This study conducts an analysis of interaction effect between corporate governance and CAMEL framework (capital adequacy, asset quality, management competency, earning quality, liquidity) toward bank performance in Malaysia. The study highlights the corporate governance as a moderator to CAMEL framework in enhancing the bank performance. Additionally, to closely examine the interaction effect, the simple slope test is employed in this study to investigate the impact of high and low corporate governance toward CAMEL framework and bank performance. The result indicates that capital adequacy, management competency, earning quality and liquidity have a significant relationship with bank performance when interacting with corporate governance. However, the result of simple slope test shows that management competency and liquidity have a better interaction with high corporate governance. The outcome of the study should be to provide vision to the corporate governance bodies in Malaysia, depositors, investors, stakeholders and also researchers to adopt and increase knowledge especially on how corporate governance and CAMEL framework could improve bank performance.


It is commonly acknowledged that most of the output signals of digital receiver front-end are noisy and cannot be directly delivered to post-processing subject to the working condition and the limitations of devices. This study presents an improved singular value decomposition-based de-noising algorithm by the adoption of time-domain constrained optimisation. The improved algorithm contains a filter factor which plays a role in distributing information contributions of each retained singular value component to the de-noised signal, according to the relative contribution of noise in each singular value. The selection methods for several critical factors of the algorithm are discussed, including the noisy matrix, de-noising order, noise power and Lagrange multiplier. In particular, the effects of de-noising order and Lagrange multiplier on de-noising performance are studied. The results of the verification tests of extensive simulations and actual measurements from receiver front-end show that the proposed algorithm can significantly reduce the background noise and guarantee the integrity of the information contained in the de-noised signal.


This project employs a moral solidarity framework to explore the relationship between organized religion and lynching in the American South. The authors ask whether a county's religious composition affected its rate of lynching, net of demographic and economic controls. The authors find evidence for the solidarity thesis, using three religious metrics. First, their findings show that counties with greater religious diversity experienced more lynching, supporting the notion that a pluralistic religious marketplace with competing religious denominations weakened the bonds of a cohesive moral community and might have enhanced white racial solidarity. Second, counties in which a larger share of the black population worshipped in churches controlled by blacks experienced higher levels of racial violence, indicating a threat to intergroup racially based solidarity. Finally, the authors find a lower incidence of lynching in counties where a larger share of church members belonged to racially mixed denominations, suggesting that cross-racial solidarity served to reduce racial violence.


A more accurate vertical dynamic model with nine degree-of-freedom (DOF) is proposed for better describing the vertical dynamics of high-speed elevator system. By developing a calculation program according to the proposed dynamic model, the dynamics behavior of a 2:1 high-speed roping elevator with rise over 24 meters is numerically calculated in empty load and full load cases at three landing positions: bottom, middle, and top floors. Under the test conditions identical with the simulation but without full load case, modal experiment is applied to an elevator having the same specifications as simulated one. The proposed model is confirmed by comparing numerical and experimental results, and both results indicate that the vertical dynamic characteristics of high-speed elevator are time variant. It is also presented that the low order frequency of high-speed elevator is not sensitive to the variation of hoist rope length but greatly influenced by passenger load.


Biomass is a renewable fuel, increasingly considere d as an important resource for alternative fuels with significant environmental advantages. Thermo-chemical conversion of biomass is a mean to produce energy and to reduce greenhouse gases. Rapid gasification of biomass at high temperature is one of the most promising technologies for the syng as production and can be achieved in several seconds in an entrained flow reactor. At high tempe rature (1400°C), it is possible to obtain a syngas (CO, H 2 and CO 2) containing very small amounts of residual hydroca rbons and solid carbon (char). Heat and mass transfers are very effective in this kind of reactor, but the biomass must be dried and ground to particles measuring several hundreds of m icrometers prior to injection. These preliminary steps, especially grinding, consume large amounts o f energy and represent obstacles that need to be overcome in order to expand the use of biomass in t hermo-chemical processes. Torrefaction is a technology which allows moisture and low weight organic volatile components of biomass to be removed, producing a hydrophobic solid residue with an increased energy density (on a mass basis) and greatly reduced grinding energy con sumption compared to fresh biomass 1 . Electricity requirements for size reduction of torrefied wood a re 50 to 85 % smaller in comparison with fresh wood 2 . In this work, a specially designed crossed fixed-be d reactor was used to characterise influence of operating conditions on torrefied biomass propertie s. Condensable species were recovered thank to a cooling device afterwards the crossed fixed bed; ga seous species were continuously quantified by a µGC. Mass balance was evaluated by quantification of the biomass mass loss and species released. The nature of biomass (wood, straw) was considered. For each sample of torrefied biomass, mass loss, proximate analysis and lower heating value were qua ntified. The torrefied wood grindability was evaluated thank to the energy consumption of a specific grinder.


From 1996 to 2009, we analyzed changes in pneumococcal disease (PD) in Utah children aged <18 years using International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision coded hospital discharges. We observed a sustained decrease in the incidence of PD among children <5 years in 2001–2004 (−36%) and 2005–2009 (−34%) compared with 1996–2000 (pre-7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine). Decreases were primarily in bacteremia, uncomplicated pneumonia, and meningitis. In contrast, significant increases in complicated pneumonia/empyema were noted in children <5 years (+95% and +85%) and 5 to 17 years (+2% and +70%). Despite decreases in PD among Utah children, complicated pneumonia/empyema has increased during the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine era.


edited by Evelyn Avery. Albany: SUNY, 2001. 219 pp. $20.95. Evelyn Avery has assembled an extraordinary collection of critical articles, reactions, and personal recollections dealing with the life and works of Bernard Malamud. The accumulated articles separate Malamud from the commonly designated triumvirate of Jewish-American writers (Bellow, Malamud, Philip Roth) who share not much more than ethnicity and talent. Instead, Avery and the contributing writers place Malamud as a forerunner of inter-racial, multi-ethnic, magical realist, humanist, universal fiction. Author of Rebels and Victims: The Fiction of Richard Wright and Bernard Malamud, founder of the Bernard Malamud Society, and co-editor of the Malamud Newsletter, Evelyn Avery is an expert in the field. In addition, she had a long-standing friendship with the great writer. Her admiration and affection for Malamud are evident in the care with which she has edited and organized this important text. Part I, The Author, includes wonderful reminiscences by son Paul Malamud, Daniel Stem, Nicholas Delbanco, Alan Cheuse, Chester Garrison, and Warren Hovland; a presentation of the correspondence between Rosemarie Beck and Malamud by Joel Salzberg; and a touching eulogy by Cynthia Ozick. Part II, dealing with individual works, features readings on A New Life by Sanford Pinsker, Dubin's Lives by Walter Shear, The Assistant by Evelyn Avery, "The Last Mohican" by Karen Polster, and God's Grace by David Mesher. In the third section, "Thematic Threads: Patterns in Malamud's Fiction," S. Lillian Kremer deals with Yiddish archetypes in Malamud's fiction; Eileen H. Watts speaks of the Holocaust legacy; Avery compares the "kindred neshamas" of Malamud and Ozick; Dan Walden asserts that Malamud was both a universal and an ethical writer; and Victoria Aarons studies Malamud's syntactical use of chiasmus. An annotated bibliography follows. Although diverse, the essays in this text converge on a few common points: Bernard Malamud, one of our greatest Jewish-American writers, was also a universal literary artist dealing with the important themes of evil, suffering, atonement, spiritual transformation, and hopeful forgiveness. Whether writing about the shtetl or the American university, the baseball field or antisemitism in Russia, humans or animals, Malamud struggles with the yeytser hore [evil inclination] in his characters, who, almost always, end up embracing the yeytser tov, the force for good. His variegated characters, though differing in education, class, gender, age, sensibilities, and environment, are "touched by the author's magic, offered a `new life' in the guise of the old, and transformed emotionally or spiritually into different, usually better people," Avery explains. …


Objective To evaluate reoperations for benign bile duct strictures after a prewousRoux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy.Methods Clinical date of 28 patients with previous reconstruction of Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy for benign bile duct strictures were retrospectively analyzed.For data staftstical analysis t-test and stepwise logistic regression analysis were used.Results Reoperative surgery was performed for residual biliary stones with bile duct stricture in 10 cases(35.7%),simple anastomotic stricture of hepaticojejunostomy in 11 cases(39.3%),remained biliary stricture after initial rear in 6 cases (21.4%).anastomotic leakage with duodenal leakage in one case(3.6%).Mode of reoperation:18 cases (64.3%)underwent hepatic lobectomy with Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy,liver splitting approach to Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in 5 cases(17.9%),right hemihepatectomy in one case(3.6%),resection of anastomotic stenosis involved segment and Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy in one case(3.6%),abdominal drainage and duodenum fistulization and jejunum ostomy in one case(3.6%),choledocholithotomy with T-tube drainage in 2 cases(7.1%);Thirteen patients(46.4%)developed postoperative complications.Conclusion Biliary tract stenosis remains the main cause for reoperation in patients undergoing a faeled reconstruction.Wide and patent biliary tract drainage and reconstruction somenmes necessitate a hepatic lobectomy.

Key words:
Bile duct diseases; Anastomosis,Roux-en-Y; Biliary tract surgical procedures


A new method of amplitude division multiplexing (ADMA) is proposed, where a single channel can be used to transmit multiple digital signals simultaneously using the concept of prime number factorization. This method contrasts with the currently used methods such as frequency-division multiple access (FDMA), in whichthe total bandwidth available in a channel is divided into a series of non-overlapping frequency bands, each ofwhich is used to carry a separate signal. Comparison of the proposed method with a popular PAM technique-2B1Q method is made. Distinct advantages of the proposed method and a few applications arepresented.


In the present study, by means of quasi-two-dimensional Brownian dynamics simulations, we have addressed the physical phenomena of a suspension composed of cubic haematite particles in a rotating magnetic field in order to elucidate the relationship between aggregate structures and their response to a rotating magnetic field. In the case of a relatively weak magnetic particle-particle interaction, single particles remain without aggregating to form specific clusters, and the magnetic moment of single particles tends to follow a change in the direction of the rotating magnetic field. In the case of a strong magnetic particle-particle interaction, closely-packed clusters with a face-to-face configuration tend to form in the system, although the individual magnetic moments of the constituent particles do not follow the change in the magnetic field direction. As the magnetic field strength is increased, closely-packed structures are transformed into aggregate structures with an offset face-to-face configuration. In this situation, the magnetic moments of constituent particles are strongly restricted to the magnetic field direction, and the aggregates themselves may significantly rotate to follow the change in the orientation of the rotating magnetic field. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


The article examines the most harmful particular types of economic dysfunctions that significantly undermine the economic security of the Russian Federation. Using the method of deduction and retrospective technique,
their negative impact on the micro- and macroeconomic development of
the national economy is presented. The following forms of economic dysfunctions are proposed for consideration: inflation, dollarization and capital
outflow. Demonstrated are the economic and legal mechanisms of counteracting them, indicating the progressive decriminalization and economic
recovery. New types of economic dysfunctions have been identified that
require a prompt response from the state and bona fide participants in economic relations.


Priority arguments have been used to produce r.e. sets whose complements have various properties (e.g., maximal sets, hyperhypersimple sets, etc.). In this paper we use the priority method in the context of certain recursively presented models (e.g., dense unbordered linear orderings, countable atomless Boolean algebras, infinite dimensional vector spaces over a finite field) to produce hypersimple subsets of these models whose complements are closed under algebraic operations and/or whose complements are elementarily isomorphic to certain algebraic substructures. For example, it follows from the results of §3 that there are hypersimple subsets of a countable atomless Boolean algebra (of an infinite dimensional vector space over a finite field) in every nonzero r.e. degree whose complement is a subalgebra (subspace). Also, it follows from the same result that, given any subset P of the rationals Q, there is a hypersimple subset of Q whose complement is order isomorphic to P. A model M of a theory T in a countable language L is said to be recursively presented if the universe ∣M∣ of M is an initial segment of the natural numbers and the satisfaction relation "a satisfies Φ in M" is recursive (where a is a finite sequence of elements of ∣M∣ and Φ is a formula in L).


Abstract: A cDNA clone (MBP2) corresponding to a novel mouse myelin basic protein (MBP) mRNA has been isolated from an adult mouse bone marrow cDNA library. It contains the MBP exons la‐7 except exon 5. Using PCR experiments we have determined that this MBP2 mRNA belongs to a new MBP mRNA family initiated upstream from exon 1b. Their 5'end extends into exon la and/or the region O'previously described. These mRNAs are generated by alternative splicing of the primary transcript involving excision of exon la, 1b, 2, 5, or 6. Thus, these new mRNAs are produced from a promoter(s) located upstream from the major promoter 1b. They are expressed in brain (at least from embryonic day 15), in bone marrow, and in other hemolymphoppietic tissues, particularly in macrophage cells. As their expression is not restricted to myelinating cells, the function of these novel MBP mRNAs and putative proteins might not be related to myelination.


Blockchain technology has gained popularity owing to the success of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Nonetheless, the scalability challenge largely limits its applications in many real-world scenarios. Off-chain payment channel networks (PCNs) have recently emerged as a promising solution by conducting payments through off-chain channels. However, the throughput of current PCNs does not yet meet the growing demands of large-scale systems because: 1) most PCN systems only focus on maximizing the instantaneous throughput while failing to consider network dynamics in a long-term perspective; 2) transactions are re-actively routed in PCNs, in which intermediate nodes only passively forward every incoming transaction. These limitations of existing PCNs inevitably lead to channel imbalance and the failure of routing subsequent transactions. To address these challenges, we propose a novel proactive look-ahead algorithm (PLAC) that controls transaction flows from a long-term perspective and proactively prevents channel imbalance. In particular, we first conduct a measurement study on two real-world PCNs to explore their characteristics in terms of transaction distribution and topology. On that basis, we propose PLAC based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL), which directly learns the system dynamics from historical interactions of PCNs and aims at maximizing the long-term throughput. Furthermore, we develop a novel graph convolutional network-based model for PLAC, which extracts the inter-dependency between PCN nodes to consequently boost the performance. Extensive evaluations on real-world datasets show that PLAC improves state-of-the-art PCN routing schemes w.r.t the long-term throughput from 6.6% to 34.9%.


A series of readily available allenic aldehydes and their alcohol, acetate and enol ether derivatives have been prepared and evaluated for their olfactory properties. The tested compounds revealed interesting fruity, floral and woody aspects as the main notes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this letter, we present a new measurement technique to evaluate the large-signal output capacitance (<italic>C</italic>OSS) of transistors as well as the <italic>C</italic>OSS energy dissipation (<italic>E</italic>DISS), based on the nonlinear resonance between a known inductor and the output capacitance of the device under test. The method is simple and robust, and only requires a single voltage measurement to extract the large-signal <italic>C</italic>OSS both in charging and discharging transients. By changing the circuit parameters, it is possible to tune the resonance frequency (even above 40 MHz) and the voltage swing (even above 1 kV) with d<italic>v</italic>/d<italic>t</italic> exceeding 100 V/ns, even though the method relies only on a low-voltage dc source, without the need for high-voltage RF amplifiers. The single-pulse operation of the method enables measuring <italic>C</italic>OSS and <italic>E</italic>DISS at very high frequency and d<italic>v</italic>/d<italic>t</italic> values without any thermal runaway. Using the proposed method, we extracted large-signal <italic>C</italic>OSS and <italic>E</italic>DISS of power transistors based on different semiconductor technologies. The obtained results were verified by Sawyer–Tower method and data reported in the literature. In particular, dv/dt-independent <italic>C</italic>OSS losses were measured in cascode GaN transistors. The precise characterization of large-signal <italic>C</italic>OSS of transistors presented in this letter is essential for the design of power converters, especially those operating at high switching frequencies.


Negative impacts and unintended dysfunctions of AI are increasingly under scrutiny, and AI designers are often accused of not being considerate enough of the depth and consequences of the innovation they create. In this paper, we present a framework to assess the impact of AI solutions on their users, society, and environment to help designers to anticipate potential issues and create solutions that are not harmful and support individuals and society's betterment. Humanistic approaches to digital design inspire the proposed framework, including Positive and Inclusive design. The originality of the proposed approach derives from assessing the consequences of using computing solutions as they propagate across individual, social and environmental layers centered around the task the solution is supposed to perform. This paper presents an initial version of the framework and outlines the next steps for its full development.


The cysteine proteinases form a group of enzymes which depend for their enzymic activity on the thiol group of a cysteine residue. Several which occur in plants have been investigated extensively and include papain, ficin and stem bromelain (Smith & Kimmel i960). Although the term papain, introduced last century to describe the proteolytic principle in papaya latex (Wurtz & Bouchut 1879) is still used to describe crude dried latex, the crystalline enzyme is readily obtained (Kimmel & Smith 1954). Ficin is known to consist of several closely related enzymes which have been resolved (Sgarbieri, Gupte, Kramer & Whitaker 1964), but for most structural and mechanistic studies the unresolved mixture of enzymes has been used. Stem bromelain also appears to be a mixture of at least two proteolytic enzymes which have not yet been resolved (Ota, Moore & Stein 1962; Murachi 1964). In spite of the recognized heterogeneity of ficin and stem bromelain, it does seem that both structurally and mechanistically they are similar to papain. Only one bacterial cysteine proteinase has received a detailed study, namely, streptococcal proteinase, and it appears to have little or no relation in its amino acid sequence with the plant enzymes (Liu, Stein, Moore & Elliott 1965). The functional groups involved in the catalytic mechanism are apparently the same as in the plant proteinases (Gerwin, Stein & Moore 1966; Liu 1967; Husain & Lowe 1968 a , c ), but the mechanism of action has not been extensively studied. It may well be however that the plant and bacterial cysteine proteinases have converged onto a similar mechanism of action by two independent evolutionary pathways, as now seems apparent for the animal and bacterial serine proteinases (Alden, Wright & Kraut, this volume, p. 119). Because the tertiary crystal structure of papain (Drenth, Jansonius, Koekoek, Swen & Wolthers 1968; see also the preceding paper, p. 231) is now known, a critical survey of this enzyme is apposite.


Background: Pain is the warning signal of underlying pathology. Analgesic drugs are used as per the severity of pain. These drugs have their own adverse drug reactions, sometimes requiring the discontinuation of treatment. Perception and reaction to the pain are two important facets of pain. Reaction in the form of fear,restlessness, spasm of the muscles etc. are seen. Effectiveness of Vitexnegundoin pain have been studied, we planned to evaluate the associated components of it. Objectives: To evaluate, the Analgesic action, Anxiolytic action and Muscle relaxant action of Vitexnegundo leaves aqueous extract (VNLE) and Vitexnegundo dried leaves decoction (VNDLD). Material and methods: Fresh prepared VNLE and VNDLD are the two preparations of Vitexnegundo used to evaluate the analgesic, anxiolytic and skeletal muscle relaxant activity. Wistar rats and mice of either sex were divided into four groups, control, positive control, VNLE&VNDLD. Standard drug pentazocine& diazepam were used for analgesic & skeletal muscle relaxant property respectively. Rats were exposed to hot plate for Analgesic activity, elevated plus maze (EPM) for anxiolytic effect and mice to rotarod apparatus for checking skeletal muscle relaxation after the drug treatment.Analysis was done with graph pad prism 6. Results: Pain threshold was significantly increased at (p<0.001) Pentazocine and (p<0.01) in Vitexnigundo juice as observed from increase in reaction time. VNLE and VNDLD significantly showed positive effect on the parameters of the EPM. This observation was comparable with the standard drug diazepam. Time spent on the rota rod was significantly reduced in all drug treated mice. Conclusion:Analgesic and antianxiety activity of Vitexnegundo is confirmed.Fresh juice VNLE was more effective than the VNDLD. It also possesses skeletal muscle relaxant action, enhancing the pain relief.


Asymmetric DDoS attacks have become very complicated to deal with because of the use of several IP addresses in these types of attacks. Different strategies are used by attacker to get his objective of forcing unavailability of targeted server. Big size of file is needed with higher transfer rate so that the targeted website could be hanged for legitimate customer. Dynamic honey link is used to avoid identification from sophisticated DDoS attacking tools. A novel mechanism is developed here for detection of asymmetric attack. Parameters used in this mechanism are verified applying correlation coefficient and p-values.


The invention relates to a composite structure comprising an organic resin and carbon fibers, characterized in that it further comprises planar structure of nanosheets graphene embedded in said resin. This structure combining good properties in terms of mechanical strength, thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity can advantageously be used for heat dissipation devices, such as solar array substrate or alternatively as housing electronic components, embedded in satellites.


Study of the principles of euphemism is one of the focuses in euphemism studies.The serious problems of the pragmatic principles are discussed in detail.It is argued that the appropriate principle is a general principle being followed by all conversations.The self-protective principle only belongs to euphemism.Other principles are not the pragmatic principles but the functions of euphemism or the purposes of the speaker.The pragmatic principle should be the broad sense self-protective principle.


Equations of twice canal hypersurface in Eclidean space E n were defiend, which the line centres is the crooked of twice order, and (n-2)-surface of centres is the hypersurface of twice order.


Zero-propellant maneuver is an advanced concept of attitude control,which has been applied to the International Space Station. The dynamic models of space station using control momentum gyros are constructed,and the momentum equilibrium relation between space station and control momentum gyros is established. Then,considering different large angle attitude mission,the relation between inertia of space station and characteristic parameters of control momentum gyros is analyzed, and conditions of zero-propellant maneuver path existence are obtained.Effectiveness of the existence conditions is verified by the path planning examples. The proposed existence conditions can provide a convenient and effective method to determinate whether the zero-propellant maneuver path exists,which can provide significant theoretical argument for zeropropellant maneuver technology to apply to Chinese Space Station in future.


We propose a service discovery architecture called VSD (Service Discovery based on Volunteers) for heterogeneous and dynamic pervasive computing environments. The proposed architecture uses a small subset of the nodes called volunteers that perform directory services to facilitate efficient service discovery. In VSD, stable and capable nodes serve as volunteers whereas relatively dynamic and less capable nodes depend on the volunteers. Thus VSD recognizes node heterogeneity in terms of mobility and capability. We discuss characteristics of VSD architecture and methods to improve connectivity among volunteers for higher discovery rate. By showing that VSD performs quite well in MANET scenarios, we validate our hypothesis that VSD is a flexible and adaptable architecture appropriate for dynamic pervasive computing environments. VSD incorporates several novel features: i) handles dynamism and supports self-reconfiguration; ii) provides physical locality and scalability; and iii) improves reliability and copes with uncertainty through redundancy by forming overlapped clusters.


Influence of charge configurations on plasma ignition performance of propellants and plasma-propellant interactions are studied by interrupted-burning experiments of propellants ignited by plasma.The pressure-time curves and ignition delay time in interrupted-burning process of different propellants such as triethyeneglycol dinitrate(TEGN) and single-base propellants ignited by plasma are measured and recorded by transient recorder and pressure sensor in interrupted-burning setup.Influence of loading density,distance between propellants and plasma jet and charge way on plasma ignition delay of propellants is discussed based on experimental results.Results show that ignition delay time becomes longer as loading density of propellants and the distance between propellants and plasma jet increase.At the same selected location in plasma-flow field,different charge ways have little influence on the ignition and combustion process of propellants and ignition delay time as well.


Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most significant technological revolution since we entered the 21st century. It has become a new focus of public attention and international competition. Industrial integration with AI technology not only brings vast opportunities for transformation and upgrading of enterprises but also has an impact on employment structure. Focusing on the fusion of the manufacturing industry integrating AI, we analyze the integration progress of AI and segmented manufacturing industries, describe a supply-and-demand situation of labor market with different skills, and discuss the impact of AI technology on manufacturing employment theoretically. Then we construct the propensity score matching–difference-in-difference model, divide intelligent manufacturing enterprises into various categories, and inspect the influences on the employment structure of different segmented manufacturing enterprises before and after integrating AI technology. Finally, we put forward efficient methods of transformation and upgrading of manufacturing enterprises and practical suggestions to solve problems on employment structure.


In this article, the global fixed-time stabilization problem is addressed for a class of switched uncertain nonlinear systems in $p$ -normal form. Different from the existing results, the bounds of the unknown system parameters, including dead-zone parameters and control coefficients, are not required to be known. By combining the adding a power integrator technique with the common Lyapunov function method, a novel adaptive controller is proposed and a dynamic controller parameter is introduced to cope with the unknown system parameters. Besides, an effective common regulate rule is designed based on the improved fixed-time stability framework. Furthermore, it is shown that the controller parameter can be regulated online by the switching mechanism to compensate the unknown system parameters and the system states can converge to zero in fixed time under arbitrary switchings. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a simulation example.


Abstract In viewing the contemporary musical landscape in South Africa 20 years after the fall of apartheid, this article seeks to understand how the discourse of musicology might expand in an interdisciplinary manner to allow for the analysis of current compositions. In doing so, the article traces interdisciplinary tendencies in recent musicological scholarship to locate such an expansion in the study of heterogeneous compositions. These compositions attempt to critically engage with their environment and as such the article seeks an analytical approach that might unlock this critical potential. One such composition is Mocke Jansen van Veuren's Jozi Rhythmanalogues and thus it becomes a case study in the article. The work uses Lefebvre's notion of rhythmanalysis as a premise and is situated strongly in contemporary Johannesburg, South Africa. Through understanding this premise and attempting to unlock how it, through the unfolding of the composition, might engage with its environment, it becomes clear that interdisciplinary expansion of a fundamental grammar of musicology is needed.


In this whitepaper, we propose outer-product-parallel and inner-product-parallel sparse matrix-matrix multiplication (SpMM) algorithms for the Xeon Phi architecture. We discuss the trade-offs between these two parallelization schemes for the Xeon Phi architecture. We also propose two hypergraph-partitioning-based matrix partitioning and row/column reordering methods that achieve temporal locality in these two parallelization schemes. Both HP models try to minimize the total number of transfers from/to the memory while maintaining balance on computational loads of threads. The experimental results performed for realistic SpMM instances show that the Intel MIC architecture has the potential for attaining high performance in irregular applications, as well as regular applications. However, intelligent data and computation reordering that considers better utilization of temporal locality should be developed for attaining high performance in irregular applications.


It has long been appreciated that opioids, such as morphine, exhibit anti-inflammatory activity. This led early on to the speculation that either cells of the nervous system influence the activities of the immune system, or that cells of the immune system express opioid receptors. Early studies with hematopoietic cells to determine the presence of opioid receptors were difficult to evaluate because these cells do not express the opioid receptors at levels which are expressed in the CNS. There are four opioid receptor types expressed by neuronal cells, μ (MOP), d (DOP), k (KOP), and a related receptor for the peptide nociception (NOP). Reports during the 1990s established that hematopoietic cells do, in fact, express each of the opioid receptor types, and the gene products which are expressed by these cells are identical to those expressed by cells of the nervous system (1– 5). Indeed, the opioid receptors are widely expressed within both the central and peripheral nervous systems, and by both lymphoid and myeloid cells of the immune system. It has become clear from a large volume of data that while the opioids have immunosuppressive activity for antibody responses, natural killer cell activity, phagocytic capacity, and other responses based on both in vivo and in vitro studies, carried out with both human and laboratory animals [reviewed in (6, 7)]. A large volume of literature shows that opioid drug abuse leads to greater susceptibility to viral and bacterial infections. It is particularly notable that intravenous administration of heroin represents a primary route of HIV infection (approximately 10% of cases worldwide). The resulting pathology following the combination of HIV infection and chronic opioids are particularly evident in organ systems including the CNS and the lungs. The opiate abuse promotes the progression of the pathology associated with HIV infection, and there is evidence that this is due to the combined impact of the chronic opiate exposure and the inflammatory effects of the HIV infection (8). Chronic opioid abuse, particularly with chronic intravenous selfadministration, activates peripheral and central mu opioid receptors (MOR), leading to an inflammatory reaction in both the brain and lungs. Moreover, chronic opioid use in the HIVinfected individual exacerbates the inflammation in the brain, as well as inflammation in the lungs resulting in obstructive lung disease. The review article from Machelska and Celik serves as an excellent introduction to this series of articles by providing an overview of the expression of opioid receptors on cells of the immune


Cardiovascular epidemic and uric acid The cardiovascular epidemic is a worldwide phenomenon that accounts for almost 50% of all deaths in industrialized nations, and coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most serious forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Despite the rapid progress made in modern medicine with regard to controlling the known risk factors for CAD, this worldwide epidemic still heads the list of national health concerns, which raises the possibility of the presence of unknown or underestimated risk factors. Therefore, we need to identify novel risk factors for CVD, including a potential therapeutic target. While there is no doubt that multiple factors play different roles in the development of CVD, recent studies have revealed the potential role of hyperuricemia as a novel risk factor. Uric acid is the final product of purine metabolism in humans, and its level is determined by dietary intake, rate of cell turn-over in the body, and renal excretion. Interestingly, primates are the only species with high uric acid levels, as there has been a uricase mutation to degrade uric acid into allantoin during hominoid evolution in contrast to most mammals in which serum uric acid levels range between 0.5 to 1.5 mg/dL [1]. Interestingly, uric acid levels have been increasing in human populations over the last 100 years and, thus, correlate with the CVD epidemic [2]. Most importantly, there is astrong evidence from clinical studies and experimental animal models that uric acid is associated with hypertension and other CVDs. Elevated uric acid is observed in 89% of new onset essential hypertension in adolescents and in 25 to 50% of untreated hypertension in adults [3]. These effects are independent of renal function or body weight. However, despite solid experimental data supporting the causative role of uric acid in CVD, most authorities have viewed hyperuricemia as a secondary and not causal effect, because hyperuricemia is associated with other CVD risk factors such as male gender, obesity, hypertension, renal dysfunction, and diuretic use.


The invention discloses an overpressure prevention pressure-relief valve which comprises a valve body, wherein a water feeding cavity, a water discharging cavity, an upper through hole, a lower through hole and a transverse partition wall with a vertical through hole are arranged on the valve body. A screw assembly and a valve rod assembly have the same center line and are arranged in the valve body vertically. The valve rod assembly comprises a valve rod, a piston and a sealing seat, wherein the piston is in slide match with the upper through hole of the valve body, a sealing gasket is arranged on the sealing seat, the sealing gasket and a lower annular cutting edge of the vertical through hole in the partition wall form a valve port, and the lower end of the valve rod is in slide match with a lower valve cover blind hole formed perpendicular to the center of a lower valve cover. The piston is provided with an inner hole, a valve rod head is connected onto the inner hole, a safety valve is arranged in the inner hole, and the safety valve comprises a slide valve, a valve seat and a plurality of pressure-relief holes matched with the safety valve. When the pressure of the inlet cavity is higher than the preset value and the valve port of the pressure-relief valve is closed, the safety valve is opened to enable the pressure of an inlet cavity to be released to an outlet cavity.


Significance The ability of cells to interact with and remodel their extracellular environment is a critical process in developmental morphogenesis, wound healing, and cancer. How the physical and chemical responses of fibroblasts to the extracellular matrix are integrated across the cell remains a major open question. Previous data has shown a major role for the actin cytoskeleton in coordinating deposition and organization of the extracellular matrix by fibroblasts. Our study examines the role of inverted formin 2 (INF2), a protein known to create new actin filaments, in mediating cellular response to extracellular conditions and control of extracellular matrix remodeling. We find that INF2 is responsible for generating specific actin structures and specialized integrin-based fibrillar adhesions that are required for remodeling of the fibronectin extracellular matrix by fibroblasts. Actin filaments and integrin-based focal adhesions (FAs) form integrated systems that mediate dynamic cell interactions with their environment or other cells during migration, the immune response, and tissue morphogenesis. How adhesion-associated actin structures obtain their functional specificity is unclear. Here we show that the formin-family actin nucleator, inverted formin 2 (INF2), localizes specifically to FAs and dorsal stress fibers (SFs) in fibroblasts. High-resolution fluorescence microscopy and manipulation of INF2 levels in cells indicate that INF2 plays a critical role at the SF–FA junction by promoting actin polymerization via free barbed end generation and centripetal elongation of an FA-associated actin bundle to form dorsal SF. INF2 assembles into FAs during maturation rather than during their initial generation, and once there, acts to promote rapid FA elongation and maturation into tensin-containing fibrillar FAs in the cell center. We show that INF2 is required for fibroblasts to organize fibronectin into matrix fibers and ultimately 3D matrices. Collectively our results indicate an important role for the formin INF2 in specifying the function of fibrillar FAs through its ability to generate dorsal SFs. Thus, dorsal SFs and fibrillar FAs form a specific class of integrated adhesion-associated actin structure in fibroblasts that mediates generation and remodeling of ECM.


The ride-through control of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) for the voltage sags on wind farms utilizing crowbar circuits by which the rotor side converter (RSC) is disabled has being reported in many literatures. An analysis and calculation of the transient current when the RSC is switched off are of significance for carrying out the low voltage ride through (LVRT) of a DFIG. The mathematical derivation is highlighted in this paper. The zero-state and zero-input responses of the transient current in the frequency domain through a Laplace transformation are investigated, and the transient components in the time domain are achieved. With the characteristics worked out from the linear resolving without modeling simplification, the selection of the resistance in the linear crowbar circuit and the value conversion from a linear circuit to a nonlinear one is proposed to setup the attenuation rate. In terms of grid code requirements, the theoretical analysis for the time constant of the transient components attenuation insures the controllability when the excitation of the RSC is resumed and it guarantees the reserved time for the response of the reactive power compensation. Simulations are executed in MATLAB/SIMPOWER and experiments are carried out to validate the theoretical analysis. They indicate that the calculation method is effective for selection of the resistance in a crowbar circuit for LVRT operations.


An experimental tire engraved the simple cavity into the tread of a slick tire was provided instead of the behavior measurement of the tire tread groove. During running the trailer which equipped the experimental tire on the dense asphalt pavement, the changes of the volume of the cavity and air pressure in the cavity at the contact patch were measured by the use of strain gauge and the micro pressure gauge that were attached in the cavity, respectively. It is clear that air pressure in the cavity changes from negative tendency to positive tendency corresponding to the deformation of the cavity from tensive condition to compressive condition at the contact patch. It follows from the result that the generating mechanism of tire/road noise is estimated.


. We use the mixed-twist construction of Doran and Malmendier to obtain a multi-parameter family of K3 surfaces of Picard rank ρ ≥ 16. Upon identifying a particular Jacobian elliptic fibration on its general member, we determine the lattice polarization and the Picard-Fuchs system for the family. We construct a sequence of restrictions that lead to extensions of the polarization by two-elementary lattices. We show that the Picard-Fuchs operators for the restricted families coincide with known resonant hypergeometric systems. Second, for the one-parameter mirror families of deformed Fermat hypersurfaces we show that the mixed-twist construction produces a non-resonant GKZ system for which a basis of solutions in the form of absolutely convergent Mellin-Barnes integrals exists whose monodromy we compute explicitly.


We consider the problem of stability in a class of differential equations which are driven by a differential measure associated with the inputs of locally bounded variation. After discussing some existing notions of solution for such systems, we derive conditions on the system's vector fields for asymptotic stability under a specific class of inputs. These conditions present a trade-off between the Lebesgue-integrable and the measure-driven components of the system. In case the system is not asymptotically stable, we derive weaker conditions such that the norm of the resulting trajectory is bounded by some function of the total variation of the input, which generalizes the notion of integral input-to-state stability in measure-driven systems.


Although there have been many studies on the content of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) coursebooks and their development, empirical research that investigates how materials are used in actual classroom environments still remains quite under-researched. This thesis duly focuses on three qualitative case studies of three experienced and qualified English language teachers, in order to develop a notional understanding of the actual role of the coursebook and its actual use in classroom environments. The study took place in the UK, in a university's English language centre to prepare students for academic study.

Data were collected over the course of an academic term with the use of classroom observations, pre- and post-observation stimulated recall audio-taped open-ended interviews, field notes, teachers' lesson plans and instructional materials to investigate teachers' perspectives on the use of the prescribed coursebook, and the reasons behind their practices. All teachers were instructed to use the prescribed coursebook as their core teaching material, yet they were given permission to make any changes they saw fit for meeting their teaching aims and goals.

Analysis of data revealed that all three participants adapted considerably the coursebook material. Their decisions were influenced by their views regarding the quality of the book, and their beliefs about teaching and learning. But also, by contextual factors such as students' language competency levels, their cultural backgrounds, course logistics, with new students enrolling halfway through the course, and lack of funding for buying more suitable coursebooks and their components, among others. The findings of this study showed that coursebook usage is context-bound and mediated. The implications of these findings with the actual role of the coursebook in classroom environments, materials writing, and teacher training are discussed.


Summary 1. Intravenous infusion of fat emulsions causes increased mechanical fragility of dog and human red blood cells. 2. Spontaneous intravascular hemolysis has been seen in humans who have received these emulsions. 3. The possible causes of this phenomenon and its possible relationship to the "pyrogenic" effects of intravenous fat are discussed.


Data from two organizations revealed no consistent effect of leader sex on either leader behavior or subordinate satisfaction. The results fit a pattern of research evidence that shows sex stereoty...


TESTS WERE CONDUCTED ON A SAND-ASPHALT MIX AND ON MIXES MADE WITH TWO DIFFERENT COARSE AGGREGATES AND THE SAME FINE AGGREGATE USED IN THE SAND ASPHALT, IN TWO TEST SECTIONS AT THE U.S. ARMY ENGINEERS WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION. ALTHOUGH THE OPTIMUM ASPHALT CONTENT VARIED WITH THE DIFFERENT MIXES, ALL MIXES AT OPTIMUM SHOWED ESSENTIALLY EQUAL PERFORMANCE IN RESISTING THE STRESSES INDUCED BY TRAFFIC. THESE TESTS SHOWED THAT THE FINE AGGREGATE DOMINATES THE STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF DENSE-GRADED MIXES. THE DATA ARE REVIEWED FROM THESE TESTS. OBSERVATION IS MADE THAT THE MARSHALL STABILITY NUMBER DID NOT RATE MIXES ON THEIR CAPABILITY TO WITHSTAND STRESSES INDUCED WITHIN THE MIX. AN ASPHALT MIX MUST BE CAPABLE OF SPREADING THE STRESSES SO THAT THE UNDERLYING LAYER IS NOT OVERSTRESSED. THESE TESTS DID NOT INCLUDE THE VARIABLES NECESSARY TO ESTABLISH THE EFFECT OF AGGREGATE TYPE ON THIS FEATURE. HOWEVER, THE TESTS DID SHOW, THAT ASPHALT OVER HIGH-QUALITY BASE COURSES NEED HAVE VERY FEW STRESS-DISTRIBUTING QUALITIES. STRESS-DISTRIBUTING CAPABILITIES RELATE TO THE MODULUS OF ELASTICITY AT STRAINS. IT IS OBSERVED THAT A MIX WITH COARSE AGGREGATE WOULD NORMALLY HAVE STRESS-DISTRIBUTING CAPABILITIES BETTER THAN THOSE OF A FINE MIX, AND A MIX WITH CRUSHED COARSE AGGREGATE WOULD HAVE CAPABILITIES BETTER THAN THOSE OF A MIX WITH UNCRUSHED AGGREGATES.


Advances in wireless communication, storage and processing are realizing next-generation in-vehicle entertainment systems. Even if hundreds of different video or audio titles are stored among several vehicles in an area, only a subset of these titles might be available to a given vehicle depending on its current location, intended path, and the dynamics of its ad-hoc network connectivity. The vehicle's entertainment system must somehow predictively determine which titles are available either immediately or within the future d time units, so that the user can select a title to view. The available title list must seek to satisfy the user by striking a delicate balance between showing far fewer titles than can actually be accessed and showing too many titles that cannot be accessed. In addition to defining this availability problem, we make two key contributions. First, a two-tier system architecture which leverages the low-rate cellular infrastructure as a control network for the high-rate data network consisting of the vehicular ad-hoc network. Second, PAVAN as a policy framework for predicting the availability of a title. We describe several variants of PAVAN which incorporate information based on a Markov mobility model, spatio-temporal look-ahead, and title replications. Our results demonstrate that the quality of PAVAN's predictions is critically dependent on title degree of replication, as well as its relative size with respect to the trip duration. When degree of replication is below a certain threshold, PAVAN with content density information and the predictive mobility model is shown to provide the best overall performance.


Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant genetic condition characterized by hyperactivation of the RAS/MAPK signaling pathway, caused by mutations in various genes, the most frequent being PTPN11, mutated in about 50% of cases. Typical features of NS include characteristic facial features, short stature, congenital heart defect, skeletal and thoracic anomalies, developmental delay, and bleeding problems, the latter resulting from defects in coagulation or platelets or both; these are seen in 30–72% of patients. Cases of hematological neoplasms have also been reported in patients with NS, particularly in the pediatric age; the most frequent are juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, acutemyelogenous leukemia, and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.


Around the time Marcia Siegel's dance writing career began, an important predecessor's ended with the death in 1962 of Beryl de Zoete, critic and ethnologist. Of Dutch descent, de Zoete was born in London in 1879 into a family of brokers whose name still figures prominently on the British stock exchange. Traveling independently, using her gifts for meeting people and learning languages, she wrote three unprecedented ethnographies, beginning with the book she produced with Walter Spies, Dance and Drama in Bali (1938), and followed by The Other Mind: A Study of Dance in South India (1953) and Dance and Magic Drama in Ceylon (1957). From the late 1920s through the mid-1950s, de Zoete also published many articles on her encounters with European dance and music, and her reviews of performances and books appeared regularly in newspapers, most notably in the influential weekly New Statesman and Nation. After she died, her friend Arthur Waley completed her planned collection of short pieces, The Thunder and the Freshness (1963), titled after poet John Keats's description of a waterfall. This image evoked, for her, the sound of dance drumming before dawn. In this talk, I sketch de Zoete's life and begin to think about how she worked as a writer. As part of my doctoral research, I investigated her connections with Dalcroze Eurhythmies, which teaches music through movement and improvisation. I also draw on previous work by Margaret Dale, who remembers de Zoete's visits to Sadler's Wells Ballet rehearsals in the 1940s and later consulted her about presenting Sinhalese dance on BBC television.


This work explores the modelling of a user's current activity using a single document and a very small collection of classified documents. A model called WeMAC was developed, which accretes evidence from heterogeneous sources to give a final classification of the user's activity. The evidence sources considered here are the different attributes of a document. We evaluate the WeMAC model using two different document types: emails and web pages; assess its performance on both tiny document sets and larger sets; and assess its performance against a "one bag" approach. The WeMAC model compared well with existing results for systems with similar tasks and larger datasets, with an average F1 value of 0.5-0.7.


Introduction: Water play a pivtol role in the existence in the human life. water quality index is assessing the overall quality of water based on location, time and some parameters of water. water quality index is important tool for assessing the quality water on the surface. Water quality index assessing is the important parameter helps in improving the quality of drinking and ground water. Due to anthropogenic activites the quality of ground and drinking water is decreased. Objective: The main objective of research is to find the water quality index of the ground water and bore water in selected industrial area of the Kakinada and analyse the water quality index of it and absorption of ions by polymer composites for desalination and water treatment. Methodology: the water quality inex is calculated based on icmr standards. Results: The research results revealed that the sampling sites S-1,S-2 and S-3 is water quality index is less than 100 which is treated the poor quality of drinking water. The S-4,S-5,-6,S-7S-8,S-9,S-10,S-11,S-12 the water quality index is greater than 100 which is not suitable for drinking water. Conclusion: The water quality index observed at various stations shows that some places are not fits for drinking S-1,S-2 and S-3 are below 100 are very poor and S4-S12 sites are more polluted and unfit for drinking. The ground water is need to protected from pollution and govt need to take necessary measures to improve the quality of ground water and cyclodextrin polymer composites effective composite for removal of hardness and desalination.


The main purpose of this paper is to study the series of Fibonacci and the determinant of the diagonal form,and to give their close relation.


Traffic and surface transportation are current issues of particular importance in contemporary cities. Seen as a case of study from many specific scientific approaches, they are subject to technical or even


Regulation of GnRH receptor (GnRHR) expression levels in the pituitary is a crucial control point in reproduction. The promoter of the mouse GnRHR gene contains nuclear receptor half-sites (NRS) at -244/-236 and -15/-7 relative to the translation start site. Although binding of steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1) to the -244/-236NRS is implicated in mediating basal and gonadotrope-specific expression, no function or protein-DNA interactions have previously been described for the -15/-7NRS. We report that levels of the endogenous GnRHR mRNA in alpha T3-1 cells are stimulated by forskolin and 8-bromo-cAMP. We also show that the orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 is expressed in alpha T3-1 cells, and that both SF-1 and Nur77 bind to the -15/-7NRS and -244/-236NRS in vitro. We show that the activity of the proximal (-579/+1) mouse GnRHR promoter is up-regulated by protein kinase A, via a mechanism that is modulated by SF-1, both positively and negatively, through binding to the -244/-236NRS or the -15/-7NRS, respectively. Nur77 appears to be capable of acting as a negative regulator of this response, via the -15/-7NRS. Furthermore, we show that forskolin up-regulates SF-1 mRNA levels in alpha T3-1 cells, indicating that the levels of SF-1 play a role in modulating the protein kinase A response.


For arbitrary motions with polynomial regimes in their translational component, the authors describe a framework for representing monocular visual information as a temporal map, organized according to temporal parameters. These parameters include the actual time-to-collision and time-to-synchronization calculated according to the detected model order. The authors discuss the recovery and estimation of these parameters and the model order and collision detection schemes. Experiments on real and simulated dynamic sequences are reported.


By means of information technology, long-range admission through network can be achieved in the enrollment system of adult higher education. It has changed our traditional management pattern and accomplished the application of micro-network system to the macro-control in the enrollment system of adult higher education. It made the enrollment more standard and scientific, and fit in with the new needs of adult higher education. It will make greater contribution to the 21th Chinese educational causes.


ered acceptable or optimally effective [1, 2]. A living type 4 adenovirus (AV-4) vaccine developed by Chanock et al. [3] offers promise for control of type-specific disease. This entericcoated tablet has been administered orally to approximately 350,000 recruits by several investigative groups over the past several years, and has been shown effective in preventing ARD due to AV-4 [4-6]. However, in a study in 1966 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, reduction in ARD following vaccination was followed by increased incidence of ARD due to adenovirus type 7 (AV-7). Before introduction of vaccine, this virus was responsible for insignificant amounts of ARD; following suppression of AV-4, it predominated as the cause of respiratory disease, and total rates for ARD approached those before immunization [5]. The same phenomenon has been


In today's complex Business scenario, success to an organization is not easy. Every company works hard to better their products and make their supply chain more efficient and effective. R&D is about creativity and being innovative, to bring unique value propositions and solutions to the customers.  There is very little that can be done to control it. Whereas, the area of Supply chain is one that can be tweaked to deliver performance, starting from providing the best in class service to customers to be able to push the profits up. This research paper is an initiative to establish a relationship between the components of Supply chain, namely Plan, Source, Make, Deliver and the overall Company Performance.  A random set of 54 firms from Chennai have been studied with an objective to find a relationship between the components of Supply chain and the company performance. These firms were administered a structured questionnaire containing pre validated scales to measure the Supply chain components and relative performance of these organizations. After the data was collected, the scales were purified using Loading values and Composite reliability. The resultant purified scales were then tested for convergent validity using PLS path modeling software (Visual PLS). Once the constructs were both reliable and valid, the impact of supply chain components on company performance was tested using bootstrapping method. The result shows that there is a significant correlation between the Sourcing, Delivery functions of the Supply chain and the company performance. The making function does not seem to have a significant impact on the company performance.


The Canto do Amaro field is the largest actively producing onshore hydrocarbon reservoir in Brazil, and has been in operation since its discovery in 1985. A total of 30 COSMO-SkyMed SAR images acquired over a period of 15 months were processed for this analysis in order to demonstrate the capabilities of InSAR technology for the monitoring of surface deformation measurementes over an actively producing oil field. Currently, this field is undergoing oil recovery stimulation (EOR) activities with the aim of increasing oil production. For this reason, Petrobras started activities in order to evaluate the use of InSAR technology to identify phenomena of surface movement on the reservoir, resulting from, among other things, fluid injection and hydrocarbon extraction activities.


ABSTRACT This is an annotated transcription and translation of the Syair Tabut (Poem of the Tomb Effigies) of Encik Ali, a Malay-language, Jawi-script syair account of the Muharram commemorations of 1864 at Singapore. The only known part lithograph and part manuscript of this text, on which this edition is based, is held in the library of Leiden University, shelfmark Kl. 191. For a full discussion of this Syair, see the accompanying article by Lunn and Byl (2017).


Many cases of low back pain are due to or aggravated by bad bedrest, frequently caused by an incorrect body support. The optimal sleeping system has a high conformity, i.e. it supports the human body such that the spinal column adopts its natural position, which is assumed to be the same as it takes in the upright position. An objective and scientifically sound method is needed to determine the right sleeping system for each individual. A two-dimensional finite element analysis on individuals resting on mattresses made it possible to predict the curvature of the spinal column (a) in posterior and (b) in lateral recumbency. Measurements are made and compared to the predicted results to adjust and to refine the model. With the resulting model one can examine for each individual both which stiffness distribution in the mattress gives an optimal body support and which existing sleeping system gives the best approximation of an optimal support.


In the present article the issue is raised about evaluation of the use of artificial intellect in the creation of musical compositions. By means of an interdisciplinary approach, the authors assert the thesis about the distinction between "creativity" and the "creative process", thereby distinguishing the results of the composer's personality from those created by means of artificial intellect (weak neuronal networks). The authors dwell in great detail on the process of creating musical compositions by using electronic computers and the latest neuronal networks. Special examples from music history show that modern computers possess unique sound generation technologies: for example, NSynth is able to synthesize a completely new sound, which simultaneously is partially a flute sound and partially resembles a sitar. Can we regard these latest digital processes in music as creativity? The authors of the article defend the position that in the present day they can only be described as a variant of the "creative process", which leaves the right for authorship to the composer. The issues raised in the article are particularly relevant in the modern era which, considering the accelerated development of digital technologies, may well pass into the era of transhumanism, when the ongoing connection of the human and the artificial intellect would only exacerbate these problems to a greater degree. Keywords: music, musical composition, creativity, harmony, art, figure, artificial intellect, neuronal network, algorithm.


Hepatitis B virus is a known carcinogen for hepatocellular carcinoma, which is rare in the pediatric population. We report a 13‐year‐old patient with hepatitis B surface antigen‐positive multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma in a noncirrhotic liver. Her APRI score was 0.24. Her BCLC stage was C, and her caregiver opted for palliative care.


Abstract 1486 Background: Corticosteroid therapy is a well-known cause of osteoporosis. Studies have shown that the use of bisphosphonates such as risedronate can prevent bone loss in patients receiving moderate to high doses of corticosteroids. Patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL/LL) are at high risk of bone loss due to both leukemia and high dose steroids used in chemotherapy regimens. Objectives: The primary objective was to determine whether the use of risedronate decreases the amount of bone loss in adult patients with ALL/LL receiving chemotherapy with high dose corticosteroids when compared to placebo. Methods: Adult patients with newly diagnosed ALL/LL receiving Hyper-CVAD or BFM were randomly assigned to receive either risedronate 35 mg weekly or placebo. Both patients and physicians were blinded to the treatment assignment. Patients in both arms were given vitamin D and calcium. Bone mineral density (BMD) using DEXA scan was measured at baseline and at 6 months. Patients who lost more than 10% BMD when compared to baseline measurements were taken off the study and unblinded. We excluded patients with osteoporosis. Results: 36 patients were randomized to each treatment arm. Median age was 29 years in the risedronate arm and 42 years in the placebo arm (p=0.06). 22 patients had an available 6 month DEXA scan in the risedronate arm and 29 in the placebo arm. Patients on the placebo arm had a greater decrease in BMD at the left hip (mean −0.12) and right hip (mean −0.11) when compared to baseline than patients in the risedronate arm (left hip mean −0.08; right hip mean −0.078) and this was statistically significant (p=0.03 and p=0.04, respectively). There were no significant differences observed in the lumbar spine between the two groups. 11/22 (50%) patients in the risedronate arm were taken off study for significant % decrease in BMD at any site, and 18/29 (62%) patients in the placebo arm (p=0.28). Two patients, 1 in each arm, experienced a vertebral fracture during the first 6 months of chemotherapy. Conclusions: Adult ALL/LL patients receiving high dose corticosteroids with HyperCVAD have profound bone loss and should be monitored for this while receiving chemotherapy. Risedronate significantly reduced bone loss at the hips, but did not have a significant effect at the lumbar spine. Despite treatment with risedronate, 50% of patients had profound bone loss during the first 6 months of chemotherapy, thus a more potent bisphosphonate may be necessary to preserve bone mass, particularly at the lumbar spine. Whether a potent bisphosphonate or an agent such as a monoclonal antibody to RANK ligand will reduce fractures and improve quality of life should be studied in future clinical trials. Disclosures: Hu: Amgen: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Cabanillas: Procter and Gamble: Research Funding.


In his paper 'On Horn's dilemma: presupposition and negation' Burton-Roberts (1989a) presents an ambitious programme, formulated right at the outset. He seeks to establish three points: (i) Under the 'standard logical definition of presupposition' a pre-suppositional semantics is INCOMPATIBLE with a SEMANTICALLY AMBIGUOUS NEGATION operator (SAN), on pain of the theory being rendered 'empirically empty and theoretically trivial',. (ii) From this it follows that the one unambiguous negation is presupposition preserving. Cases that have been identified as presupposition-cancelling negation should be re-analysed as 'instances of a pragmatic phenomenon', not unlike what has been proposed in Horn (1985), that is as METALINGUISTIC NEGATION (MN). (iii) This pragmatic analysis of MN 'itself implies a presuppositional semantics', that is to say 'a presuppositional theory of truth-value gaps'.


With the development of pile in pre-bored holes, more and more foundations in the construction projects need to be treated with technology. The pile formed in underground condition is difficultly found for the quality problems in time, so, factors such as sag, deep, diameter, depositional materials, stir of concrete, process of concrete casting and construction management in site can affect the quality of piles in pre-bored holes. As a result, strong influence on the time, fund and service life of the buildings will be caused. For the improvement of construction quality, the measures are used to control the parameters in the course of plies formation.


Uterine transplantation may be a solution for infertility of uterine origin. Nevertheless, only three pregnancies with a live birth have so far been possible involving a uterine transplant from a brain-dead donor. Particularly, the impact of ischemia needs a better understanding. Analysis of mitochondrial respiration and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in muscle are of interest since they are pertinent markers of the harmful effects of ischemia. We therefore studied both uterine fundus and horn muscle mitochondrial use of oxygen and ROS production in eight women needing hysterectomy. High resolution respirometry and electron paramagnetic resonance allowed the determination of, respectively, myometrium oxidative capacity, hydrogen peroxide, mitochondrial free radical leak and superoxide anion production early (2 and 7 h) and late (24 h) following surgery. Mitochondrial oxygen consumption of the uterine fundus and horn tended to decrease with time but this was not statistically significant. Concerning ROS production, globally, we observed no significant change for H2O2, superoxide anion and free radical leak. In conclusion, a long period of cold ischemia did not impair myometrium mitochondrial respiration, only generating a transient H2O2 increase in uterine fundus. These data support that cold ischemia, even when prolonged, does not significantly alter uterine muscle oxidative capacity.


Foundations of standard theory of microlensing are described, namely we consider microlensing stars in Galactic bulge, the Magellanic Clouds or other nearby galaxies. We suppose that gravitational microlenses lie between an Earth observer and these stars. Criteria of an identification of microlensing events are discussed. We also consider such microlensing events which do not satisfy these criteria (non-symmetrical light curves, chromatic effects, polarization effects). We describe results of MACHO collaboration observations towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and the Galactic bulge. Results of EROS observations towards the LMC and OGLE observations towards the Galactic bulge are also presented. Future microlensing searches are discussed.


Gafchromic XRCT radiochromic film is a self-developing high sensitivity radiochromic film product which can be used for assessment of delivered radiation doses which could match applications such as computed tomography (CT) dosimetry. The film automatically changes color upon irradiation changing from amber to dark greenish-black depending on the level of exposure. The absorption spectra of Gafchromic XRCT radiochromic film as measured with reflectance spectrophotometry have been investigated to analyse the dosimetry characteristics of the film. Results show two main absorption peaks produced from irradiation located at around 630 nm and 580 nm. We employed a commercially available, optical flatbed scanner for digitization of the film and image analysis software to determine the response of the XRCT films to ionizing radiation. The two doseresponse curves as a function of delivered dose ranging from 1.069 to 119.7 mGy for tube voltages of 80, 100, and 120 kV X-ray beams and from films scanned 24 hrs after exposure are obtained. One represents the net optical density obtained with the conventional analysis way using only red component and another shows the net reduced OD with the optical CMR scheme, which we developed, using red and green components. The measured ODs obtained with the optical CMR scheme show a good consistency among four samples and all values show an improved consistency with a second-order polynomial fit less than 1 mGy, while those with the conventional analysis exhibited a large discrepancy among four samples and did not show a consistency with a second-order polynomial fit less than 1 mGy. This result combined with its energy independence from 80 kV to 120 kV X-ray energy range provides a unique enhancement in dosimetric measurement capabilities such as the acquisition of high-spatial resolution and calibrated radiation dose profiles over currently available dosimetry films for CT applications.


Objective:The study aimed to explore the relationship between serum vitamin D and inflammatory factors and sex hormones of late pregnancy women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM).Methods: 25 women diagnosed with GDM were selected as GDM group and 25ealthy pregnant women as control group.The serum 25-(OH)D,Lipopolysaccharide(LPS),Tumor Necrosis Factor-α(TNF-α),Interleukin-6(IL-6),estrogen,androgen,Fasting glucose(FBG),Fasting insulin(FINS) were measured in the period around 36~40 gestational weeks.Results: The level of serum 25-(OH)D in GDM group(26.47±8.6)ng/L is significantly lower than control group(35.0±14.9)ng/L(z=-2.0,P=0.045).The levels of serum LPS,TNF-α,estrogen and IR in GDM group were significantly higher than control group(z=-2.25,P=0.024;z=-2.843,P=0.004;t=-2.167,P=0.035;t=-2.063,P=0.045).The serum 25-(OH)D3 median was negatively correlated to LPS,Homa IR and TNF-α(r=-0.379,P=0.007;r=-0.347,P=0.014;r=-0.2843,P=0.004),but not IL-6 and androgen.Conclusions: Vitamin D may participate in the inhibition of chronic immune inflammatory reaction in women with GDM,accordingly it may reduce the IR.Excessive estrogen also may be risk factors for gestational diabetes.


Authentication through gait analysis offers a reliable and aneasy-to-use alternative to common authentication methods. This paper presents a novel gait recognizer that exploits online learning in Convolutional Neural Network, CNN. The features which make that algorithm promising are its high recognition accuracy and low computational cost, in addition to its adaptability, flexibility and applicability. Also, in a parallel line the effect of saliency as a means to generate global features is examined. In this paper, the inertial measures (instead of visual data) are utilized for person authentication. Thus the smartphone inertial sensors are used to continuously assess whether the mobile is actually in the hands of the right owner or not. Three different approaches (saliency detection, offline, and online learning) have been proposed, examined, and implemented. The last two of these approaches are based on the use of convolutional neural networks to shift the measured values of the sensors into a new vector that can be classified more reliably, while the first approach is based on the use of saliency detection algorithms to get the most salient regions of the gait. The models of these approaches are carried out and various experimentson such models are conducted. The results of these experiments were promising and showed the applicability of gait recognition to provide implicit continuous authentication, specially, when online learning is relied upon, since the identification accuracy reaches 98.7%.


Introduction It is a one pot synthesis of hybrid bionanocomposite comprising of inorganic magnetite with stabiliser biopolymer pectin and alginate in co-precipitation method using sodium hydroxide and ammonium hydroxide as precipitating agents. A lot of comparison and investigation has been done in particle size of nanocomposite by changing the stoichiometric ratio of both magnetite and bio polymer concentration and drying condition of composite. The nanocomposite has been characterized using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and (UV-analyser). SEM showed particle size of the nanocomposite and FTIR data confirmed the COO-Fe linkage between polymer COOH group and Fe3O4.


This paper addresses the scalability of bulk CMOS, and the feasibility of intrinsic channel SOI (IC-SOI) CMOS, as an alternative to the bulk, in view of the threshold voltage (V/sub TH/) fluctuations. The impact of dopant-induced V/sub TH/ variations on bulk CMOS SRAM operation is evaluated using a newly proposed analytical method. It is estimated that the bulk SRAM performance will be seriously degraded as the channel length approaches 25-30 nm even if an elaborate redundancy scheme is used. For the IC-SOI FETs, instead of the dopant fluctuations, silicon thickness variation is a critical issue. However, systematic simulation results show that, by optimizing the FET design, the thickness-induced V/sub TH/ variations for both planar single gate and vertical double gate 25 mm IC-SOI FETs will be acceptable, assuming a reasonable thickness deviation range. Therefore, the IC-SOI CMOS is expected to be superior to the bulk counterpart at L=25 nm. It was also found that optimizing the back bias is necessary for suppressing the V/sub TH/ variations of the single gate IC-SOI FETs.


Aim. To determine the status and to increase the effectiveness of open surgical treatment of bilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis.
Methods. We studied the results of surgical treatment of 250 patients who underwent open surgery for severe forms of bilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis. The patients were divided into four groups according to the features of changes in both kidneys and ureters - group 1 included 125 (50.0%) patients with bilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis, group 2 - 35 (14.0%) patients with staghorn nephrolithiasis of solitary or the only functioning kidney, 70 (28.0%) patients with unilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis and solitary or multiple kidney or ureter stones on the other side were included into group 3, and group 4 inlcuded 20 (8.0%) patients with unilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis and nonobstructive hydronephrosis and other diseases on the other side. The age of patients ranged from 7 to 76 years old, ranging among children from 7 to 18 years (average age 12.1±0.4 years) and among adults from 19 to 76 years (average age 46.4±0.6 years). Among patients, 121 (48.4%) were males and 129 (51.6%) were females.
Results. Surgical tactics and the results of performed surgeries in certain groups were studied. Overall, 127 (50.8±3.8%) of 250 patients underwent surgery on the right kidney, and 123 (49.2±3.2%) - on the left kidney. To achieve minimal blood loss during the surgery, in 20% of cases renal artery was clamped. To protect kidneys from ischemia, 3 mg/kg of furosemide, 0.2 mg/kg of verapamil and 1 mg/kg of methylethylpiridinol were used before and after clamping of the renal artery. Open surgical treatment of 250 patients with bilateral staghorn nephrolithiasis was successful in 246 (98.4±0.8%) patients. In case of residual stones, extracorporeal or ureterorenoscopic shock wave lithotripsy was performed.
Conclusion. Despite the wide application of modern endoscopic methods of therapy in the treatment of this group of patients, in complex forms of staghorn nephrolithiasis open surgery is more effective.


We address the thermal control of the quasi-static evolution
of a polycrystalline shape memory alloy specimen. The
thermomechanical evolution of the body is described by means of the
phenomenological SOUZA$-$AURICCHIO model
[6,53]. By assuming to be
able to control the temperature of the body in time we determine the corresponding quasi-static
evolution in the energeticsense. By recovering in this context
 a result
by RINDLER [49,50] we prove the existence of optimal controls for
a suitably large class of cost functionals and comment on their possible approximation.


Employee engagement works an engine which drives the employee to achieve productivity at optimized level. Employee engagement has gained its vital importance from last 15 years or so as many business severe face the tough competition and economic meltdown; stress on basis of mentally and physically is an important aspect of human resource so to gain the next level edge on competition and level of productivity; this must be properly taken into consideration. It is emerging as a new hot topic for young research fellows to find out the ways for better and efficient human resource management and on the same time to analyse the reviewed literature and add something substantial in this regard. For the current study, 159 IT professionals from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS, Gurgaon) were analysed with an objective to analyse the various employee engagement factors and their influence on the job outcomes (Satisfaction with Job, Commitment, Quitting intentions) and on employee engagement (Organization and job) as well. For the data analysis, the descriptive test with multiple regression analysis is undertaken in the study. The results of the study states that rewards and recognition, career advancement, co- workers relationships majorly affect and influence the level of job outcomes.


Emprit ginger (Zingiber officinale var. amarum) is a rhizome plant that is much of the time tracked down in the locale. Tanasitolo, Kab. Wajo. Its utilization is most generally utilized as a cooking zest, defeating joint inflammation, muscle torment, treating colds, treating hacks, as a characteristic cell reinforcement and warming the body. The compound parts contained in emprit ginger (Zingiber officinale var. amarum) are zingiberene, shagaol, sap, and gingerol which are adequate as cancer prevention agents and mitigating or then again reflexology. This study aims to decided how to of ginger emprit (Zingiber officinale var. amarum) as a salve form of a natural balm. This type of research is a direct observation in the laboratory using the distillation method to obtain the essential oil in ginger emprit (Zingiber officinale var. amarum) was then made in the form of a balm with different concentrations of essential oils, namely F1 (0 g), F2 (1.5 g), and F3 (2 g) using accelerated stability testing on the balm preparation, stored for 6 days with 3 cycles (40C and 400C) the observations included organoleptic tests (shape, smell, and colour), homogeneity test, pH test, spreadability test, adhesion test, and specific gravity.. This study indicate that a stable balm preparation that meets the standard requirements based on SNI with accelerated stability testing is formula F3 with a concentration of 2 grams of ginger essential oil. Emprit ginger (Zingiber officinale var. amarum) can be formed in a balm preparation.


An investigation is conducted to evaluate the application of active mechanisms for the protection of equipment and/or personnel from the severe dynamic inputs characteristic of ground transportation vehicles. For the purposes of the study, dynamic loads and isolation system performance are defined in terms of the maximum expected vertical excitations associated with the suspension system of high speed ground transportation vehicles, and conservative levels of allowable passenger acceleration. Selected configurations employ available hardware, and consist of a static load support fluidic spring in parallel with a 0.2 Hz resonant frequency electrohydraulic isolator, which: a) provides the desired degree of isolation from both discrete frequency and broad-band vibration excitations; and b) limits the payload deflections to within plus or minus 6 inches under conditions of combined vibratory and transient dynamic loads. Rigid and flexible payloads of 1,000 3,000 and 10,000 pounds per isolator are considered. The response of the selected isolation systems is presented in terms of absolute and relative transmissibility; payload acceleration; and relative displacement between the payload and the source of excitation for the vibratory, transient, and combined excitations. In all cases the effect of increasing the payload weight by twenty percent is shown. The results indicate that the selected active isolation systems are capable of protecting a range of payloads from severe vibratory and transient dynamic loads. Systems stability, estimates of flow and power requirements, system weight, reliability, and failsafe criteria considerations are shown. Recommendations are made regarding extension of the techniques to provide isolation in the combined vertical and lateral directions. (Author)


The performance of high-speed motorized spindle system is greatly affected by spindle's thermal and dynamic behavior. So, it is very important to predict these properties in design stage of spindle system. However, the thermal and dynamic behaviour reacts upon each other for the high rotational speed and complex structure of the spindle system. To control and optimize the dynamic behaviour and the temperature rise of spindle, this paper developed a dynamic and thermal coupled model of the spindle system by using the finite element method (FEM). The shaft and rotor were modeled as Timoshenko's beam, the rational interference fit between shaft and rotor was treated as mass-spring combinations, the bearings were modeled as nonlinear spring element. The thermal analysis procedure contained the calculation of heat generation and confirmation of boundary condition. The accuracy of this coupled model was validated by corresponding experiments. With this coupled model, the thermal and dynamic performance of the spindle system was studied. The effects of rotational speed, axial preload and material of bearing and the diameter of shaft on thermal and dynamic behavior were analyzed. The spindle system was optimized with the result of analyses above. After optimization, the temperature rise of spindle system falls significantly to 24.5°C, which was 30.2°C before, while the dynamic stiffness at working speed increases from 156 to 197 N/μm.


The ecological idea in which the heated kang signified was evaluated,covering the niche,life cycle and applicable effects with modern ecological theory.The practical significance of ecological idea and technical strategy in the heated kang were excavated and analyzed,too.The sustainable development of heated kang was also proposed hereby.


The birth of contractual obligations the policing of contractual and pre-contractual behaviour relaxations of contractual primacy the performance of contract irregularities in performance the principle of good faith the end of contract remedies.


The present invention relates to a composite comprising a substrate and a photopolymer layer that is removably coupled to one another at least in some portions, the substrate comprises polyethylene terephthalate, photopolymer three-dimensional crosslinked polyurethane matrix polymer, writing monomers and light includes an initiator, the substrate has a 0.5 volume percent butyl acetate solution, L values of L0 before L value and incubation of L1 after incubation 7 days at 23 ° C. dyes of formula (I), L difference equations between the L1 and L0 values (II): L1-L0 <0.25 satisfies the (formula II), L value, characterized in that it is determined by the CieLAB measurement. [Formula 1] .BACKGROUND


Martentoxin is a peptide of 37 amino acid residues purified from the venom of the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensi Karch, which has been demonstrated to be an inhibitor of voltage-dependent sodium channel and voltage-dependent delayed rectifier potassium channel. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of this interaction, the structure of martentoxin was studied by 2D-NMR. The secondary structure of martentoxin consists of a triple-stranded β-sheet connected to a α-helical structure. This helix encompasses 10 residues from Ser11 to Lys20. The three strands of β-sheet probably comprise residues Gly2-Asp5, Q27-N30 and Glu33-Cys36, Cys30-Asn33 with a type I′β turn centered on Asn31-Asn32. The results indicate that martentoxin possesses the conserved β α β β structure of all the potassium channel toxins.


Center for Embedded Networked Sensing Disruption Tolerant Shell Martin Lukac, Lewis Girod, Deborah Estrin CENS System Lab – http://research.cens.ucla.edu Introduction: Data Collection and System Management in Challenged Networks Meso American Subduction Experiment • Extensive: 500 Km from Acapulco through Mexico City to Tampico • Dense: 1 sensor every 5-10 Km • High bandwidth: data acquisition rate: 3 x 24 bit channels at 100Hz each • Online and reliable: semi real-time (on the order of days), reliable data delivery to UCLA for analysis • Online system management: query state, change configuration, update binaries • Application driven topology: application determines sensor placement. Infrastructure does not Software Requirements • Data delivery – Bandwidth driven –Bandwidth: 20-40 of MB per day per station –Latency: get the data eventually, but reliably –Many to one routing • System management – Latency driven –Bandwidth: usually less than 10's of KB's –Latency: as fast as possible –One to all routing and back 50 standalone Caltech sites 62 wirelessly connected UCLA sites Problem Description: End - to - End Tools Fail at Critical Times • Frequent unpredictable disconnections –Rainy season: sites flood (some 24x7) and trees grow –Wind/weather: misaligned antennas –Equipment malfunction: amps burn, voltage regulators break • Poor and unstable links –Connectivity is a secondary concern for site selection –Stretched links highly susceptible to weather and environment • Human effort is a critical resource –Installation, maintenance, protection • Data delivery and system management techniques Distribution of Effective Bandwidth Measurements for Typical Links designed for wired or always-on-wireless do not work well –Typical tools use TCP to create and maintain an end to end session to deliver a stream of data over multiple hops –These tools expect reliable links with low latencies • Patterns of poor links, disconnections, and disruptions –Difficult to obtain and maintain end-to-end connections –Intermittent end-to-end connections insufficient for KB/s required bandwidth and latency J-F (5 similar) E-B (5 similar) M-I (3 similar) D-C (0 similar) Bandwidth Variability 13 node section Proposed Solution: Disruption Tolerant Shell Data Delivery: DTN • Use Delay Tolerant Networking techniques • Buffer data into hour long bundles (1-3 MB) • Deliberate one hop bundle transfer • Path to sink determined by best ETX • Improvement over end-to-end –Not affected by path disconnections –Keeps retrying on single link instead of full path –Continual 'progress' being made towards sink –More efficient use of bandwidth in face of disconnections and bottlenecks Fraction DTS Results - Cuernavaca • Compared latency of DTS to parallel ssh • DTS is faster 90% of the time, comparable the rest of the time • DTS reaches 100% of nodes –ssh requires retries from the source node • Latency can vary by day, but DTS always faster or comparable to ssh Latency of DTS vs. end-to-end ssh for node G Fraction Successful ssh trials (94.2%) Successful DTS trials (100%) DTS Network Service: StateSync • StateSync: Reliable and efficient Seconds publish-subscribe mechanism A PUBLISH System Management: DTS • Implements a broadcast dissemination protocol • Existing management tool: remote shell (ssh) –Published data is hop-scoped Commands Responses • Modified management tool: Disruption –DTS publishes commands and responses one hop Tolerant Shell (DTS) • Works well for applications that require: –Asynchronous remote shell to all nodes in SYNCHRONIZE –Reliable delivery network simultaneously –Have a few Kbytes of data to share –Provides node management capabilities when –Data lifetime is long compared to system latency requirements end-to-end connections are unavailable or fail B PUBLISH –Suitable for DTN since it does not use end-to-end connections –Ensures that commands will succeed: as long • StateSync data model: tables of key value pairs as there is eventually a connection between a Commands Responses node and any other node that already has the –DTS has a command table and response table command • Logging mechanism DTS features • Guaranteed in order execution from source node –Do not republish whole table: only send changes to tables SYNCHRONIZE • Safe recovery from reboots and crashes –More efficient use of bandwidth in face of disconnections • Implicit feed back on nodes and links: spot • Retransmission protocol bottlenecks, dead nodes C –Keeps retrying on individual links PUBLISH • Execute a command on individual nodes –Not affected by path disconnections • Push a file to all nodes Commands Responses –No overhead of end-to-end connection –Distribute new script or component UCLA – UCR – Caltech – USC – CSU – JPL – UC Merced


We report a likely pathogenic splice‐altering AP4S1 intronic variant in two sisters with progressive spastic paraplegia, global developmental delay, shy character, and foot deformities. Sequencing was completed on whole‐blood messenger RNA (mRNA) and analyzed for gene expression outliers after exome sequencing analysis failed to identify a causative variant. AP4S1 was identified as an outlier and contained a rare homozygous variant located three bases upstream of exon 5 (NC_000014.8(NM_007077.4):c.295−3C>A). Confirmed by additional RNA‐seq, reverse‐transcription polymerase chain reaction, and Sanger sequencing, this variant corresponded with exon 5, including skipping, altered isoform usage, and loss of expression from the canonical isoform 2 (NM_001128126.3). Previously, loss‐of‐function variants within AP4S1 were associated with a quadriplegic cerebral palsy‐6 phenotype, AP‐4 Deficiency Syndrome. In this study, the inclusion of mRNA‐seq allowed for the identification of a previously missed splice‐altering variant, and thereby expands the mutational spectrum of AP‐4 Deficiency Syndrome to include impacts to some tissue‐dependent isoforms.


The immunodominant region of transmembrane envelope protein of the donkey leukocyte-attenuated vaccine strain of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) was cloned from its proviral DNA obtained from the vaccine strain infected donkey leukocyte cultures, and expressed in E. coli. The protein was expressed in a partial soluble form and as a fusion protein. There was a 6 histidine tag at its amino acid terminus. It was purified by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography under native conditions. Recombinant protein of the immunodominant region of transmembrane envelope protein (TMIR) showed reactivity to EIAV positive serum samples and no reactivity to normal horse sera in indirect enzyme-linked immuosorbent assay (ELISA) and immuoblot assay. This demonstrates that the recombinant TMIR protein has very good antigenicity and specificity and may be used for research on the in vitro and in vivo replication and immune responses in the vaccinated horses of donkey leukocyte-attenuated vaccine strain of equine infectious anemia virus and diagnosis for EIAV infection.


Objectives We compared remission rates, according to different definitions of remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and investigated the potential predictors of sustained remission at the 2-year follow-up. Methods We obtained data on 291 RA outpatients, seen from July 2009 to September 2012. Sociodemographic data and answers to questionnaires were collected in face-to-face interviews. Remission was defined according to the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28)-ESR, DAS28-CRP, Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and ACR/EULAR Boolean definition. Sustained remission was defined as when the patient continued in remission at two consecutive annual assessments. Predictors of sustained remission according to the DAS28-CRP were assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Results For the 291 RA patients, the remission rates of RA were 17.9% (DAS28-ESR), 54.3% (DAS28-CRP), 10.3% (SDAI), 10.0% (CDAI), and 5.8% (Boolean). On follow-up for 2 years, the sustained remission rates of RA were 46.5% (DAS28), 55.0% (DAS28-CRP), 37.5% (SDAI), 32.0% (CDAI), and 30.8% (Boolean). RA patients who achieve sustained remission according to the DAS28-CRP were younger, and had more education, higher monthly income, lower Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score, lower physician global assessment, lower patient global assessment, lower patient pain assessment, and higher EQ-5D. In multivariate analysis, only the HAQ score predicted sustained remission according to DAS28-CRP (OR=0.257, 95% CI 0.067–0.980, p =0.047). Conclusions The remission rates of RA patients differed according to the definition of remission, and the highest sustained remission rate was classified by the DAS28-CRP. A lower HAQ score was an independent predictor of sustained remission over 2 years, according to the DAS28-CRP. Disclosure of Interest None declared


This paper discusses non-linear inversion method with Genetic Algorithm (GA) which inspired by natural selection process (survival for the fittest) and genetic using 20 populations (micro genetic algorithm). The method is applied to 1-D magnetotelluric inverted data with model parameter is resistivity as a function of depth. This research only uses synthetic data obtained from synthetic model. The model is homogeneous earth model with 3 and 5 layers. Perturbation of model is performed until minimum misfit between theoritical and observation data achieved. The 3 layers and 5 layers inversion processes are applied to 3 layers and 5 layers earth model respectively, with satisfactory results in other words it can reproduce the synthetic model.


Abstract. Whether urban property tax rates in New England are too high is a matter of proper comparison. 20 cities in the 100,000 to 200,000 class size ate compared in respect of urban financial structure, economic characteristics, and tax rates to determine in what sense taxes could be said to be high. Average tax bills, measures of tax burden and dependence on revenue sharing were found to be significantly higher in New England. This was true despite the evidence that these cities–selected to be representative of many regions in the nation–were essentially alike. One emergent conclusion is the difference in tax rates reflects an actual difference in demand. That difference seems traceable to the one outstanding difference, the density of settlement.