588, showing that there existed an inverse relationship between the two. The value of the correlation coefficients was estimated to be higher for the subsequent months than for the corresponding months. The value of the correlation coefficients between yearly arrivals and prices of cumin were negative in four years and was positive only in one year out of the five year study period.