Introduction: With the increasing complexity of current diagnostic investigations, the integration of clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics is crucial for the management of patients (pts) with cancers of unknown primary (CUP). A national multidisciplinary tumor board (NatCUPMTB) was created 2 years ago in France to discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic management of CUP pts. The objective of this study was to evaluate its diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic impact after 2 years of activity. Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study with prospective follow-up. All pts discussed at least once in the NatCUPMTB between June 2020 and August 2022 were included. Pts and tumors characteristics, pathological and molecular analyses including WGS, WES and RNAseq performed on SEQOIA and AURAGEN national large-scale sequencing platforms, multidisciplinary tumor board (MTB) conclusions, and follow-up after MTB were collected. Results: 76 pts for whom a long-term follow-up was available were included. The median age at diagnosis was 57 yo, 54% were female, and the median number of metastatic sites at diagnosis was 2. The median time between diagnosis and first MTB presentation was 3.8 months (0.2-55). MTB investigations enabled to identify a likely primary origin in 44/76 (58%) pts, and the MTB recommended a personalized therapeutic strategy in 50/76 patients (66%). MTB recommendations were based on the combination of clinical, pathological and molecular investigations in 55% of pts. After a median follow-up of 6.2 months, the median overall survival (OS) was 17.7 months from diagnosis and 11.0 months from the 1st MTB presentation. Pts for which the MTB had a diagnostic impact, and having received a treatment following MTB recommendation (based on putative origin or targetable alteration) had increased OS compared to pts with no diagnostic orientation (median OS 18.4 months vs 5.6 months, p=0.003) or having received other treatments (median OS 18.4 vs 4.4 months, p=0.0001). Conclusion: NatCUPMTB provides significant diagnostic and therapeutic benefit in pts with CUP. Early presentation of pts at NatCUPMTB as soon as CUP diagnosis is suspected should be recommended.
 Citation Format: Nicolas Jacquin, Maud Kamal, Ivan Bieche, Célia Dupain, Isabelle Guillou, Linda Larbi-Chérif, Etienne Rouleau, Julien Masliah Planchon, Isabelle Soubeyran, Christelle de la Fouchardière, Camille Tlemsani, Hélène Blons, Fabienne Escande, Michel Vidaud, Jennifer Wong, Pierre Saintigny, Sandrine Boyault, Adrien Buisson, Yves Allory, Anne Vincent-Salomon, Vincent Cockenpot, Janick Selves, Christophe Le Tourneau, Sarah Watson. National Multidisciplinary Tumor Board improves diagnostic stratification and therapeutic management in Cancers of Unknown Primary: the French Experience. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 4534.


BIOMECHANICAL EVALUATION OF HAND REPRESENTATION FOR TYPING IN VIRTUAL REALITY Mobasshira Zaman, MS Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Northern Illinois University, 2023 Dr. Jaejin Hwang, Director Virtual reality (VR) is becoming popular in the workplace recently. Text entry is thus now important for efficient office use and occupational use of VR, and VR paired with a conventional keyboard is suitable for long text entry. There has been a lack of research on physical demand, posture, motion, and cognitive demand, along with the performance of typing on VR. Presence of virtual hands while typing in VR may affect typing performance, physical demand, and posture. The focus of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical effect of hand representation for typing on VR using a conventional keyboard. Fifteen subjects with almost similar levels of typing expertise participated in typing tasks in randomized order on a VR-keyboard setup with and without virtual hands and on a laptop using the same keyboard. Neck, shoulder, and wrist joint angles, hand trajectory parameters, neck muscle activity, and subjective measures were assessed. The result showed virtual hand representation had a significant effect on VR typing for cognitive and physical benefits. Moreover, the performance of VR typing also became comparable to no VR typing by using virtual hand representation. Future study is needed to evaluate the long-term typing effect and a large range of typists' expertise. This study would help to improve the keyboard's design, and it would guide to lessen the cognitive load and physical discomfort of VR typing. NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY DEKALB, ILLINOIS


A theoretical description of adsorption in a templated porous material, formed by an equilibrium quench of a polydisperse fluid composed of matrix and template particles and subsequent removal of the template particles is presented. The approach is based on the solution of the replica Ornstein–Zernike equations with Percus–Yevick and hypernetted chain closures. The method of solution uses expansions of size-dependent correlation functions into Fourier series, as described by Lado [J. Chem. Phys. 108, 6441 (1998)]. Specific calculations have been carried out for model systems, composed of hard spheres.


Mn K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy was used to determine the local structure at the Mn site in LaMnO 3 , La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 and La 0.5 Sr 0.5 MnO 3 samples. The X-ray absorption near-edge spectra (XANES) show an intermediate oxidation state of the Mn atoms, the edge position indicating an average valence of ∼3.4 for the LaMnO 3 sample and an average valence of ∼3.7 for the La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 and La 0.5 Sr 0.5 MnO 3 samples. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analyses show that the local order around Mn atoms in the La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 sample can be described as a regular MnO 6 octahedron or as a distorted octahedron with two different Mn-O bond lengths. With regard to the La 0.5 Sr 0.5 MnO 3 sample, the local structure around Mn atoms is appropriately described by a regular MnO 6 octahedron. For this sample, the mean Mn-O bond length is shorter and is similar to that of Mn-O in the SrMnO 3 .


The transformer is a vital of equipment in the power transmission and distribution system. Optimum use of transformers can increase the economic value and reliability of electricity supply. Power apparatus is expected to operate close to or exceed the design life of the transformer. Health index (HI) is used to provide a general assessment of the condition of the transformer. In determining the health index, it can be done using conventional methods or non-conventional methods. According to the IEEE loading guide lines, the age of the transformer ranges from 25-30 years. The "effective age" of the transformer can be determined by the probability of failure of insulation system or which can be based on HI. In this study, transformer oil testing was used to determine the health index and calculate the age of the transformer. The parameters used are BDV, Water, Acid, IFT, DGA, and 2-furaldhyde. In this study, 79 transformer oil sample data were used which had known health indexes from field assessments. The health index method uses calculation, ANN, and naïve Bayes methods. Parameters affecting the health index BDV (r = 0.57), water (r = -0.55), 2FAL (r = -0.58), and acetylene (r = - 0.25). Parameters that affect the life of the transformer are BDV (r = 0.45), water (r = -0.66), Acid (r = -0.53), IFT (r = - 0.49), 2FAL (r = - 0.58), and CO2 (r = -0.40). Parameters BDV, water, and 2 FAL have a significant correlation in determining the health index and predicting the life of the transformer. Parameters 2FAL and water are related to chemical reactions in the insulation system which result in aging of the transformer. With the deteriorating condition of the transformer (HI), it further increases the possibility of initial disturbance to failure of the transformer.


Fatigue performance of solder joints in four-point bending test is evaluated by finite-element modeling. A simplified modeling technique is implemented in order to focus on the behavior of the critical solder joint. The fatigue life is estimated by taking into account the creep behavior of the solder joints and the utilization of Morrow's fatigue model. Fatigue life curves are generated for room temperature and two elevated temperatures with the critical orientation of chip scale packages on the test board. The results are compared with the real four-point bending test conducted for two different temperatures. In addition, some parametric studies are conducted including the significance of test temperature, copper wiring structure, and the dwell time in the cyclic loading profile. Besides these, the structural integrity of the test board is also checked.


An improved Canny operator based on the method of Maximum Classes Square Error is adopted to get a self-adaptive threshold for grain recognition. First, a grinding wheel surface was measured by using a vertical scanning white light interferometric (WLI) system and reconstructed with an improved centroid algorithm; then the grains were extracted using the proposed method based on the fact that the peak intensity difference (ΔI) between maximum and minimum intensities on interferometric curve from diamond is larger than that from bond due to different reflective characteristics of different materials; third the grain protrusion parameters are investigated for grinding performance analysis. The experiments proved that the proposed grain recognition method is effective and assessment parameters are useful for understanding grinding performance.


Neuro-fuzzy approaches are very promising for nonlinear filtering of noisy images. An original network topology is presented in this work to cope with different noise distributions and mixed noise as well. The multiple-output structure is based on recursive processing. It is able to adapt the filtering action to different kinds of corrupting noise. Fuzzy reasoning embedded into the network structure aims at reducing errors when fine details are processed. Genetic learning yields the appropriate set of network parameters from a collection of training data. Experimental results show that the proposed neuro-fuzzy technique is very effective and performs significantly better than well-known conventional methods in the literature.


The permeation of p- and m-xylenes through supported liquid membranes (SLM) containing cyclodextrins (CDs) was investigated in this study. Three CDs were used in the experiments, α-CD, β-CD, and hydroxypropyl-β-CD (HP-β-CD). The mass transfer mechanisms with and without facilitating carriers (CDs) were studied individually by applying the solution–diffusion model. The facilitated mass transfer mechanism was elucidated as partitioning of xylenes from the organic phase into an aqueous phase, formation of an inclusion complex with CDs, diffusion of the complex, and extraction into the receiving phase. The formation constants in aqueous solutions for CDs and p-xylene were 1.6–2.4 times higher than that of CDs and m-xylene. The diffusivity coefficient of the xylene–CD complex (D m) and the equilibrium extraction constant (K ex) associated with each CD were determined. Meanwhile, K ex, the parameter used to describe the ability of CD to extract xylene and to form a complex, of p-xylene and CDs was almost twice as much as that for m-xylene and CDs. Thus, the addition of CD into the membrane phase for xylene separation yields a two-fold benefit in favor of p-xylene: an increase in selectivity and an enhancement of the mass transfer flux.


The present issue focuses on the practice of medical thermal imaging in patients with paranasal sinusitis and pneumonia. The description of thermograms is based on a quantitative analysis of temperature gradients and trends in temperature of different body regions (Projection «head front» for paranasal sinusitis, «breast front» and «back», in a defined layout formed in «cloud» thermograms analysis program "Tvision" of «Dignosis», Russia) with values of thermographic markers that demonstrated their differentiating capabilities when compared with reference methods. Thus, the thermographic conclusion is formed not simply by thermal phenomenon «hot-cold», but on the basis of numerical values of markers, which indicate hypothetical nosological diagnosis and significantly simplifies the algorithm for those physicians who use this method as an additional.
The publication is intended for doctors of any speciality who, in their daily clinical practice, treat the patients with suspicions disease of respiratory system


Traditional reinforced concrete tunnels show limits regarding large spans in the transverse direction. There was a lack of knowledge whether the steel-concrete-steel (SCS) sandwich tunnel can be a solution for tunnels with extreme large spans. Research was needed to understand the structural response of a large span SCS tunnel to the load applied. For the detailed analysis of the distribution of internal forces a finite element program was used. In order to compare a SCS sandwich tunnel for a large span with a reinforced tunnel, two base case tunnels were designed. From this comparison the critical span for each type was determined. It was seen that the reinforced tunnel critical span is 18 / 19 m, whereas the SCS tunnel could be designed for a span of 27 m (boundary condition reference project). In this thesis two 2-D models have been analysed in DIANA: one simplified model and a detailed model. Both models use linear-elastic material behaviour. The results of the hand calculations are first compared with that from the simplified model, to verify the simplified model. The results of both FEM models are compared and the differences are investigated. From the stress / strain analysis of the SCS tunnel cross section for a large span, it was seen that the tensile strength of the concrete was reached. This would result in the formation of tensile cracks. The allowable compressive stresses / strains were only locally exceeded. Concrete cracking and plasticity however may have impact on the degree of connection between the steel and concrete. Due to the cracks the shear stiffness of the steel and concrete connection can decrease. This may have impact on the overall stiffness of the structure. From the durability point of view these cracks have no impact on the durability of the structure since the concrete is situated in a confined space. Although the other side the exceedance of the stress is only locally, it might result in a redistribution of forces. By using a detailed FEM analysis, detailed insight was obtained in the distribution of internal design forces. This resulted in a significant reduction of the amount of steel applied. Namely 21 %. In absolute values, this is a reduction of 2,51 m3 of steel per meter in the axial direction. Since the reinforced concrete tunnel was not able to have a span up to 27 m, it was investigated, whether prestressing (post tensioning) the tunnel could be a solution. From the new design it was concluded that a span of 27 m is not a feasible solution when using prestressing. This is due to the large size of the prestress tendon anchors and the large axial forces which the concrete cross section could not resist. Further there was observed that a steel shell tunnel is a feasible solution for tunnels with large spans up to 28 m. From the costs analysis it was seen that steel shell tunnel variant 1 (regular steel shell) would cost 315 000 euros per meter length. Steel shell tunnel variant 2 (with steel cover plates on the inner side) is slightly more expensive than variant 1. The costs for this tunnel per meter length is 351 000 euros. The same analysis was performed for the SCS tunnel. This variant is with 421 000 euros per meter length, more expensive than the other two steel shell tunnel variants. It can be stated that in terms of costs, a reinforced concrete tunnel is the preferred solution for tunnels with a span up to 18 / 19 m. This is also the limiting span for a reinforced concrete tunnel. For a span from 19 till 28 m, the steel shell is a more cost efficient solution than the SCS tunnel. However, applying the SCS for spans shorter than 29 m, has some advantages as well, since the shear force and bending moment capacity of a SCS tunnel are larger than in case of a steel shell tunnel. This advantage can be important for changing boundary conditions or accidental loading on the tunnel structure, e.g. an earthquake loading, explosion, sunken ship on top of the tunnel, extra loading due to sedimentation on top of the tunnel, erosion below the tunnel floor or more ductile behaviour. When the construction area is in a region where the risks for earthquakes are significant, the SCS sandwich is the preferred solution for a span between 19-28 m. This is the case for the reference project used. Finally it can be stated that the SCS sandwich tunnel is the only solution available for spans larger than 28 m.


To consider the prescription of drugs through online retail is an opportunity or not for the end consumers in an Indian context. This paper described the basic issues and challenges related to online pharma retail in the Indian context through case method. India is among the top six global pharmaceutical producers in the world. The Indian vaccines are exported to 150 countries. India produces 40-70% of the World Health Organization (WHO) demand for Diphtheria-Pertussis-Tetanus and Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine and 90% of measles vaccine. Sustained by the amazing success achieved by consumer durables industry in the online space, pharma is the next big sector in India to target consumer online. The growth in the industry has created a great opportunity for the online model for this business. India has now seen pharma players taking the e-commerce route with an intention to offer a solution to a number of problems plaguing the retail pharmacy industry. Though online medicines look like a promising trend today, the business is challenged by regulatory issues. Keywords: Online pharmacy, Online pharma retail, Online medicines, E-pharma retailing.


A new ophiuroid belonging to the Eophiuridae is descriptionbed as Haughtonaster reedi gen. et sp. nov., and a new species, Taeniaster stuckenbergi, is descriptionbed in the Protasteridae. Both are from the Lower Devonian Cape System of South Africa.


ARROW waveguides with sputtered-TiOxNy anti-resonant layers obtained with different nitrogen concentration in the gaseous mixture were fabricated and characterized. A study of the influence of this parameter on the losses of the waveguides is presented in this work. TiOxNy films have very high refractive indexes, which is a very important characteristic for the first ARROW layer, since this layer behaves like a Fabry-Perot resonator in anti-resonance. Optical and compositional properties of the TiOxNy films were also studied and the results are presented. These films were characterized by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS), FTIRs, optical absorption and ellipsometry. The second anti-resonant layer and the core of the waveguides were composed of thermally grown SiO2 and PECVD-SiOxNy, respectively. Optical characterization results show propagation losses as low as 1.18 dB/cm for single-mode waveguides fabricated with TiOxNy films obtained with 25% of nitrogen in the gaseous mixture. (© WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The mixed effect (inhibition and stimulation) of nicotine on isolated hearts is well known. That nicotine acted on nervous tissue was shown by the antagonistic effect of apocodeine (Dixon, 1920), and confirmed by experiments on isolated rabbit auricles (Gronchi, 1939). During experiments planned to study the action of various drugs on the mechanical and electrical behaviour of isolated guinea-pig auricles, we observed that hexamethonium completely antagonized nicotine; this was a further confirmation of Dixon's interpretation. were, however, some minor points deserve further investigation, such specificity nervous tissues concentrations which antagonize nicotine; chemically different ganglionic blocking tine; the effect on the action of nicotine pretreatment anticholinesterase drugs (which should potentiate the inhibitory action) and with ephedrine should the stimulant action); the mechanism of the change of auricular response to nicotine relation the duration the of parasympathetic ganglia, and the high activity of cholinesterase, leads to inhibition in the first phase (owing to the shorter latency of ACh) and to stimulation in the second phase (due, presumably, to sympathins and favoured by the hydrolysis of ACh). Hypodynamic auricles.-The low excitability of parasympathetic ganglia, and the increased sensitivity ofthe pace-maker and myocardial cells to sympathins, leads to predominance of stimulation. Adrenaline-treated hypodynamic auricles.-The restored excitability of parasympathetic ganglia (low cholinesterase activity?) results in a predominance of the inhibitory effect on frequency.


3540 Background: Retrospective experiences have investigated the potential influence of EGFR intron 1 CA repeats on the efficacy of cetuximab-containing treatments. Different series, adopting different criteria to define short (S) and long (L) variants, have provided contrasting results. Methods: We designed a prospective confirmatory study, to detect a HR for PFS of 1.75 for L- compared to SS genotypes in a population of KRAS and BRAF wild-type irinotecan-resistant mCRC pts treated with cetuximab and irinotecan. Estimating a prevalence of 60% of the SS variant and setting a two-sided alfa=0.05 with a power of 80%, 104 events were required. We defined S and L allelic variants those presenting < and ≥20 CA repeats, respectively. EGFR (CA)n repeat polymorphism was assessed following a 5'-end [γ-33P] ATP-labeled PCR protocol. Results: One-hundred-fifteen pts were included. At a median follow up of 21.9 months, PFS and OS were 5.2 and 13.4 months, respectively. Thirty-three (29%) out of 114 evaluable pts achi...


Arrangement for generating extreme ultraviolet radiation from an energy beam produced plasma with a high conversion efficiency, in which a pulsed energy beam in a plasma generation chamber is directed to an interaction point with a target and a target supply device, a mixing chamber for producing a mixture of particles of an emission-efficient target material with at least one carrier gas and includes an injection unit for the metered delivery of individual defined target volumes in the plasma generation chamber so as to provide only as much emission efficient target material in the interaction point, as can be converted into radiation with an energy pulse, characterized in that - the target supply device (1) comprises a gas liquefaction chamber (12), wherein the target material as a mixture (16) of solid metallic particles (14) is supplied in liquefied carrier gas (15) of the injection unit (13), and - the injection unit (13) having a drop generator (131) having a nozzle chamber (134) and a Targetduse (133) for generating defined drop size and drop flow (2), for generating a timed sequence of drops (23) to the injection unit. ..


Starting from a case"Set Fire in the Mountain",four constitutive elements of three frequently committed crimes in forestry production,the crime of fire by negligence,offences of destroying production and operation and the crime of negligently causing a serious accident,are analyzed in detail,with their similarities and differences compared,which can provide useful reference for the practical work of law enforcement officials at the basic level.


This police pursuit study was conducted in the state of Illinois from January through December of 1991. Due to the lack of research in this area of law enforcement, and the importance of this deadly force issue, the researchers designed the study to provide a data base helpful to government officials, police administrators, and police personnel. With this information more informed decisions can be made by responsible government officials regarding police pursuit legislation, policies, and procedures. The summary report is presented in two parts. Part I includes a general overview of the pursuit question, the research methodology, a review of police liability and appellate case law as they relate to vehicle pursuits, a review of the prior research literature, and conclusions and recommendations. Part II provides the results of the empirical data collection phase of this project, including introductory materials, a brief overview of past research to reintroduce the reader to this relevant research, the Officer Survey, the Administrative Survey, the Police Field Interviews, the Administrative Telephone Survey, and the conclusions and recommendations resulting from the data collected from the surveys.


Acoustic event detection (AED) has been widely applied to many real world applications. The acoustic event detection systems determine both the classes and localizations of various acoustic events. Researchers have done many works and various campaigns have been organized to address the acoustic event detection problem and to improve the system detection accuracy. However, the various acoustic event classes and localizations pose great challenges to acoustic event detection. This dissertation investigates different techniques in pursuit of extending the frontiers of acoustic event detection. Two types acoustic event detection, namely the monophonic acoustic event detection and the polyphonic acoustic event detection, are specifically explored with particular emphasis on utilizing the acoustic event class and acoustic event localization information. This dissertation is organized as a series of research papers that either have been already published or are under review in refereed journals and international conferences. The first part of the dissertation deals with the monophonic acoustic event detection by using the acoustic event type, localization and long context information. One novel feature extraction technique utilizing the acoustic event class information and one novel modeling method capturing the acoustic event localization information are first proposed. The proposed feature extraction technique deals with random forest (RF) regression based acoustic event detection by combining acoustic features with the bottleneck features (BN). The proposed modeling method is performed by a regression via classification (RvC) based approach along with the random forest technique. Afterwards, this part proposes to utilize the long context information with both the acoustic event class and localization taken into consideration. The global and category-specific bottleneck features are presented respectively. The global and category-specific bottleneck features can extract the prior knowledge of the event type and localization, which is ideally matched by the task of an event detection system. Experimental results on the benchmark databases demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing the global bottleneck features and the category-specific bottleneck features. The second part of the dissertation deals with the polyphonic acoustic event detection by using the acoustic event type and acoustic event localization information. Due to the polyphonic characteristic of the acoustic events, a threshold is typically adopted to determine the active acoustic events rather than adopting only the highest output probability. Also, the annotation process becomes costly and error-prone. This part first proposes to use a dynamic threshold to use the frame-wise acoustic event class information and a soft label strategy to utilize the acoustic event localization information. Afterwards, a multi-task joint learning based polyphonic acoustic event detection system utilizing the acoustic event class and the acoustic event localization information simultaneously is proposed. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods compared to the benchmark system. The final part of the dissertation deals with the training data size problem. The proposed technique can be applied to both the monophonic and the polyphonic acoustic event detection. The Auxiliary Condition Generative Adversarial Neural Network (AC-GAN) is employed to generate the training samples to solve the small training data size problem. Proposed systems with the generated training data can achieve higher F-scores and lower error rates compared to the existing systems using other traditional data augmentation approaches.


A great number of problems of modern optics need to record a map of the polarization distribution in a light beam in a real scale of time. At the same time, the conventional ellipsometric techniques [1] do not permit us to solve these tasks. It stimulates development of new approaches for measuring polarization states at each point of an optical image [2,3]. The obtained polarization maps are a good instrument for studying evolution of polarization singularities. The aim of this article is to analyze evolution of polarization singularities in radiation emitted from a 12-modes circular optical fiber under different conditions of its excitation.


The effects of differing migration patterns of the poor and nonpoor on the distribution of poverty rates geographically and ecologically (i.e., across the rural-urban continuum and across counties with differing economic and social characteristics) are described. Migration rates of working-age and retirement-age poor and nonpoor from 1985-90 are analyzed in several geographical frameworks, and poverty rates from the last two decennial censuses are compared across the same categories. This provides a general picture of how the poor are distributed geographically and ecologically, how that distribution changed during the 1980s, and how migration of the poor and nonpoor functioned to reduce, maintain, or heighten spatial differentials in poverty rates. Attention is given primarily to nonmetropolitan areas and how the distribution of poverty there was affected by migration processes. Migration patterns were found consistently to maintain and reinforce the pre-existing disparities in the distribution of the poor and nonpoor.


The Global Lightning and sprIte MeasurementS (GLIMS) on the International Space Station (ISS) is a mission to detect and locate optical transient luminous events (TLEs) and its associated lightning simultaneously from the non-sun synchronous orbit, and was launched successfully in July, 2012 as part of the multi-mission consolidated equipment on Japanese Exposure Module (JEM). Our mission goals are to identify temporal and spatial evolutions of lightning and TLEs and to clarify the occurrence conditions of TLEs and global occurrence locations and rates of TLEs from the nadir observation. To achieve these goals, two CMOS cameras, six Photometers, VLF receiver, and VHF interferometer with two antennas, are installed at the bottom of the module to observe the TLEs as well as parent lighting discharges at nadir direction. Though the luminous events so-called sprite, elves and jets have been investigated by numerous researchers all over the world based mainly on the ground observations, some important problems have not been fully understood yet such as generation mechanisms of columniform fine structure and horizontal offset of some sprites from the parent lightning discharges. So far, more than one thousand events were recorded, and this mission is continuously observing TLEs and lightning events. In this paper, in order to discuss on the TLE and lightning effect to atmosphere, mission overview, and some examples of the observation results are introduced. This is the first time to present on the results of the GLIMS mission from the meteorological aspects. Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-emission Sounder (SMILES) was the first instrument to use 4K cooled SIS (Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor) detection system for the observation of the atmosphere in the frequency regions 625 GHz (Bands A and B) and 650 GHz (Band C) [1]. It has demonstrated its high sensitivity (System Temperature, Tsys ˜250K) for measuring stratospheric and mesospheric species, O3, HCl, ClO, HO2, HOCl, BrO, and O3 isotopes from Oct. 12, 2009 to Apr. 21, 2010 [2-5]. So it was very successful scientific program, even though it have been conducted as an engineering demonstration program. Since SMILES operation has terminated after only 6 months operation due to failure of sub-mm local oscillator (and later 4K cooler system), there exist strong scientific demand to develop successor of SMILES, the SMILES-2, which has optimized and enhanced frequency coverage to observe: (a) BrO and HOCl without interferences of stronger emission lines, (b) N2O, H2O, NO2, and CH3Cl not covered by the SMILES frequency regions, and (c) O2 line to measure temperature. This paper will describes (a) list of SMILES publications on timeline, (b) lessons learned from SMILES project, and (c) possible SMILES-2 observations based upon those SMILES lessons. To support future space activities, it is very important to acquire space environmental data related to space radiation degradation of space parts and materials and spacecraft anomalies. Such data are useful for spacecraft design and manned space activity. the Engineering Technical Data Acquisition Equipment been installed obtaining the described We will report the results ISS-IMAP (Ionosphere, Mesosphere, upper Atmosphere, and Plasmasphere mapping) mission have observed the airglow and the ion resonant scattering in the Earth's upper atmosphere since 2012. The scientific goals of ISS-IMAP are to elucidate following two processes: 1) energy transport process by the structures whose horizontal scale is 50-500km in the Earth's upper atmosphere, 2) the effect of the structures and disturbances on the space-borne engineering system. ISS-IMAP was installed on the Exposure Facility of Japanese Experiment Module, Kibo, of the International Space Station in August 2012. It consists of two sets of imagers, VISI and EUVI. Visible-light and infrared spectrum imager (VISI) observes the Mesosphere and the Ionosphere. Extra ultraviolet imager (EUVI) observes the Ionosphere and the Plasmasphere. VISI observes the airglow in the Nadir direction. The airglow emissions were mainly observed by VISI was 730nm (OH, Alt. 85km), 762nm (O2, Alt. 95km), and 630nm (O, Alt. 250km). Additional airglows, such as Sodium, were also observed. The global distributions of the airglow structures whose scale size is 50-500km in the nightside of the Mesosphere and the Ionosphere have been obtained by the VISI observation. EUVI measures the resonant scattering of 30.4nm [He+] and 83.4nm [O+]. Its field- of-view is 15 degrees, and points the limb of the Earth to observe the vertical distribution of the ions. The observational results including its conjugate observation with the ground-based instruments will be introduced in the presentation. Global Lightning and sprIte Measurements (GLIMS) mission is now ongoing on Exposed Facility of Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-EF) of the International Space Station (ISS). JEM-GLIMS mission is designed to conduct comprehensive observations with both the EM and the optical payloads for lightning activities and related transient luminous events (TLEs) expecting to give us many scientific impacts to the field. The integrated 4 sensors installed into Multi Mission Consolidated Equipment (MCE), which is the bus system, and is mounted at JEM-EF as GLIMS mission. The 4 sensors consist of very high frequency (VHF) broadband digital InTerFerometer (VITF), very low frequency (VLF) receiver, CMOS cameras at two different wavelengths, and photometers at six channels. VITF consists of two sets of antennas, band-pass filters, amplifiers, and 2-channel-AD-converter. Impulsive EM radiations received by the antennas are digitized by the AD converter synchronizing with another channel through the filters and the ampli-fiers. A patch type antenna is developed within the size of 200 ∗ 200 mm. It is mounted on the antenna base made of aluminum alloy and Teflon block with the total height of 100 mm to gain its bandwidth and to reduce the interference from other structural objects. The same two units of antennas are installed with the separation of 1.6 m. Their bandwidths with the less return loss than 3 dB are from 70 to 100 MHz. The signals received by the antenna are transmitted along cables with the same lengths to the electronics. The AD converter records 130 waveforms as maximum of one dataset with the duration of 2.5 µ s with 200 MS/s. The developments of VITF are based on the heritage of VHF sensor on Maido-1 satellite. JEM-GIMS mission payload was successfully launched at the end of July 2012, and transported and installed to the ISS. After the initial checkout and maintenance, its nominal operation is continued from December 2012. Through the operation period, VITF corrects numerous VHF EM data synchronized with optical signals. About 2,900 VITF datasets were obtained in 20 months. The timing of data acquisition is controlled by a photometer through this period. Namely, the EM and optical data are recorded being triggered by a photometer. 65 - 80% of optical observations are accompanied with VHF radiations. Though the discrimination is in progress, most optical signals are from lightning. The estimations of the EM direction-of-arrival (DOA) are attempted using the broadband digital interferometry. Some results agree with the optical observations, even though DOA estimation has difficulties caused by its very short baseline of the antennas and multiple pulses in short time, namely burst-type EM waveforms. VITF is designed expecting to estimate the DOA with about 10 km resolution that is equivalent to the scale of a thundercloud. This paper makes comparative discussion about the observations by VITF and optical payloads, CMOS camera and photometer. It is found that the brighter lightning makes the denser VHF radiations. Sprites are lightning-associated transient discharge phenomena occurring in the mesosphere and are mainly excited by positive cloud-to-ground (CG) discharges. Although a large number of studies on sprites have been performed by optical observations from the ground, airplanes and space and numerical simulations, the physical mechanism determining the horizontal distributions of sprites is not clear so far. Recent studies suggested that the in-cloud lightning currents associated with CG discharges would have an important role to determine the horizontal distributions of sprites. In order to clarify this, it is essential to carry out nadir observations of lightning discharges and sprites from the space using optical instruments and radio receivers. JEM-GLIMS is a space mission to conduct nadir observations of lightning discharges and sprites from International Space Station (ISS). In this mission, images of the lightning and sprite emissions can be captured by a wide-band CMOS camera (LSI-1) and a narrow-band CMOS camera (LSI-2). In addition to this, the absolute intensities of N 2 1P, 2P and N 2+ 1N emissions of lightning discharges and sprites are measured by six-channel spectrophotometers (PH). In order to identify the sprite occurrences, we have developed new identification techniques: (1) a subtraction of the appropriately scaled LSI-1 image from LSI-2 image, (2) a calculation of intensity ratio between different PH channels, and (3) an estimation of the charge moment changes and polarity of the parent CG discharges using 1-100 Hz ELF waveform data. Using these methods, three events observed at (A) 05:08:14 UT on Dec. 21, 2013, (B) 03:48:24 UT on Jun. 10, 2014, and (C) 06:41:15 UT on Jun. 12, 2014 are confirmed that sprites were occurred. In the event (A), sprite emissions were detected at three different locations, and the distances between sprite elements are estimated to be 4.57 km, 6.57 km and 9.92 km. The average distance from the location of the peak lightning emissions is 19.83 km. It is also found that the peak lightning emissions was located by 15 km away from the return stroke position detected by WWLLN. In the even


A series of complexes Pd(IPr)(C(O)C9H6N)X has been prepared where X is a weakly coordinating anion (WCA). [Pd(IPr)(C(O)C9H6N)]+ can be isolated as a 3-coordinate, air- and moisture-stable Pd(II) cation when paired with sterically encumbered WCAs. Using NMR, IR, X-ray diffraction, and computational (DFT, NBO) techniques, the coordination ability of WCAs in both solid and solution state is compared. The IPr methine isopropyl 1H NMR chemical shift and the anion's percent buried volume (%Vbur) are highly sensitive to the steric encumbrance of the anion, while IR and NBO analysis offer a measure of relative donor strength. On the basis of computed νCO, the coordinating abilities of anions studied are as follows BArF4– ∼ [(BCF)2(imid)]− < SbF6– < PF6– < BF4– < NTf2– < ClO4– < OTf– < Cl–.


: This paper gives detailed descriptions of the functions of lub ri cating oil analysis technology,the characteristics of various analysing method s and the analysing process,and based on those,works out a marine diesel engine monitoring system.


To date, little research has been conducted to explore how consumers perceive and use the Web as an advertising medium. Although numerous guidelines for Web home page design exist, the vast majority of advice is based on opinion, personal experience or observation, not necessarily on empirical evidence. A combination of research methods (focus groups, interviews, and experiments) is used to identify design elements that influence consumers' perceptions of Web page complexity. The study reports that perceived complexity is a result of four major factors: number of links, number of graphics, home page length, and


Background: The Microbiology and Molecular Biology testing laboratory at the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency in Gorontalo analyzed the results of DNA isolation from chicken feathers obtained from the base of young feathers, the base of elderly feathers, and the tips of the feathers. The goal was to provide information on the use of DNA templates in chicken samples so that the molecular research sampling process may employ feathers instead of hurting the test animals. The sample used consisted of 10 Bangkok chickens which were sampled for young feathers and old feathers and the tips of the feathers. Method: Quantitative techniques by comparing the results of DNA isolation which were analyzed using a nano photometer and then confirmed using real-time PCR with the SYBR green method. Result: The analysis of purity and concentration showed that at the base of young chicken feathers, the average value of purity was at 1,790, with an average value of the concentration of 4,210. At the base of the old feather, the average value of purity was 0.638, with an average concentration value that was not detected. Likewise, at the tip of the feather, the average purity value is 0.894 and the concentration value is not detected. Confirmation tests performed on all samples using the real-time PCR melt curve method showed that all samples were detected with a Tm value of 78.5 for young feathers, 78.5 for old feathers, 79.0 for positive controls and 78.7 for positive controls, while negative controls were not detected. Conclusion: DNA isolation can be carried out at the base of the young feathers, the base of the old feathers and the tips of the feathers.


In surface grinding, the shape error is occurred by the thermal deformation of a ground workpiece. To finish the workpiece with high accuracy, it is necessary to understand the temperature distribution of the workpiece during grinding process. However there is no study to analyze the temperature distribution of a large workpiece during surface grinding process. In this study, an advanced simulation analysis method of the temperature distribution for a large workpiece was developed. In the developed simulation analysis method, the temperature distribution was calculated from the power consumption of the wheel motor. The power consumption can be obtained easily without any specialized equipment. To evaluate the developed simulation analysis method, in-process measurement of the temperature distribution of a large workpiece was also carried out. A large workpiece ground in this study weights about 1.3 tons. The temperature distribution was measured with thermistors mounted in many places of the ground workpiece. At the area close to the grinding surface, it was found that temperature rises immediately after the passage of grinding wheel with measuring the developed in-process measurement system. On the other hand, at the area far from the grinding point, temperature does not change quickly. The in-process measured temperature distribution agreed well with the simulated results.


Abstract This article examines a wave of Chinese poetry sparked by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. "Quake Poetry" was published online before being re-circulated through digital, print and live media. Multimedia adaptations of one poem are examined to investigate the relationship between the authors of Quake Poetry, the different media platforms, and the people and institutions involved in its proliferation. Media convergence enabled Quake Poetry to fulfil several functions in the aftermath of the earthquake. Most prominently, it served as an emotional outlet for those affected by the quake, while giving its netizen-producers a sense of creative agency as they engaged in participatory cultural production. Members of the contemporary poetry scene cited Quake Poetry as evidence of poetry's ongoing hold over the Chinese national consciousness. Finally, certain poems were appropriated and promoted by China's state-controlled media to propagate a politically expedient image of Chinese unity in the face of tragedy.


The objective of this article is to present the Game Performance Evaluation Tool (GPET) and the results of the validation and reliability processes said tool has undergone in order to be classified as a scientific evaluation tool. The GPET measures decision-making and the execution of technical-tactical actions in invasion games/sports. The version discussed herein is specific to football. The most significant contribution made by the GPET to the assessment of game performance is that it adopts a situated view to the basic tactical principles or problems proposed by Bayer (1992) with regard to attacking, retaining possession of the ball, advancing on the opposing goal and achieving the objective. Content validity was determined, and concurrent validity, intra-observer reliability (stability) and inter-observer reliability were measured. This evaluation tool has been shown to be a suitable means for assessing the tactical and technical behaviour of both on-the-ball and off-the-ball attackers.


Redefining the approach and philosophy that operations management uses to define, develop, and implement space missions will be a central element in achieving high efficiency mission operations for the future. The goal of a cost effective space operations program cannot be realized if the attitudes and methodologies we currently employ to plan, develop, and manage space missions do not change. A management philosophy that is in synch with the environment in terms of budget, technology, and science objectives must be developed. Changing our basic perception of mission operations will require a shift in the way we view the mission. This requires a transition from current practices of viewing the mission as a unique end product, to a 'mission development concept' built on the visualization of the end-to-end mission. To achieve this change we must define realistic mission success criteria and develop pragmatic approaches to achieve our goals. Custom mission development for all but the largest and most unique programs is not practical in the current budget environment, and we simply do not have the resources to implement all of our planned science programs. We need to shift our management focus to allow us the opportunity make use of methodologies and approaches which are based on common building blocks that can be utilized in the space, ground, and mission unique segments of all missions.


In this study on neurologic diseases treated in palliative care, we aimed to identify the factors predisposing the sites in the body to develop infections and the factors affecting the quantities of growth in the cultures. The medical records of patients with neurologic diseases in the palliative care centre (PCC) were retrospectively reviewed covering the years between 2014 and 2018. The patient data including the age, gender, length of stay (LOS) in PCC; their diagnoses and comorbid diseases, nutritional status, pressure ulcers (PU) and their emergence; and the quantities of growth in blood, urine, wound, rectal, and tracheal aspirate cultures (TA) were collected and compared. One hundred and forty-three patients were included in the study. The highest quantity of growth was observed in urine cultures. The rates of growth were statistically higher in blood cultures of patients with a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and a tracheostomy (p=0.001, p=0.013). The quantities of growth in wound cultures were lower in the cancer patients, whereas, those in the wound and rectal cultures were significantly higher in the patients with PU. The growth quantities were higher in the TA cultures of the patients with hypoxic brain injury and tracheostomies (p=0.033, p


To the Editors: S chizophrenia is often first diagnosed in early adulthood, but in about one third of the cases, the disorder already developed during adolescence. Adolescent-onset schizophrenia is considered to be associated with a particularly poor prognosis, which underscores the need for a safe and effective treatment. In addition, sex differences in schizophrenia have been of particular interest. Although lifetime risk and prevalence seem comparable for male and female patients, differences in various aspects of the disease have been reported, for example, age of onset, premorbid state, pathophysiology, symptoms, course, coping and social skills, cognitive performance, structural brain abnormalities, treatment response and outcome, many of the variables indicate that females are more likely to manifest less severe forms of the illness. Children and adolescents are at particularly high risk for treatmentemergent extrapyramidal symptoms during treatment with typical antipsychotics, therefore, atypical antipsychotics are often considered the treatment of choice. But there are few regulatory approvals for this population, for example, the US Food and Drug Administration recently approved risperidone and aripiprazole for schizophrenia (ages 13Y17 years) and manic/mixed episodes in bipolar I disorder (ages 10Y17 years), and there is still a lack of large prospective long-term studies. Olanzapine has been approved for the treatment of adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Together with risperidone, olanzapine is currently the most commonly used atypical antipsychotic in pediatric patients (aged 18 years or younger), and therefore merits further evaluation of its effectiveness and tolerability . It is currently not regulatoryapproved for the treatment of children and adolescents. Various open-label studies have suggested that olanzapine may be effective in this population, but these studies showed a number of limitations. A first large prospective open-label multicenter trial with an atypical antipsychotic compound (olanzapine) in this age group (12Y21 years; N = 96) was performed in Germany. Then, 2 placebo-controlled trials with olanzapine in adolescents (schizophrenia, bipolar mania) have been published. There is only very limited information on sex differences in adolescent patients with schizophrenia. Thus, the objective of secondary analyses was to compare male and female adolescent patients from the German study with respect to selected BL (BL) characteristics plus effectiveness and tolerability parameters in an exploratory approach. This was a 24-week, open-label, prospective trial of olanzapine in male and female adolescent patients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV schizophrenia (methods in Dittmann et al). Qualified patients started treatment as inpatients. After week 6, responders only (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale [BPRS]0Y6 improvement, Q30%) continued as outpatients in an open-label extension (18 weeks). Outcome measures comprised: BPRS0Y6, Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S), CGI Improvement scales; a self-rated subjective well-being scale (SWN, 20-item short form; higher scores = better well-being), spontaneously reported treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs), the Udvalg for Kliniske UndersLgelser (UKU) side effects scale, weight, body mass index (BMI), vital signs. Olanzapine plasma levels and serum leptin levels were assessed. Treatment with olanzapine was adjusted within a dose range of 5 to 20 mg/d. Statistical methods have been described; subgroup analyses (2-s.), for example, comparingmale versus female (m/f ) patient groups, were performed. Data are based on 96 patients; 80 (83.3%) completed the 6-week acute study period, 60 (62.5%) were responders, 34 (35.4%) completed the 24-week study, 68 (70.8%) patients were male, mean age was 15.9 (T 1.4) years. Baseline mean BPRS total score was 39.2 (T13.4); 38.3 (T 14.1) for males and 41.4 (T 11.3) for females (P 9 0.20). For males, the mean BL BMI was 20.9 (T 2.8); for females, 21.3 (T 4.0; m/f; P 9 0.50). The mean of the last olanzapine dose was 14.2 mg/d, of the highest dose 16.7 mg/d. Mean olanzapine plasma levels amounted to 47.8 (T 24.1) ng/mL (n = 84) by week 6 and 42.2 (T 24.8) ng/mL by week 24 (responders only, n = 56). The mean BPRS total score decreased from BL to week 6 by 17.0 (T 14.4; P G 0.001; N = 96), with a mean improvement of 43.1% (T 32.1%). No sex differences in mean change of BPRS total and positive and negative subscores were observed. A total of 62.5% of the patients (n = 60/96) met response criteria; rates were 60.3 (m), and 67.9% (f; m/f;P 9 0.20). The rate of patients assessed as markedly ill or worse (CGI-S) declined from 83.3% (BL) to 37.5% (week 6; P G 0.001). There were no m/f differences in various CGI-S parameter changes (allP 9 0.20). The SWN total scores increased from BL to week 6 (by 7.5 T 16.4; P G 0.001) both in males (P G 0.001) and in females (P G 0.07). By week 24, mean SWN changes amounted to 11.9 (T 20.6; m) and 13.8 (T 20.0; f; m/f; P 9 0.50). Significant correlations were observed (week 6), that is, investigatorrated BPRS total andCGI-S scores, r= 0.73 (P G 0.001); BPRS total and patient-rated SWN total scores, r = j0.24 (P = 0.032); and CGI-S and SWN total scores, r =j0.24 (P = 0.029). There were 519 TEAEs documented in 89 (92.7%) patients; 268 (51.9%) were considered to be possibly related to olanzapine treatment. Most commonly reported TEAEs were weight gain (30.2%, 29/96) and increased prolactin (PRL) levels (25.0%, 24/96). Serious AEs were observed in 3 males (all Bnot related[). The TEAEs led to early discontinuation in 3 patients. No deaths were reported. Few significant m/f differences were found (UKU items, by week 6): females reported more Borthostatic dizziness[ (P G 0.01), more of a reduction of Bdepression[ and Btension headache[ (both P G 0.05); males reported more weight gain (P G 0.10). Findings for changes in hematology and metabolic and liver function parameters have been published. Higher than normal BL serum PRL levels (Covance laboratory upper limit of normal range; Table 1) were found in 28.1% (27/96) of the patients, in 23.5% (m) and 32.1% (f; m/f; P 9 0.20). By week 6, 70.8% showed elevated PRL levels and (responders only) 13.3% (8/60) by week 24. The respective m/f rates were 70.6% and 71.4% (by week 6, m/f; P 9 0.20) and 12.2% and 15.8% (by week 24, P 9 0.20). The maximum single PRL levels were 58 (m) and 104 Kg/L (f; both found at week 6). For mean serum PRL levels, changes over time, and (selected) m/f results, cf. Table 1. The TEAEs (COSTART terms; N = 96) possibly associated with elevated PRL LETTERS TO THE EDITORS


This study presents the micro-hydroelectric power generation system. The micro-hydroelectric power generation system can be utilized for generating small amount of energy within towns. The generator system requires to be a robust, simple configuration and a stable output. The authors developed the reverse rotation twin rotor generator with the hydraulic energy test apparatus. In first step the study is carried out to make the twin water wheel prototype test apparatus using a small size facility. The paper describes the basic characteristics of a generator system with twin water wheel prototype test apparatus using a small size facility. The maximum power of the prototype test apparatus was found to be 52W.


On the basis of the discussion of the advantages and defects of the typical control methods of the inverter,the related improvement methods are introduced.As to the characteristics and existing problems of the control modes,the electric pow er simulation softw are is applied to set up the model.The related contents and illustration are verified through the simulation analysis.


In simulation of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), a hyperactivation of calpaines occurs due to m-calpaines. The m-calpaines involvement in the process of initiation of neurons and glial cells death in the EAE development was suggested.


Abstract Reducing Stereotype Threat in Academically At-Risk African- Americans Students: A Self- Affirmation InterventionbyCrystal Marie SimmonsDoctor of Philosophy in EducationUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Frank C. Worrell, ChairIn this study, I examined the effectiveness of a self-affirmation intervention (Cohen et al., 2006) with a sample of African American high school students who were at risk for academic failure. Participants consisted of 47 African-American students from 3 different high schools. Unlike previous research, results indicated that students who received the self-affirmation did not earn higher GPAs at the end of the first semester. Students who received the self-affirmation intervention also did not feel more psychologically engaged within the academic environment. Reasons for these disparate findings in comparison to previous research are discussed. Implications for stereotype threat theory and what type of students can benefit from this intervention are also discussed.


The paper studies the relationship of Azorin with medicine from a different approach which often takes the critical who interpreted the presence of the disease in his work as a metaphor for the crisis of the crisis of the end of the century. Our work examines scientific and real terms, as the suffering experienced by the author himself, who projected his pathology to fictional characters, we investigated, in addition to exposing the characteristics of disease and its therapeutic and his interest in all kinds of medical literature, ancient and recent. In summary, the article reviews the illness and doctors as a constant in Martinez Ruiz's literature, resulting in newspaper articles («Medicine», «The Doctor»), youth and maturity novels (Diary of a sick, 1901, The sick, 1943) or essays (Doctors, 1966).


Various samples, including untanned, chrome tanned, glutaraldehyde tanned and formaldehyde tanned cattlehide collagen fibres, were prepared and treated in artificial perspiration. Preliminary studies on their dry heat shrinkage and thermal degradation behaviours were completed followed by study of changes in thermal behaviours due to the perspiration exposure. The mechanism of these changes is discussed. The influence of perspiration on the water vapour permeability and the hydrothermal stability of the crust leathers are also discussed.


This project is focused on designing a new headquarters for the Ecological Council (in short UNEC) on the existing United Nations site which located in Manhattan, New York. The UNEC will improve the global sustainable issues by its power to combine knowledge of the environment, technology and economy and supplying its product over the world in a political way and in an advising matter. This new building for UNEC will become the new center of the whole UN compound. Physical and visual connections are built between old and new UN buildings. It respects the existing context but at the same time express its own attitude and character.


Trends in global marine fisheries – a critical view Abstract Individual fisheries are generally perceived as one fleet exploiting one or several target species. Their welfare then depends on the relation between the size of each fishery relative to the size of population(s) it exploits, which 'stock assessments' are supposed to evaluate and 'fisheries management' is supposed to adjust. The vision of fisheries that will be presented here, however, is that of a global system spanning all oceans. It is the result of an expansion which began in Europe, North America and Japan over a century ago, and which is now being completed by largely uncontrolled industrial fleets operating in the deepest waters of the Southern Oceans. The major consumer countries, mainly the EU, the United States and Japan, are largely unaffected by the local depletions these fleets induce, in spite of globally declining catches, buffered as they are by an integrated global market that causes a large and increasing fraction of world fish catches to be consumed in countries other than those where the catches are being made. This global fishery, fed by enormous subsidies in developed countries and 'subsidized' by the need for foreign exchange in developing countries, has a substantial impact on marine ecosystems, with the biomasses of large and mid-sized target species and associated organisms generally reduced by one order of magnitude a few decades after a fishery opens. This effect can be detected by declining trends of the mean trophic level of fisheries landings, a process now known as 'fishing down food webs'. We briefly review, in the context of Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs), the work documenting this global phenomenon, which implies that fisheries gradually 'spread' from a few targeted species contributing the bulk of the catch to a situation where essentially all palatable taxa are targeted, with each taxon ('diversity') contributing a small part ('evenness') of the total catch. This is demonstrated through the application of an indicator ('BA-DAP index'), derived from work by R.M. Warwick, applied here for the first time to the time series of LME catch data for 1950 to 2004. It can be anticipated that the form of interaction with marine megafauna and their supportive ecosystems demonstrated here will lead in the next decades to a succession of local extirpation, followed potentially by global extinctions, just as early hunters exterminated the megafauna of newly accessed continents or Trends in GlobAl MArine Fisheries – A criTicAl view1


The paper analyses Kafka's fragment as one of the first trace of the author's creative journey. I will read Man darf nicht sagen in the complexity of Kafka's literary work, investigating the recurrence of stylistic features such as negation, irony, uses of subjunctive and indicative verbal moods, as well as the semantic nuances of the German modal verb durfen . Nevertheless, I won't reduce such stylistic peculiarities to a mere linguistic exercise. I argue that Franz Kafka inscribes in Man darf nicht sagen the seeds, the signals of a never ending subjective confrontation with the question of transmission, memory, subjectivity, and testimony in name of an Otherness: in a word, with the question of the Law. Keywords: Franz Kafka; Psychoanalysis; the Work of the Negative


This study examines characteristics of high-resolution radar data (5-minute temporal resolution, 1x1 km spatial resolution) from the Deutsche Wetterdienst over an area of 1824 km2 covering the catchment of the river Wupper, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The elevation varies from 31 meters to 483 meters above sea level and the mean annual precipitation in the area ranges from 770 mm to 1352 mm, due to strong orographic effects. Thirteen years of data, from November 1, 2000 to 1 November 2013, is used for the analysis. This study aims to quantify and describe spatial rainfall as a function of temporal and spatial dynamics, rainfall types and seasonal variation. Descriptive statistical methods are applied to analyse selected physically based variables and their internal correlation. Extreme events were sampled by a Peak Over Threshold method using several sampling strategies including different degrees of spatial coverage. All strategies select an average of three events per year. A simple identificationand tracking algorithm for rain cells based on intensity threshold and fitting of ellipsoids, is developed for the study. Both hourly and daily extremes were analyzed with respect to a set of 16 descriptive variables (see Table 1). Tab 1: Descriptive physically relevant variables used for the analysis of spatial rainfall. From Thomassen et al. (2018) Variable Short name Unit Description Duration Duration Hours From start to end with an extension of 2 hours in each end to consider the event in the entire case area. Intensity Max 10min mm min Maximum average intensity for 10 minutes. Ratio 10min Ratio between max 10 minute and mean 10-minute intensity. Max 1h mm min Maximum average intensity for 1 hour. Max 24h mm min Maximum average intensity for 24 hours. Wet Area Mean wet A Average ratio of cells with precipitation (wet cells) from each time step of the event. Depth Min depth mm Value of the grid cell with the lowest depth in the case area. Max depth mm Value of the grid cell with the highest depth in the case area. Mean depth mm Average depth considering all cells in the case area. Ratio depth Ratio between max depth and mean depth. Rain cell properties Cell num Number of tracked rain cell in the rain event. Cell life min Average lifetime of the rain cells in the event. Movement Mean vel m s Mean rain cell velocity Sd vel m s Standard deviation of velocity. Mean dir Degrees Mean moving direction of rain cells, compass degrees. Sd dir Degrees Standard deviation of direction. UrbanRain18 11 International Workshop on Precipitation in Urban Areas The spatio-temporal properties of the extreme events are explored by means of principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis, and linear models for these 16 variables. The PCA indicated between 5 and 9 dimensions in the extreme event characteristic data. The cluster analyses identified four distinct rainfall types: extreme convective, convective, convective events in front systems and front system events (see Figure 1). Fig 1: Statistical clustering of extreme events. Cluster 1: Extreme convective, cluster 2: Convective, cluster 3: Convective events within frontal systems, and cluster 4: Frontal system events. Modified from Thomassen et al. (2018). The stepwise regression for each variable identified independent variables that correspond well with the correlation structure identified in the clusters. The results of this study conduct the preliminary steps prior to setting up a weather generator with similar properties as high-resolution radar rainfall data. The results point out which variables in such a weather generator should be considered independent and which could be co-varied. The study should be considered as a first step into the direction of good practises to find and analyse single storm events in radar rainfall data sets. The full study is under revision for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences as Thomassen et al. (2018): doi: 10.5194/hess-2018-184. References Thomassen, E. D., Sørup, H. J. D., Scheibel, M., Einfalt, T., & Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K. (2018). Explorative Analysis of Long Time Series of Very High Resolution Spatial Rainfall. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2018-184


States may be hesitant to increase sales tax rates on petroleum products out of the goods and service tax's ambit to cope with the Covid-19-led revenue shock The risk of revenue loss on account of the interstate purchase of out-of-GST petroleum products at a concessional rate of 2% may not give an opportunity to state governments to enlarge fiscal space and lift the economy out of fiscal shock, given the fall in global price of crude petroleum © 2020 Economic and Political Weekly All rights reserved


When is it ethically justifiable to mislead participants about the nature of a film or television program? Producers of the 2006 film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan used brilliantly crafted releases to undermine potential fraud claims from participants misled about the comedy. This article argues that if portraying participants can result in foreseeable, substantial negative consequences for them, the portrayal must serve an overriding public interest. The test is applied to scenes in Borat.


The heating system is widely used because it can sustain wide range of temperature. So temperature control is of prime importance. The heating systems are used for controlled maintenance of indoor ambient characteristics in optimal manner. The objective of these systems is to achieve comfortable and pleasant sensation of people staying in the warm area. The heating control problem is tackled by a fuzzy control scheme. Fuzzy logic systems are employed to maintain the room temperature in required range by determines the maximum and minimum for temperature. One important Artificial Intelligence tool for automatic control is the use of fuzzy logic controllers, which are fuzzy rule-based systems comprising expert knowledge in form of linguistic rules. These rules are usually constructed by an expert in the field of interest who can link the facts with the conclusions. Fuzzy Logic is a paradigm for an alternative design methodology, which can be applied in developing both linear and non-linear systems for embedded control. By using fuzzy logic, designers can realize lower development costs, superior features and better end product performance. In control systems there are a number of generic systems and methods which are encountered in all areas of industry and technology. From the dozens of ways to control any system, it turns out that fuzzy is often the very best way. The only reasons are faster and cheaper. One of successful application that used fuzzy control is heating control system. This paper describes the concept of using simulation as a tool for performance validation and energy analysis of heating systems.


In the present work excitation functions (EFs) for several proton-induced reactions up to ≈ 20 MeV have been measured using the proton beam from Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata, INDIA. The stacked foil activation technique followed by off-line gamma-ray spectroscopy has been employed. The theoretical calculations have been carried out using the semi-classical model code, ACT which includes both compound nucleus (CN) as well as pre-equilibrium (PE) emission. Analysis of data suggests that pre-equilibrium emission reaction mechanism is important at these energies and should be included in theoretical calculations to reproduce the experimental data. The pre-equilibrium emission is found to be dominant at relatively higher energies.


Comprehensive diagnostic imaging, including plain roentgenograms, pluridirectional tomography, computed axial tomography, and radionuclide scanning with technetium and gallium, is helpful in the diagnosis and management of malignant otitis externa. Acute and convalescent studies are presented in a successfully managed case, and guidelines are offered for employment of these studies in the management of seemingly recalcitrant otitis externa.


Two clinical trials of five forms of two antibiotics in the treatment of streptococcal pharyngitis were undertaken in an attempt to relate bacteriologic outcomes to amounts of drug actually consumed. All antibiotics were prescribed in suspension form and daily intakes were calculated and averaged for both the first and second five days of treatment. A simple method for quantifying drug intake, which involves weighing medicine bottles before, during, and after therapy, was used. The wide range of ingested doses observed in 312 private patients explain most of the different results from similar prescribed doses in our practices.


Objectives: To determine if intraoperative aminophylline was superior to furosemide to prevent or attenuate postoperative cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury. Design: Single-center, historical control, retrospective cohort study. Setting: PICU, university-affiliated children's hospital. Patients: Children with congenital heart disease in PICU who received furosemide or aminophylline to treat intraoperative oliguria. Interventions: Intraoperative oliguria was treated either with furosemide (September 2007 to February 2012) or with aminophylline (February 2012 to June 2013). The postoperative 48 hours renal outcomes of the aminophylline group were compared with the furosemide group. The primary outcomes were acute kidney injury and renal replacement therapy use at 48 hours postoperatively. Surgical complexity was accounted for by the use of Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery-1 score. Measurements and Main Results: The study involves 69 months of observation. There were 200 cases younger than 21 years old reviewed for this study. Eighty-five cases (42.5%) developed acute kidney injury. The aminophylline group patients produced significantly more urine (mL/kg/hr) during the first 8 hours postoperatively than furosemide patients (5.1 vs 3.4 mL/kg/hr; p = 0.01). The urine output at 48 hours postoperatively was similar between the two groups. There was no difference in acute kidney injury incidence at 48 hours between the aminophylline and furosemide groups (38% vs 47%, respectively; p = 0.29). Fewer aminophylline group subjects required renal replacement therapy compared to the furosemide group subjects (n = 1 vs 7, respectively; p = 0.03). In the multi-variant predictive model, intraoperative aminophylline infusion was noted as a negative predictive factor for renal replacement therapy, but not for cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury. Conclusion: The intraoperative use of aminophylline was more effective than furosemide in reversal of oliguria in the early postoperative period. There were less renal replacement therapy-requiring acute kidney injury in children in the aminophylline group. Future prospective studies of intraoperative aminophylline to prevent cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury may be warranted.


The VaMoS workshop series aims to bring together researchers from different areas dedicated to mastering variability in order to discuss advantages, drawbacks, and complementarities of various approaches, and to present new results for mastering variability throughout the life cycle of systems, system families, and (software) product lines.


Islamic micro-finance is a growing industry in several Muslim countries such as Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Malaysia. Islamic micro-finance is at the heart of Islamic finance as it addresses one of the fundamental roles of financial intermediaries demanded by Shariah. Over the past few decades, many initiatives have taken place to alleviate poverty in Muslim countries. This paper provides the Islamic thoughts and motives behind these initiatives and then, it discusses the mechanisms proposed by Islam to improve the life of poor, prevent them to become poor, and also to improve the general economic relations among members of society. Later on, mudarabah, Musharakah, murabahah, Ijarah, and qard al-hasan are discussed as different types of Shariah compliant contracts that can be used as the base of micro financing business model.


Abstract: This essay addresses the power of poetry to express dissenting voices in a society that demands ideological unity in the name of collective survival. The revival of Hebrew has been intimately associated with Zionist cultural politics. However, Hebrew poetry has continuously challenged the dominant ideological precepts of the political movements of Zionism. This essay focuses on reading the poetry of Bracha Serri, a feminist poet who was born in Sanaa, Yemen in 1940 and passed away in Jerusalem in 2013. The religious education of her childhood, her academic studies, and the period she spent in Northern California have inspired the unabashed and highly original feminist voice of her poems. Her religious idiom powerfully revolutionizes the patriarchal hierarchies embodied in traditional Jewish religion and produces an innovative religious language which not only addresses a divine female figure in traditional sacred language but also boldly shatters the boundaries of gender. Finally, it also uplifts the poet herself from an oppressed position dictated by gender hierarchy as well as the ethnic injustices characterizing Israeli society. Serri was not afraid to shock and to attack dominant norms. Not only is her poetry antimilitaristic but it also identifies the common interests of Palestinian women and Mizrahi Israeli women, as well as women in general. In her poetic language, she also admiringly incorporates associations from the Black struggle in the United States. Her choice to avoid publishing her poetry at leading Israeli publishing houses and journals and to instead publish most of her literary work by herself was not merely an act of dissent, but also constituted an act of decentralization by establishing a center of her own that resisted the dominant centers of power. Serri's poetry is a particularly beautiful, moving, forceful, and important voice among the voices critically responding to Zionism.


We examine the electronic structure of two-dimensional hexagonal boron arsenide using k.p theory, method of invariants, and density functional theory. The fundamental band gap occuring at the K point is 0.76 eV, however, this transition is not allowed in the dipole approximation. The conduction band at the Γ point is highly sensitive to strain or electric fields that renders transition into a metallic state possible. We investigate the optical absorption of boron arsenide and the possibilities of tuning by means of strain or electric field.


: In this paper, the detailed electrochemistry of propofol (PRO) which is one of the intravenous agents commonly used for sedative-hypnotic purposes was examined. In cyclic voltammetry, the agent showed one irreversible and diffusion‐controlled oxidation peak, resulting in the formation of a couple with a reduction and re-oxidation wave at less positive potentials. The effect of electrode pretreatment procedures on the electrochemical response of PRO was investigated by using square wave voltammetry (SWV) and the optimum procedure was used to improve the signal response in subsequent studies. Quantification of PRO was done based on the first oxidation peak using SWV. After optimization of all variables, the linear working range of PRO was found to be between 2.5 μg mL -1 (1.4×10 -5 mol L -1 ) and 160.0 μg mL -1 (1.1×10 -3 mol L -1 , n =15) with a detection limit 0.71 μg mL -1 (3.9×10 -6 mol L -1 ). No noteworthy interference effect was detected. Also, the developed method was used for quantification of PRO in pharmaceutical sample. voltammetry; DPV, differential pulse voltammetry; CSV, cathodic CA, Chronoamperometry; SWV,


Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a problem worldwide and the proportion of underage victims is significant. To identify the minority of a person, the measurement of bone age using X-ray imaging is the gold-standard procedure. Beside several technical and judicial problems like radiation, this technique still requires medical diagnosis and limits the acceptance and practicability. Existing ultrasound systems for bone age determination evaluate changes of speed of sound through bone showing unreliable results for majority determining. In this work a mobile ultrasound system for the purpose of fast and reliable majority determination is developed and clinically evaluated using machine learning for classification without the need of a physician trained for age determination. In women, the complete fusion of the distal growth plate in ulna and radius bones correlates with reaching the age of 18. The existence of this growth plate is measured using the developed mobile multichannel ultrasound system. Its main parts are a low cost and low power FPGA, a fully integrated 8 channel transceiver and a WIFI module for data transfer to a mobile device. A pair of ultrasound array transducers (4 elements with 11x11 mm aperture each, 1 MHz center frequency) is positioned and moved up to 15 mm for reflection and transmission measurements through the forearm resulting in measurements of multiple paths through an existing growth plate leading to more robust results. The detection of growth plate existence was done using machine learning approaches. Different types of artificial neural nets were used. The system has been evaluated successfully in a clinical study with 149 women at Saarland University Medical Center. Classical signal processing analyzing the change of ultrasound signals during transducer movement over the growth plate showed that a difference between underage and legal age women is contained in the data, but classification had to be done using machine learning methods. The best performance for binary majority classification was achieved using a ResNet with an F1 score of approximately 84 % showing the capabilities of the setup. Currently, a multi-center study started to increase the number of data used for training the artificial neural nets, improving these results further while adapting the technology even to male subject groups.


A microscope employing the characteristics of the reflection at the Brewster angle has been built for the study of first‐order phase transitions in monolayers and the growth of two‐dimensional domains without adding fluorescent impurities. It takes about 2.4 s to constitute an image.


Contents: Introduction Securitisation and drug control policy: theoretical frameworks The 'securitisation' of cocaine trafficking in the European Union The 'securitisation' of cocaine trafficking in the United States EU drug control policy towards the Andes US drug control policy towards the Andes Plan Colombia: an attempt at multinational co-operation Conclusion Bibliography Appendix Index.


Abstract : Stratified shear flows and the associated internal waves are often found in nature, both in the ocean and the atmosphere. The shear flow investigated in this thesis is one in which the density and velocity change rapidly across an interface between two miscible fluids. The Richardson number profile in the region of the interface is measured and the erosion of the interface is monitored periodically during the experiment. The interfacial erosion is then explained in terms of the gradient Richardson number profile. A wave tank eighty feet long, four feet high, and two feet wide is used in this experiment. The fluid is stratified by varying the amount of salt dissolved in the water and the shear flow is created by pumping the upper layer in a closed circuit. The results are presented as Richardson number profiles for various time durations and overall shear velocities. A plot of the interfacial position as a function of time is also included.


Objective To introduce the amino acid substitution for HP V16E749-57(HLA-A2-restricted CTL epitope) and to identify the novel epitopes.Me thods Quantitative method was used to evaluate the affinity of the substituted peptides.To determine the peptide candidates to be synthesized and identified,the molecular models of the HLA-A2-peptide complex and CTL epitope candidates b ound to the HLA-A2 molecule were established by computer molecular modeling.Pep tides were synthesized and purified with standard Fmoc assay,lactate dehydrogen ase (LDH) release assay was used to determine their abilities of inducing the ge neration of specific CTLs.Results Modified peptides met the requirements of H LA-A2-restricted CTL epitopes.Peptide RLHYNIVTF had the abilitiy of inducing th e generation of specific CTLs.Conclusions Compared with HPV17E749-57 the mod ified peptide RLHYNIVTF has a higher antigenicity and affinity to HLA-A2.So,pe ptide RLHYNIVTF may be used as one of the HLA-A2-restricted candidate epitopes,instead of HPV17E749-57,for peptide vaccine in the treatment of HPV infection.


Here, we demonstrate the use of a colloidal CdSe:Te quantum dots suspension as active liquid-core in a specially designed optical element, based on a double-clad optical fiber structure. The liquid-core fiber was realized by filling the hollow core of a capillary and waveguiding of the core was ensured by using a liquid host that exhibits a larger refractive index than the cladding material of the capillary. Since the used capillary possessed a cladding waveguide structure, we obtained a liquid-core double-clad structure. To seal the liquid-core fiber and e.g. prevent the formation of bubbles, we developed a technique based on SMA connectors. The colloidal CdSe:Te quantum dots were excited by cladding-pumping using a pump laser at 532nm operating in the continuous-wave regime. We investigated the photoluminescence emitted from the colloidal CdSe:Te quantum dots suspension liquid-core and guided by the double-clad fiber structure. We observed a red shift of the (core) emission, that depends on the liquid-core fiber length and the pump power. This shift is due to the absorption of unexcited colloidal quantum dots and due to the waveguiding properties of the core. Here we report a core photoluminescence output power of 79.2μW (with an integrated brightness of ≈ 215.5 W/cm2sr ). Finally, we give an explanation, why lasing could not be observed in our experiments when setup as a liquid-core fiber cavity.


The anticancer properties of Ru sulfoxide and imidazole complexes, including cw-RuCl2(DMSO)3(DMSO), ^ra«s-RuCl2(DMSO)4, and [?ra«s-Ru(Im)(DMSO)Cl4]~ have previously been studied by other groups (DMSO and DMSO = S-bonded and O-bonded dimethylsulfoxide, respectively; Im = imidazole). This thesis work concerns the use of Ru maltolato complexes in this regard; maltol (3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4-pyranone), being a non-toxic, water-soluble food additive, is suitable for biological use.


Light-sensitive protein with the light-induced allostery has great applications in bio-medical researches, which can be obtained by introducing the mutation at certain site in the protein. In the present work, we investigate the experimental data on NMDA receptors with light-sensitive mutations, and propose empirical formulas to connect the structural factors to the observable electric current change, which is the signature of the light-induced allosteric effect. We found our formulas present reasonable agreement with experimental data using the full-length structure of NMDA receptor 4tll. It can be used to predict the light-sensitive phenomena of this protein with other types of mutation. Present method can be directly extended to other proteins beyond the current 4tll.


The ANSYS/LS-DYNA3D finite element analysis software was used to simulate the flat plate explosive Welding process by three different ignition ways,such as side surface center one point ignition,side surface line ignition,and "T" shape ignition on explosion surface.The numerically simulated result indicates that the ignition ways have significant influence on explosive welding quality,different boundary effect is produced in explosive welding process by different ignition ways;explosive welding quality can be increased by "T" shape ignition ways because boundary effect be effective decreased.


Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the preferred surgical operation for symptomatic gallstone disease. Conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open surgery is used to prevent intra-abdominal organ injury, for open common bile duct exploration and to repair intra-abdominal organ injury. Objective: The objective of this chapter is to review risk factors and predictive models for conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open surgery, and surgical quality outcome measures. Methods: A narrative literature review using Pubmed, Medline, Cochrane library databases and Google search engine is described. Results: From the literature review, patientand surgeon-related risk factors and predictive models for conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open surgery were identified. Patient-dependent risk factors included preoperative and intraoper‐ ative variables. Current conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open surgery predictive models use only patient-dependent risk factors and were not tested on an independent sample of patients. Surgical quality outcome measures incorporate an association between conversion and intra-abdominal organ injury that demonstrates that conversion was used as an emergency strategy to repair injuries rather than a safety measure. Conclusion: Conversion of laparoscopic cholecystectomy to open surgery risk stratification based on patientand surgeon-dependent variables may allow a better management of the patient to keep conversion at low rates and to maintain benefits of minimally invasive surgery. © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


This study addresses how moisture in continental precipitation is recycled globally from a moisture-tracking perspective. Using a state-of-the-art three-dimensional Lagrangian model and optimized water accounting diagnostics, we complete a 40-year (1971-2010) tracking of moisture from continental precipitation in the present-day climate. Climatologically, we conclude that 62% of continental precipitation stems from evapotranspiration through Lagrangian tracking––a measure is known as the global "continental precipitation recycling (CPR)" ratio. The result bridges the long-standing gap between the explicit (i.e., moisture trajectory-based) and implicit (i.e., water budget-based) estimates of the global CPR ratio in the literature. On the 1° grid scale, non-local terrestrial sources dominate precipitation in almost 70% of the land areas, most prominent in the continental interior. The CPR ratio consistently exhibits a contrasting seasonality between the mid-to-high latitudes and monsoon regions worldwide, from which two kinds of moisture source-regulated hydroclimate are generalized. Given the importance of CPR, we identify terrestrial source hotspots for continental precipitation that deserve careful governance. Using the backward "WaterSip" and a newly proposed forward "WaterDrip" diagnostics, we conceptualize and quantify two important types of cascading moisture recycling (CMR), whereby the moisture from an earlier source precipitates over an intermediate source and then re-evaporates to sustain precipitation further downwind. The watershed-scale CMR metrics uncover the interdependence among the regional water cycles. Findings here advance the scientific understanding of the atmospheric water cycle as seen through Lagrangian tracking, and offer insights into transboundary watershed management and land-use planning to improve freshwater sustainability.


cat Observations were made on mammary tissue taken from lactating rats at intervals of from 2 to 24 h after separating the mother from her pups. The rats were in their 10th to 13th day of lactation. Two types of secretary vacuoles can be seen by electron microscopy, namely small vacuoles containing dark granules, probably protein, and larger vacuoles containing fat. The two types of vacuole are present at various levels in the cytoplasm and at the cell surface adjacent to the alveolar lumen, where they rupture, releasing their contents. The large fat droplets appear to be released intact but within the alveolar lumen there is some evidence of their breakdown into smaller droplets. Sometimes several fat droplets appear to coalesce in the cytoplasm prior to rupture. In mammary tissues removed at intervals of up to 10 h after separating mothers from pups, no cytoplasm appears to be lost in the secretary process, the cell membranes ap- parently being sealed by the vacuolar membranes. However, in tissues taken later than 10 h after removal of the pups there is evidence in some cells of widespread breakdown of the cell membrane with consequent release of fat, protein and cytoplasmic constituents into the alveolar lumen. In these circumstances the large fat droplets are sometimes sur- rounded by a ring of cytoplasm and cytoplasmic organelles. These findings, while confirming that secretion of milk by the alveolar cells may occur without the loss of cytoplasmic components as reported by other workers, indicate that prolonged secretion without milk removal may cause cell breakdown. This investigation was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grant FR 03462-02 to N.Y.S. Veterinary College. articular cartilage and in aqueous extracts of the former tissue. In the aqueous extracts, the macromolecules of proteinpolysaccharide are evident as linear aggregates of particles having a particle weight of about 56000. In the tissues, a proportion of these macromolecules are attached to col- lagen, being wound transversely round the fibre over the a and b, bands of each 640A period. The morphology of the surface resulting when the enamel-organ is stripped from develop- ing enamel has been studied by direct, one-stage carbon replication. That the plane of cleavage was between the Tomes processes of the ameloblasts and the surface of their secretary product was verified by studying ultra-thin sections cut normal to the surface of the stripped enamel. Better stripping resulted when the tooth-germs had been previously fixed in neutral formol saline. Surfaces were held at 43; to the carbon arc and rotated whilst the carbon was evaporated. The tooth was then digested away from the carbon. Stereo-pair electron-micrographs of the unshadowed carbon replica show more than adequate contrast when viewed stereoscopically. Photogrammetric measurements and contour maps were made using a Hilger and Watts 'Stereometer' and Plasticine models using a Hilger and Watts 'Stereosketch'. The results obtained by these methods confirm the nature of the surface of developing enamel deduced from previous studies using ultra-thin sections for the EM, scanning electron microscopy and wax reconstructions. The presence of a complete, circumferential, cliff-like wall surrounding each Pattern 1 type depression is confirmed. The rows of future 'inter-row sheet' material in Pattern 2 enamels of prisms from the developing surface to the they are noticeable in the fully formed enamel. Findings include the nature of the two-stage filling-in process responsible for the formation of 'prisms within prisms' and the developmental mechanism by which Pattern 3 'prism sheaths' are connected to form arcades. this in the in the glands Six of sodium g of two hourly for h the The for Preliminary experiments using various methods of labelling thymic lymphocytes are being performed. chromo- twisted granular micrographs a of the chromo- interpretation on preparations, other the lampbrush chromo- somes The thickness of an 'ultra-thin' section, or any height difference within any (reasonably thin) specimen, may be calculated from parallax measurements of stereo-pair electron- micrographs. The parallax measurements may be made with simple photogrammetric instruments. The Hilger and Watts 'Stereometer ' has proved very suitable for this purpose. It is however necessary to measure accurately the angle through which the specimen was tilted between the two exposures constituting the stereo-pair. The specimen stage and tilting mechanism of the Siemens Elmiskop 1 can be completely removed so that the con-ditions in the E /M can be emulated outside it. A light beam is reflected from a small fragment of silvered cover-slip (mirror) attached to the head of the tilt cartridge under calibration, to give a large optical level magnification of the tilt. The positions of the reflected light beam through the range of the stereo-probe drive screw are marked on a distant wall. The specimen stage plus tilt cartridge array is then replaced by a sextant, the sextant mirror being placed in exactly the same plane. The tilt angles can then be read directly. Graphs showing the performance of a standard tilt cartridge for the Siemens Elmiskop (tilt range 8° 40'), a Washington-Fearnhead tilt device (tilt range 67°), and a Valdr6 cartridge (tilt range 435) was displayed. The Siemens cartridge is suited to the study of thick specimens, e.g. replicas of rough surfaces with height differences in the range 1 to 10 pum. The W'ashington-Fearnhead and Valdr6 devices are more suited to high tilt-angle stereo-microscopy to give exaggerated and therefore more easily measurable parallax values with ultra-thin sections.


Aim To investigate the intervenient efficacy of lipid lowing therapy as well as blood pressure controling in carotid arteriosclerosis and stroke of patients with hypertension. Methods The carotid artery colordopler ultrasonography was examed and the levels of serum lipids were measured in 102 cases of hypertension using the Micronised Ferofibrate compared with 105 controls during 24 monthes. Results The intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid artery was almost unchanged in lipid lowing intervention group after this period of treatment. The IMT/D ratio and the incidence of carotid arteriosclerosis plaque were reduced signifficantly after the therapy.The relative risk of stroke in intervention group was lowered by 34% compared with the controls. Conclusion The carotid arteriosclerosis and the stroke in hypertension could be well prevented with lipid lowing therapy while the patient's blood pressure had been controled.


The use of information technology tools in home care delivery is dramatically increasingly. This technology can streamline business and clinical processes by linking people with one another and to vital healthcare information at any time, any place. This article describes four emerging information technology trends that are currently influencing home care nursing and presents future implications.