Research Highlights: The felling of hung up trees is considered by literature in the field as an activity with a high injury risk. The low work productivity in the felling of hung up trees is wrongly cited by workers in order to justify various more or less safe work techniques. Background and objectives: The purpose of this paper was to determine work productivity in the felling of hung up trees when this activity has a well-defined structure with stages and specific activities that would allow workers to assess injury risk correctly. In addition, this paper aims to identify the moment when workers should give up the manual felling of hung up trees with a hand winch and start using specialized logging equipment. Materials and methods: The research was conducted in the Eastern Carpathians in a spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.) tree stand where clear cutting normally takes place. A single team of workers was used consisting of two chainsaw operators—a main one and a secondary one. This team had a high level of qualification and experience in the operations performed. For the felling of hung up trees, the technique based on rotating the tree around a pivot with a hand winch was used. Time was measured in seconds by using the continuous time study method. Results: The results indicated that work productivity decreases with the number of times the traction line needs to be repositioned. It decreases from 3.477 trees·h−1 (in trees where no repositioning is necessary) to 1.402 trees·h−1 (when the repositioning takes place twice). In trees that needed the repositioning of the traction line, safety rules were broken in the following ways: crossing over the tensioned cable of the traction line, the main chainsaw operator being positioned inside the triangle formed by the hung up trees and the anchorage points of the pulley and the hand winch as well as the operator being positioned very close to the hung up tree stem base while the latter is being tied. That is why, if the repositioning of the traction line is necessary, the question is—would it be better to give up the manual felling of hung up trees and start using specialized equipment? Conclusion: The felling of hung up trees must be regarded and understood, first and foremost, through the perspective of reducing injury risk and protecting workers. Thus, the work productivity of 3.477 trees·h−1 can be considered acceptable for trees that need no extra repositioning of the traction line or when the time consumed does not go over 17 min·tree−1.


Some studies comparing serum cobalamin in individuals with and without sickle cell disease (SCD) have suggested a higher prevalence of cobalamin deficiency in SCD but others have not. Our aim was to prospectively compare cobalamin status in African–Americans with and without SCD.


The cyclo-alkenes, cyclo-pentene, -hexene, and cis-octene, each add photochemically to pentafluoropyridine to yield pairs of 2 : 1 adducts by [2 + 2] addition at C-3 and -4 and [4 + 2] addition at C-2 and -5 of pentafluoropyridine. Their stereochemistry is discussed on the basis of their physical data, and it is suggested that endo-addition of cyclo-pentene and -octene, and exo-addition of cyclohexene, is favoured for [2 + 2] addition.


Mosaicing is a image that has been divided into fragments, each of which is replaced with another fragment that matches the target image. Documents may be ripped up due to aging, by hand or shredded by a machine. The principle technique used here is the featureless image mosaicing technique Most document reconstruction problems can be solved in two steps, that is, first, finding an initial set of matching fragment pairs as candidate matches, then resolving the ambiguity among these candidate matches to reconstruct the original document, which is the key approach of this paper.


Objective In order to improve the service life of titanium alloy,which is widely used in aeronautical industry,friction and wear properties of TC4 surface plasma Ni modified layer were studied. Methods In this process,the near-equiatomic Ti Ni binary metal was used as the sputtering source,and Ni modified layer was developed by plasma surface alloying technology. Microstructure,ingredient distribution,phase structure,and hardness distribution of the Ni modified layer were analyzed. Friction and wear properties of Ni modified layer and the substrate were observed. Results The results indicated that the Ni modified layer was composed of Ti2 Ni,Ti Ni and Ti phases,and the maximum content of Ni element was nearly 18%. The surface hardness was about625 HV. The friction coefficient of Ni modified layer was comparable with that of the substrate material,and the grinding crack width was 1 /3 of that of the substrate. Conclusion The wear property of the TC4 surface plasma Ni modified layer was improved.


Research into rainfall enhancement in Texas expanded rapidly during the 1970's with the Texas HIPLEX program. More recently, the states of Texas and Oklahoma and the United States Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation have joined in the SouthWest Cooperative Program (SWCP) to develop an applied weather modification technology for increasing water supplies in the Texas-Oklahoma region. This paper provides an overview of the preliminary design for a rainfall enhancement project in Texas within the SWCP.


1 Introduction Since the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique was developed, the considerable interest in the molecular assemblies is to build up a function of organic ultra-thin films. A number of research results show that LB films possess very important applications in photoelectric transfer fields. Due to extremely small thickness of the molecular assembled


The regression function can be expressed in term of copula density and marginal distributions. In this paper, we propose a new method of estimating a regression function using the Bernstein estimator for the copula density and the empirical distributions for the marginal distributions. The method is fully non-parametric and easy to implement. We provide some asymptotic results related to this copula-based regression modeling by showing the almost sure convergence and the asymptotic normality of the estimator by providing the asymptotic variance. Also, we study the finite sample performance of the estimator.


The literature of the port performance has typically centered on the advanced market and the emerging markets. There is a dearth of studies on the Latin America seaports' performance. It is important to study seaports efficiency in this particular region which has experienced significant reforms since the mid-1980s.This study aims to benchmark the efficiency of Latin American Container seaports and investigate the changes in the pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency and nature of returns to scale using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Overall, the results show that the pure efficiency of the Latin American seaports have improved over the period 2000 to 2008, with the Central American seaports showing the best performance in the region. The source of inefficiency in the Central and South America is the pure technical efficiency, while the source of inefficiency in the Caribbean region is the scale inefficiency. The majority of the Latin American seaports exhibit increasing returns to scale while only a few are operating at optimal returns to scale. Hence, seaports that operate at increasing returns to scale could achieve significant efficiency gains by increasing its scale of operations through expansion and building alliances.


Abstract:Edgar Morin and Jean Rouch conceived of cinéma verité as a "sort of psychodrama" elevating cinema to a medium for self-analysis, to test and promote authentic social relations. This essay locates their self-reflective poetics as part of a conspicuous trend for psychosocial methodologies throughout the fifties, and it contextualizes the migration of two psychosocial praxes and ideas into cinema—Kurt Lewin's Research Center for Group Dynamics and Jacob L. Moreno's sociometric and psychodramatic sessions—at a moment of heightened identity crisis and self-examination in France.Boldly pushing the effects of drama into a real zone of disturbance, Rouch asked French and African students in a high school to act out the roles of racists in The Human Pyramid (Rouch, 1959–61), revealing the impasses in changing interracial relations in West Africa. A similar sensitivity to the gaps in French discourse is at stake in Chronicle of a Summer's (1960) attempt to counter the specter of forced confessionals (in Algeria) and the shadow of Stalinist authoritarianism, by promoting collective and democratic forms of self-baring.The essay rethinks the potential and limits of these two films as laboratories of self-awareness. It discusses the effectiveness of role reversal in revealing and combating racism in THP and it analyses the relevance of psychodynamic for Marxist discussions around the representation of labor, leisure and self-determination, as Chronicle essays a transition in leftist politics.


Foreword by Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition. The Overarching Policy Interests. The "Modernised" Enforcement Environment. The Application of Article 81 to Technology Licences: The General Framework. The Application of Article 81 to Technology Licences: The TTBER. Assessment of Licence Restrictions under Article 81. Application of Article 82 to Technology Licences. Appendices: Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation TTBER Guidelines Commission Guidelines on application of Article 81(3) Regulation 1/2003.


Abstract : As business organizations face a more complex and competitive environment than ever before, innovation of organizational products and processes is essential for generating and sustaining a competitive advantage. Two areas of innovation that have considerable potential to impact organizational performance are technology adoption and supply chain management. innovative information technologies have the capacity to impact operational procedures and structures, firm strategy, communication exchange, buyer-supplier relationships and bargaining power and have become so pervasive that most managers consider them to be a requirement for doing business in today's competitive marketplace. Supply chain management integrates logistics activities within and between firms in the supply chain. This dissertation attempts to merge the two streams of research and examine the organizational and environmental factors leading to supply chain technology adoption as well as the resulting benefits. For the purposes of this research, supply chain technology includes a wide range of technologies that enhance data management and information exchange within and between organizations of the supply chain. The benefits examined include both logistics performance measures such as inventory levels, logistics costs, and cycle time as well as integration measures such as information sharing and coordination of logistics activities. The model was tested using a survey instrument developed in collaboration with a group of supply chain consultants and professionals. The results highlight the current state of supply chain technology employment and suggest five of the seven hypothesized factors play an important role in predicting adoption of supply chain technologies. The results also indicate significant benefits have been achieved by responding organizations.


The choice of a system of proof in the case handling process within the judiciary is a very important thing. Because the verification system adopted by a judicial institution will determine the quality of the verdict to be taken. Verification system adopted by the Constitutional Court in handling cases disputes the results of the regional head elections as stipulated in Act. No. 24 Th. 2003 had the right to find a material truth which is expected. Key words: verification, constitutional court, material truth


The effect of thermal action at 1100 °C on the kinetics of phase transformations in the coating, obtained by hot-dip aluminizing of 12Cr18Ni10Ti steel, is studied. It was shown that, after 500 h of exposure, the chemical composition is leveled over the entire volume of the sample. Moreover, the predicted retention time of the heat-resistant properties of the coating at 1100 °C is about 2000 h.


Introduction In heterogeneous catalysis, while specific reaction ensembles are frequently discussed [1], to date direct atomic control of specific sites has not yet been reported. Here we present scanning tunneling microscopic (STM) images of a Pd monomer-pair catalytic site on a AuPd(100) bulk alloy surface that is highly selective for vinyl acetate synthesis from ethylene and acetic acid [2]. We also demonstrate that our sample preparation method has a direct effect on the surface Pd distribution, which is far from random with a marked preference for the local c(2 × 2) configuration, i.e., a monomer-pair configuration. Moreover, we show that using the unique thermodynamic properties of AuPd mixtures, it is possible to control the distribution of Pd atoms globally, and thus isolate preferred catalytic sites potentially for optimum catalytic selectivity [3].


The impact of H2S in recycle hydrogen in Hydro-GAP process on mercaptan in hydrotreated gasoline is investigated.The results show that,when H2S in recycle hydrogen is lower than 0.06%,the mercaptan in hydrotreated gasoline is close to that in single pass of hydrogen.When H2S in recycle hydrogen is as high as 0.25%,the mercaptan in hydrotreated gasoline is apparently increased.At a fixed H2S in recycle hydrogen,the mercaptan in hydrotreated gasoline goes down with rising reaction temperature.When the reaction temperature is raised to 380 ℃ from 260 ℃ and H2S in recycle hydrogen is 0.25%,the mercaptan in hydrotreated gasoline is reduced to 42 ppm from 172 ppm,which is a 75% reduction.As Hydro-GAP process is operated at a higher reaction temperature,and the catalyst have a large amount of active sites,it has an inhabitation effect on the reaction of olefins with H2S to produce mercaptan.


Abstract Why were the brothers of king Ahaziah at Beth-Eked in Israel, following the deaths of king Ahaziah and his northern ally, king Joram? This paper takes a closer look at the events of Beth-Eked in 2Kgs 10:13–14 and proposes that the brothers of Ahaziah represent a Judahite delegation seeking to maintain שׁלום with the Omrides in response to Jehu's coup. If so, then Olyan's observation of the ironic use of שׁלום in 2Kgs 9 should be extended to 2Kgs 10. In addition, it suggests that Jehu's slaughter of the Judahites at Beth-Eked was the major turning point in the breaking of the Omride-Judahite alliance, rather than the initial deaths of the two kings.


In southern Alaska, multiple terranes—slabs that have broken off from larger tectonic plates and shuffed around—create a complex patchwork that makes it challenging for scientists to untangle the tectonic history and structure of the region. One of these, the Yakutat terrane, which lies just offshore southern Alaska in the Gulf of Alaska, is converging with the North American plate and driving the growth of the Chugach–St. Elias mountains. The structure of this terrane has not been well studied until now. Worthington et al. conducted seismic studies to create a two- dimensional seismic velocity model of the Yakutat terrane. The model allows them to constrain the crustal thickness and composition of the terrane.


Texture as a surface representation is the subject of a wide body of computer vision and computer graphics literature. While texture is always associated with a form of repetition in the image, the repeating quantity may vary. The texture may be a color or albedo variation as in a checkerboard, a paisley print or zebra stripes. Very often in real-world scenes, texture is instead due to a surface height variation, e.g. pebbles, gravel, foliage and any rough surface. Such surfaces are referred to here as 3D textured surfaces. Standard texture recognition algorithms are not appropriate for 3D textured surfaces because the appearance of these surfaces changes in a complex manner with viewing direction and illumination direction. Recent methods have been developed for recognition of 3D textured surfaces using a database of surfaces observed under varied imaging parameters. One of these methods is based on 3D textons obtained using K-means clustering of multiscale feature vectors. Another method uses eigen-analysis originally developed for appearance-based object recognition. In this work we develop a hybrid approach that employs both feature grouping and dimensionality reduction. The method is tested using the Columbia-Utrecht texture database and provides excellent recognition rates. The method is compared with existing recognition methods for 3D textured surfaces. A direct comparison is facilitated by empirical recognition rates from the same texture data set. The current method has key advantages over existing methods including requiring less prior information on both the training and novel images.


After the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) entered into a long political and economic crisis. The period saw increased Greater-Serbian nationalism directed against a state whose federal framework had been based on its 1974 Constitution. The engagement of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in the resolution of the crisis showed that Greater-Serbian ideas deeply penetrated that institution. Serbs composed the largest share of the members of the JNA and for years it promoted an image of itself as the last defender of Tito's heritage. The JNA became "an important political factor" and a shield protecting the country's socialist system. It could not remain a peaceful observer of political changes in the SFRY.1 The JNA, together with Territorial Defense forces (TO), constituted the armed forces of the SFRY.2 The TO had been an organization of each of the SFRY's constituent republics. It had less arms than the JNA and had been designed primarily to control territory.3 The JNA and TO had been created to be fully equal and in war-time circumstances they had to complement each other in accordance with the national military strategy of "total national resistance." Like the JNA which came under the competency of the SFRY


Controlling the direction of light propagation, or light switching, enables the addressing of individual optical elements in high-density and complex photonic integrated devices. Light switching is...


Racial and Ethnic Differences in Cardiovascular Disease Medication Management for Patients with DiabetesbyAna Helena TraylorDoctor of Philosophy in Public PolicyUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Stephen Raphael, ChairExtensive research documents inequities in the quality of health care provided to members of racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. Cultural differences between patients and health care providers may contribute to health disparities by increasing the likelihood of physician bias, patient distrust and patient-provider miscommunication. This dissertation uses data from Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Diabetes Registry of 2005 to 1) examine racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor management for patients with diabetes, 2) explore the prevalence and predictors of patient-physician racial/ethnic match and 3) examine the association between racial and ethnic match and CVD risk factor management for patients with diabetes. I use a cross-sectional observational design and conduct a series of logistic regression models that adjust for patient, physician and medical facility characteristics.I found significant differences in CVD risk factor control, treatment intensification for patients in poor control and CVD risk factor medication adherence. Compared to white patients, African American patients were less likely to be at target for diabetes (Hemoglobin A1c), hyperlipidemia (LDL-c) and Hypertension (SBP). Latino and Asian patients were less likely to be at target A1c levels, but more likely to be at target LDL levels. Spanish speaking patients were also less likely to be at target A1c levels. Racial differences in treatment intensification were complex. When not at target levels, African American and Asian patients were less likely than white patients to have treatment intensified for A1c medications. However, African American patients were more likely to have treatment intensified for SBP and Asian patients were more likely than white patients to have treatment intensified for LDL and SBP medications. There were no disparities in intensification for Latinos patients; in fact Latino patients were more likely to have treatment for LDL intensified. Similarly, Spanish-speaking patients were more likely to have treatment intensified for LDL. I found that African American and Latino patients were least likely to be racial matched, though Spanish speaking Latino patients were more likely than English speaking Latino patients to have a same race physician. Compared with patients who were assigned a physician by the health care organization, patients who chose their physicians were more likely to have a same race provider. While statistically significant for all racial and ethnic groups, this relationship was strongest for African American and Latino patients. Availability of a same race provider was the strongest predictor of patient-physician race concordance for African American and Latino patients. I examined the association between race concordance and intermediate CVD risk factor outcomes for African American and Latino patients. Race and language concordance did not impact risk factor control or treatment intensification. However, race/ethnicity concordance was marginally associated with better adherence to medication for African American patients and language concordance was marginally associated with adherence for Spanish speaking Latino patients. By allowing for more race and language concordance between patients and providers, increased minority representation in the medical professions is hypothesized to improve the cultural competence of health care delivery. Given wide and persistent disparities in health for African American and Latino patients, this dissertation examined the hypothesis that by increasing opportunities for race, ethnicity and language concordance, race-conscious medical school and workforce diversity efforts might lead to improvements in public health and a reduction in health disparities.The results further highlight the need for continued efforts to measure, understand and address racial and ethnic disparities. The results presented here suggest that increasing the number and proportion of underrepresented minorities might lead to important improvements in patient adherence to medication. However, these efforts alone, will not eliminate gaps in CVD medication management for patients with diabetes.


Windows are known as one of the most energy inefficient components of buildings [3]. With up to 60% of the total energy loss of a building coming from its windows [4], fenestration products have a huge potential to provide large energy savings [5]. Two properties define the energetic behaviour of windows: (1) thermal transmittance, or Uvalue, and (2) solar factor or g-value. The first determines the heat flow across a window while the second factor determines the amount of solar energy passing through the window.


A multistep continuum-kinetic approach is used to model a steady state plume flow from a Star 27 motor at an altitude of 118 km. Two-way coupled Navier-Stokes equations and the direct simulation Monte Carlo method are used to predict the interaction between plume and atmospheric gases and micron-sized alumina particles from the thruster. A Monte Carlo radiation code that accounts for photon scattering on particles is used to calculate ultraviolet radiation based on the obtained flowfield solutions. Comparison of computed spectral and integral radiant intensity with available flight data is performed. Photon scattering by submicron particles in the 200 to 400 nm range was found to be a dominant process in the far-field ultraviolet emission.


In this paper, we establish separate necessary and sufficient John-Nirenberg (JN) type inequalities for functions in $Q_{\alpha}^{\beta}(\mathbb{R}^{n})$ which imply Gagliardo-Nirenberg (GN) type inequalities in $Q_{\alpha}(\mathbb{R}^{n}).$ Consequently, we obtain Trudinger-Moser type inequalities and Brezis-Gallouet-Wainger type inequalities in $Q_{\alpha}(\mathbb{R}^{n}).$


The aim of the study to monitor post partal uterine involution, ovarian activity and biochemical parameters
and it is relation to the subsequent fertility. A total sixty normal calving
pluriparous buffaloes were examined between 14th and 75th day post partum (p.p.)
rectaly, ultrasonically and blood sampling were collected on weekly sessions.
There were differences (P 3 8 mmdiameter) in ipsilateral and contralateral ovary to the PGUH in PREG group was
higher (P


One of the problems in real-time control of redundant manip ulators is considerably increased computational complexity compared with nonredundant robots. This is due to the rela tively high dimensions of the Jacobian matrix (6 x n, n ≥ 7) and the fact that its pseudoinverse is to be computed. On the other side, analytical solutions for nonredundant robots offer minimal numerical complexity (if such exist). The main idea in this article is to reduce computational complexity by com bining the analytical and the pseudoinverse solution. Namely, some of the joint angles that do not actively participate in the redundancy are evaluated analytically, while the group of joint angles that are actually redundant are solved using the pseu doinverse of the Jacobian matrix. In this way the dimensions of Jacobian are considerably reduced yielding several times less computational complexity. Further reduction of computational time is achieved by applying the gradient projection method (Dubey et al. 1991) to the actually redundant subrobot. In this article the solution is derived for a 7-DOF manipulator, and the possibility of application to other robots is discussed. At the end, simple performance criteria for avoiding wrist singularity that take into account the knowledge of robot geometry are proposed.


A hydrogen storage medium, using a dehydrogenation reaction of naphthene in a membrane reactor, is proposed for fuel cell systems. In this system, the permeation rate of hydrogen is not high so that the residual hydrogen, not passing through the membrane, must be recovered. A gas-liquid separator and an adsorption column were evaluated. For the design of the separator, the hydrogen solubility has been already reported for aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthenes, and equimolar mixtures. In this study, adsorption on activated carbon was measured in hydrogen flow saturated with pure benzene, cyclohexane, methycyclohexane, and toluene, and the equimolar mixtures, benzene+cyclohexane and methycyclohexane+toluene. The measurement was carried out by a new apparatus specially designed for this study, based on a flow type method, and equipped with gas chromatograph with both FID and TCD. In the measurement, the breakthrough curve and the specific mass adsorbed were measured at 347 kPa and 303.15 K. The adsorption mechanism was also discussed based on the breakthrough curves for the pure adsorbates and mixtures. Finally, the required mass of adsorbate, activated carbon, was estimated for the system by assuming the reaction rate and the hydrogen permeation ratio in the membrane reactor.


Pilling have a negative influence on fabric properties,such as appearance,felling.In this study,8 kinds of worsted fabrics made from wool and polyester were tested by using circular locus pill tester and the process of pilling were observed by the scanning electron microscope.The mechanism of pilling and the influence of fabric texture on pilling were studied.


The present study investigated the phytochemical constituents and levels of heavy metals in some commonly used medicinal plants; Securidaca longipedunculata (root bark), Guiera senegalensis (leaves) and Boswellia dalzielii (stem bark). The phytochemical analysis showed that saponins, carbohydrates, cardiac glycosides, steroids, terpenoids, alkaloids and flavonoids were present in all the three plant species. On the other hand, the heavy metals analysis showed that chromium and arsenic were not detected in all the three plant species, while lead was detected in the stem bark of Boswellia dalzielii (0.0010 ± 0.00 mg/kg). Also, trace amounts of cadmium were detected in the root bark of Securidaca longipedunculata (0.0002 ± 0.00 mg/kg) and leaves of Guiera senegalensis (0.0004 ± 0.00 mg/kg). The study has shown that the common toxic metals (lead, chromium and arsenic) were not detected in the root bark of Securidaca longipedunculata and leaves of Guiera senegalensis. Also, the level of lead detected in the stem bark of Boswellia dalzielii and level of cadmium detected in the root bark of Securidaca longipedunculata and leaves of Guiera senegalensis were below the recommended limits.


Objectives To follow-up and determine causes of temporomandibular disorders (TMD) treatment drop-out. Materials and methods Self-administered questionnaires were mailed to 316 TMD drop-out patients, treated at Faculty of Dentistry, Chulalongkorn University. Results There were 77 respondents (response rate 24.3%). They were 17 males (22.1%) and 60 females (77.9%). The group presented 58 patients (75.3%) sought treatment for more than one symptom, and temporomandibular joint sound was the primary chief complaint (31.1%). All subjects received conservative treatment, which was the mainly use of occlusal appliance. The results were as follows. 1. There were 55 remained symptoms persons (71.4%) after dropping out treatment. The persistent symptoms were not different significantly from the symptoms before treatment except the limitation of mouth opening (p = 0.013). The further treatment was required by 43 persons (78.2%) but not by 12 persons (21.8%). 2. The treatment remission reasons were: symptoms were bearable (37.7%), symptoms were thought incurable (32.5%), government office hours were not convenient (31.2%), transportation was not convenient (26.0%), there was no contact (20. 8%), and other. Conclusion This study suggests that the TMD patient may have sustained symptoms after treatment remission, and several reasons are the cause of dropping out treatment. (CU Dent J. 2007;30:117-28) Key words: patient drop-out; temporomandibular disorders; treatment follow-up


Abstract This paper engages with the aspects of discursive hegemony in terms of both Metropolitan and disciplinary position and privilege, using the sociology of the language that has been produced on Malaysian Indian identity as my point of reference. It contends that these observations and articulations are able to rise to the surface more easily when they are securely located within disciplinary domains often related to determinacy. I argue that viewed as a whole, it becomes apparent that these discourses are coloured by the subjective desire of the accumulation of knowledge on the subject matters of their writings. As such, they are as much stories that are told of the Malaysian Indian community as those found in literary narratives and can ultimately lead to unequal discursivities.


104 Background: Despite the increasing use of both sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and preoperative chemotherapy (PST) in patients with operable breast cancer, there is still limited information on the feasibility and accuracy of SLNB following PST. In this study, the feasibility and accuracy of SLNB for breast cancer patients with clinically negative lymph nodes after PST were investigated. In addition, conditions that may affect SLN biopsy detection and false-negative rates with respect to clinical tumor response and clinical tumor/nodal status before PST were analyzed.

METHODS
Between 2003 and 2008, 200 patients with stage II and III breast cancer previously treated with PST were enrolled in this study. The eligible criteria for PST were (a) primary tumor > 3cm or (b) positive axillary lymph node status on initial examination. FNA biopsy was performed for clinically or ultrasonographically suspicious axillary lymph nodes. The patients then underwent SLNB, which involved a combination of intradermal injection over the tumor of radiocolloid and subareolar injection of blue dye. This was followed by Level I/II axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).

RESULTS
The median patient age was 49 years, and the median primary tumor size was 4.9 cm. The overall SLN identification rate was 94.5% (189 of 200). In 178/189 patients (94%) the SLN accurately predicted the axillary status. Eleven patients had a false-negative SLN biopsies, yielding a false-negative rate of 12.9%. There were no significant differences in the SLN identification rate according to tumor classifications before PST, the clinical nodal status before PST, the clinical tumor response after PST, or pathological response of the tumor after PST, although the SLN identification rate tended to be lower in patients with a T4 primary tumor.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data and some reports suggested that SLNB was feasible method for axillary staging in breast cancer patients who received PST even in patients who initially with lymph node positive disease. However, false-negative rate of SLNB in patients with clinical and pathological complete tumor response tended to be higher than other group.


ObjectiveIschemia/reoxygenation following cardiopulmonary resuscitation might cause endothelial injury/activation that could contribute to an adverse outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We studied plasma concentrations of von Willebrand factor (vWF) antigen and soluble intracellular adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1 as markers of a generalized endothelial injury/activation in relation to outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. DesignRetrospective study on stored plasma samples. SettingIntensive care unit at a university hospital. PatientsThirty-five patients who survived >24 hrs after in- or out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation and 15 noncritically ill control patients. InterventionsBlood sampling. Measurements and Main ResultsPlasma concentrations of vWF antigen and sICAM-1 on day 2 after cardiopulmonary resuscitation were higher in patients than in controls (p < .001 and p = .001, respectively). In-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration ≥15 mins, severe cardiovascular failure, and renal dysfunction/failure at the time of blood sampling were associated with significant elevations in vWF antigen and sICAM-1 concentrations. Patients with an unfavorable outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (cerebral performance category ≥3) exhibited higher vWF antigen and sICAM-1 concentrations than patients with good outcome (cerebral performance category 1–2;p < .001 and p = .097, respectively). Renal dysfunction/failure, severe cardiovascular failure, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation duration ≥15 mins were also associated with higher adverse outcome rates. Combination of these four variables into a cardiac arrest risk score (levels 0–4) showed adverse outcome rates of 100, 56, and 0% in patients with arrest scores of 4, 2–3, and 0–1, respectively. A vWF antigen concentration >166% was an independent predictor of outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (p = .002) and was associated with increased adverse outcome rates in patients with cardiac arrest risk scores of 2–3. Furthermore, both vWF antigen concentrations >166% and sICAM-1 concentrations >500 ng/mL had 100% specificity for an adverse outcome in patients after out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation but were less predictive in patients after in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. ConclusionsvWF antigen and sICAM-1 might be useful adjunctive variables for early determination of outcome in patients after successful out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation.


Summary:The Dementia Severity Rating Scale (DSRS) is an informant-based, multiple- choice questionnaire that assesses severity from the mildest to the most severe stages in the major functional and cognitive domains affected in Alzheimer disease (AD). The DSRS has good reliability as measured by making repeated observations over short time periods and by comparing caregiver responses to information collected by a physician or an experienced nonphysician research associate. The measure correlates favorably with the Washington University Clinical Dementia Rating scale and with standard cognitive testing measures. The DSRS provides a simple, valid, and sensitive measure of impairment associated with AD. It is ideally suited for multisite collaborative studies and can be implemented with a minimum of staff time and training.


This study aims to determine the growth response of Robusta coffee cuttings (Coffea canephora ex A. Froehner) using natural material filtrate containing Plant Growth Regulators (PGR). The research which has been carried out for 3 months was designed using a Non-Factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 9 treatments, including A1 : without Natural PGR (control), A2 : 2.5%, A3 : 5%, A4 : 7.5% , A5 : 10%, A6 : 12.5%, A7 : 15%, A8 : 17.5%, and A9 : 20%. Each action was repeated 3 times. Parameters observed included shoot length (cm), leaf length (cm), root length (cm), root length (cm) and number of roots. Analysis of Results The research data used ANOVA at 5% level and the LSD (Lessest Significant Difference) follow-up test. The results showed that the various concentrations tested responded to several parameters. The effect was significantly different for all parameters including shoot length, leaf length, number of roots, and root length. The treatment concentration that gave the best growth response on the observed shoot length parameter was at a concentration of 15% natural PGR.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend prior research on the influence of consumer-cause identification on the intention to purchase products from the companies supporting the cause and re-evaluates the role of attitude toward the cause as a mediator of the relationship between identification and intention to purchase.Design/methodology/approachUsing a questionnaire, a sample of 156 Portuguese consumers evaluated their personal identification and attitude to one of four causes. Partial least squares path modeling was used to evaluate the proposed conceptual model.FindingsThe results reveal that more than identification, a positive attitude is vital to be able to predict the intention to purchase. Together, consumer-cause identification and attitude explain 35.1 percent of the variance in purchase intention. The findings show also that attitude acts as a mediator in the relationship between the identification with the cause and intention to purchase. Several differences regarding gender and age are also revealed.Originality/valueWhile the majority of studies were single cause evaluations, the current results are based on the assessment of multiple causes. Consequently, the findings are more comprehensive and robust, providing important insights to researchers. The conclusions confirm within a wider context the role of attitude as a mediator of the identification and intention to purchase and can further assist companies in designing better targeted cause-related marketing campaigns.


Following China′s entry into the WTO, non-governmental enterpries can get more developing space and become the new growth point of promoting economic development on condition that we define the legal status of non-governmental economy and its property protection problem, give it national treatment, expand the right of allowing non-governmental enterprises into the market, reduce the functions of government, weaken the function off approval, activate the enterpries and better the environment of economic development, so on the international terrace with a new posture non-governmental enterprises can compete relying on brand superiority, service superiority and network superiority,etc. Expand and strengthen the enterprises and promote economic growth with pioneering field of vision,turnover sense and creative thought.


A city's development is inseparable from the development and utilization of land.How to effectively make intensive use of land and create the greatest possible economic,social and ecological benefits of urban development is the key to the city's development.Through the data collection of Guiyang City from 2000 to 2007 in Guiyang City,the intensive use of land evaluation index system was set up,using a comprehensive index of the data processing to analyze and evaluate the land intensive use extent of Guiyang City at present stage,the results show that the current land used in Guiyang City is middle-intensive use.


To measure and improve hospital performance, Malcolm Baldrige is present for maximum achievement in Total Quality Management. This study aims to measure the achievement of Batam Regional General Hospital by using MBCfPE for business criteria and to know and analyze the influence of MBCfPE on hospital performance. This research is an observational descriptive research with cross-sectional research design applied. Total sample of 200 employees by using simple random sampling. The results of the survey through MBCfPE showed that the overall total score of the performance assessment achieved by this hospital was 763 and the results indicated that the hospital's performance was Business Leader. Based on the criteria of Malcolm Baldrige, the performance of Batam City Hospital is seen from the criteria of leadership; strategic planning criteria; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management criteria; human resource focus criteria; as well as the criteria of the focus of operational activities, the performance of Batam city hospitals included in the good category. The performance of Batam city hospitals based on Malcolm Baldrige points points included in very good performance category (763,93). And on the performance achievement of each criterion, if the result point value obtained compared to the maximum points value in Malcolm Baldrige, the leadership criteria achieved the highest performance performance with the percentage of 75.93%. The lowest performance achievement is owned by human resource focus criteria of 64.42%. It can be concluded that the performance of RSUD Kota Batam criteria Malcolm Baldrige very good.


In this paper, we revisit the design of interest free house finance. First, we discuss the current practice in conventional banking and Islamic banking. Then, we discuss an alternate design for interest free house finance. The proposal we present attempts to analyze the implication of using market based rent setting in place of using an interest rate benchmark. In the alternate design, the Islamic bank buys the house by paying the house owner full amount of the house upfront. Then, the bank gives the house on rent to the client and the Islamic bank also enters into an options contract as the call option writer. If the call buyer does not exercise the call option, the options contract expires and the Islamic bank is in a position to give the house on rent again. We present numerical examples of computing rents in two separate structures. In structure I, call option is used with the lease contract. In structure II, house is resold at market price with stated price floor.


This paper analyses texts of political speech, court decisions and individual narratives of Russian lesbians and gay men in order to track discursive changes in terms of speaking about homosexuality. It argues that current political vocabulary of speaking about ''LGBT'' is a common sense in Russia, however it is employed differently by various actors.


Nepeta azadkouhensis (Lamiaceae), a new species from Mazandaran province in northern Iran is described and illustrated. This taxon is similar to N. natanzensis and N. monocephala with terminal capitate inflorescences, tubular and curved corolla tubes as well as tubular calyces glabrous inside. It differs from N. natanzensis in corollas pink-purple, bracts and bracteoles smaller, as well as calyx with shorter teeth and a regular throat. It differs from N. monocephala in tall stems, procumbent to ascending and leaves arranged all along the stem. The new species is found in the alpine-subnival zone on scree at an elevation of 3700 to 3800 m.


Copyright © 2017 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved. DOI: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000002726 *See also p. 1997.


HEVC HM 16 includes a Coding Unit (CU) level perceptual quantization technique named AdaptiveQP. AdaptiveQP adjusts the Quantization Parameter (QP) at the CU level based on the spatial activity of samples in the four constituent N×N sub-blocks of the luma Coding Block (CB), which is contained within a 2N×2N CU. In this paper, we propose C-BAQ, which, in contrast to AdaptiveQP, adjusts the CU level QP according to the spatial activity of samples in the four constituent N×N sub-blocks of both the luma and chroma CBs. By computing the sum of luma, chroma Cb and chroma Cr spatial activity in a CU, a richer reflection of spatial activity in the CU is attained. Therefore, a more appropriate CU level QP can be selected, thus leading to important improvements in terms of coding efficiency. We evaluate the proposed technique in HEVC HM 16.7 using 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 YCbCr sequences. Both subjective and objective evaluations are undertaken during which we compare C-BAQ with AdaptiveQP. The objective evaluation reveals that C-BAQ attains a maximum BD-Rate reduction of 15.9% (Y), 13.1% (Cr) and 16.1% (Cb) in addition to a maximum decoding time reduction of 11.0%.


The invention discloses high-strength Al-Cu-Mg-Mn-Er wrought aluminum alloy and a preparation method thereof and relates to the field of aluminum alloy materials. The high-strength Al-Cu-Mg-Mn-Er wrought aluminum alloy and the preparation method thereof are used for solving the problems that in the prior art, the mechanical property of Al-Cu-Mg system wrought aluminum alloy is insufficient and cannot meet the strict process requirements. The high-strength Al-Cu-Mg-Mn-Er wrought aluminum alloy comprises the components of, by mass, 4.3%-4.5% of Cu, 0.8%-1.0% of Mg, 0.5% of Mn, 0.3%-0.5% of Er, and the balance Al and unavoidable impurities. The high-strength Al-Cu-Mg-Mn-Er wrought aluminum alloy has high toughness and also has high tensile strength and yield strength.


The prototype gravitational-wave detector at Garching is described: in a laser-illuminated Michelson interferometer having arms 30 m in length, a folded optical path of 3 km is realized. The origin, action, and magnitude of possible noise sources are given. The agreement between the expected and measured noise is good. For a band of astrophysical interest, extending from 1 to 6 kHz, the quantum shot noise corresponding to a light power of P=0.23 W is dominant. In terms of the dimensionless strain h the best sensitivity in a 1-kHz bandwidth is h=3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}18}$, comparable to the most sensitive Weber-bar-type antennas.


Virtual reality (VR) has the potential of "bringing the best of both worlds" – retaining the advantages of controlled laboratory experiments, while approximating the real world in ecological validity. We have developed a methodology and a technical platform that allows placing a participant within rich scenarios, logging scenario events, neurophysiological and behavioral data. A highly automated system processes each signal and then provides generic scripts for joint data analysis and machine learning.


Molten metal meniscus profile and mold flux channel width are measured under high frequency magnetic field with different intensities by model experiments, then the dynamic pressure in mold flux channel is calculated during one mold oscillation period. It is found that the high frequency magnetic field can decrease the dynamic pressure greatly, which may be one possible mechanism of improving the billets surface quality by soft-contact mold electromagnetic continuous casting. According to the calculation, the mold flux channel dynamic pressure can not be decreased unlimitedly by increasing magnetic flux density, there must be a most appropriate magnetic flux density in order to get best billet surface quality.


Full‐thickness tears to the rotator cuff can cause severe pain and disability. Untreated tears progress in size and are associated with muscle atrophy and an infiltration of fat to the area, a condition known as "fatty degeneration." To improve the treatment of rotator cuff tears, a greater understanding of the changes in the contractile properties of muscle fibers and the molecular regulation of fatty degeneration is essential. Using a rat model of rotator cuff injury, we measured the force generating capacity of individual muscle fibers and determined changes in muscle fiber type distribution that develop after a full thickness rotator cuff tear. We also measured the expression of mRNA and miRNA transcripts involved in muscle atrophy, lipid accumulation, and matrix synthesis. We hypothesized that a decrease in specific force of rotator cuff muscle fibers, an accumulation of type IIb fibers, and an upregulation in fibrogenic, adipogenic, and inflammatory gene expression occur in torn rotator cuff muscles. Thirty days following rotator cuff tear, we observed a reduction in muscle fiber force production, an induction of fibrogenic, adipogenic, and autophagocytic mRNA and miRNA molecules, and a dramatic accumulation of macrophages in areas of fat accumulation. © 2012 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 30:1963–1970, 2012


The solar power is a clean and a durable energy; there are several techniques for using them. When necessary to elevated temperatures of heat transfer fluid, this energy must concentration. This paper presents the efficiencies study of a linear solar concentrator of a parabolic trough type. This study was conducted on the device in Guemar area, this region is located in the state of El-Oued, which it is found in the south-east of Algeria. Six typical days were selected to conduct the study in them. The solar collector has been studied optically and thermally. The optical study was using SolTrace. Matlab was used as device of programmation to solve the non-linear system of mathematical equations. The method of finite differences in the implicit case was used as way of solution. The thermal efficiencies of the concentrator are very acceptable, it have exceeded 82 %.


By using emotional intervention for 1 year,the 44 Physical vulnerable middle school students' physical and mental changes,find the emotional intervention impacts on physical vulnerable groups,and the results showed:After intervention for 1 year,these students walked out from the shadow of the disadvantaged in athletic ability,and had better physical ability,high self-evaluation,health,sense of achievement and so on.The level of mental health has improved significantly.


With the popularization and application of the Internet, human beings start shopping on the Internet. Compared with offline shopping, the Internet will provide more choices and convenience. When more kinds of commodities come into the consumer's field of vision, the process of consumers' selection of commodities will generate a large amount of data. By analyzing the data of consumers' selection of goods, one can obtain the consumption habits of consumers. Massive amounts of data are analyzed, and value is generated. The emergence of new consumption patterns has led to changes in the consumption environment of consumers. This paper summarizes and demonstrates the recent state-of-art reports focusing on consumer behavior based on big data techniques. According to the analysis, big data helps the market to sell faster and easier but leads to consumer privacy concerns. In summary, this paper gives the impact of big data applications on consumer behavior and suggestions. These results shed light on guiding further exploration of consumer behavior investigation.


The study included 245 patients from 60 to 89 years, comparable by age and sex, were divided into two groups according to region of residence (Arctic and Antarctic), for two age groups (elderly and senile age) and by the sex. The main method of the study of cerebral hemodynamics in this work has been ultrasound dopplerography (usdg). Doppler sonography survey with color scanning and spectral Doppler analysis of the cervical arteries on extracranial level was performed according to standard method for ultrasound systems ACUSON "Sequoia-512" sensor linear format of the generated frequency of the ultrasonic signal 4 and 8 MHz in the ever-wave mode. The entire sample investigated the functional state of the kidneys. GFR was determined by the settlement formulas; Cockcroft&Gault GFR= (140-age) × body weight (kg) 810* creatinine of blood (mol/l)×E, where E-1,23 for men, 1,04-for women and MDRD: GFR= 186×(creatinine of blood mg/dd)-1,154 × (age)-0,203 × (0,742 for women) with subsequent determination of the stages of chronic kidney disease. We used a brief MDRD formula, which of laboratory indicators requires only establishing the values of concentrations of serum creatinine


The network of associations of the word Amazon still plays a part in the shorthand of modern discourse. Its connotations may vary from a slightly comic praise of sporting excellence in women to underlying insinuations that Amazons are not quite feminine. When applied by politicians and journalists to the women in the Peace Camp at Greenham Common during the 1980s, for example, the epithet Amazon carried the implication that these women rejected men and had developed a society apart (therefore (sịc) they must be subversives, lesbians, communists, hippies – etc. etc.). Modern usage perhaps emphasizes the unusual or even threatening associations; Amazons are, for whatever reason, outside the 'normal' parameters of life-style and achievements. Ancient usage presupposed an additional element, Amazons as a subject for artistic and poetic interest. The reasons why this was so do much to explain how and why the image of the Amazons communicated certain associations and how these in turn relate to underlying assumptions about the framework of Greek society and its values.


Cylindrical receiver coils designed for intravaginal use were utilized to image the uterine cervix. Good quality images of the cervix, vaginal wall, and parametrium were obtained and patient tolerance of the procedure was good. © 1992 Academic Press, Inc.


The HDPE double-pipeline round gravity cage was made as cage model and made experiments in flume tank with the size of 90 m×6 m×3 m,which circumference was 50 m and depth was 8 m.The loading of the round gravity cage was researched at different balance weights,different marshalling patterns and different marshalling intervals.The results showed that not only in "一" model but also in "田" model marshalling patterns,the loadings of the cage respectively increased along with increasing the balance weight and the velocity of flow under the definite circumstance.Under the definite circumstance,except for the fourth cage loaded at 0% marshalling intervals was larger than those at 25% and 50% marshalling intervals for high flow rate,the loadings of the other cages increased along with increasing marshalling intervals at both "一" model and "田" model marshalling pattern.Under the definite circumstance,the loadings of the cage in "田" model marshalling pattern were first less and then larger than those in "一" model marshalling pattern with velocity of flow increasing.From analysis on the loadings of the cage,the loading of 25% marshalling interval and "一" model marshalling pattern was smallest.


Engineers and scientists need to be skilled in writing, speaking, and using visuals. This paper explores how instruction in communication can draw upon principles common across modes of communication. I first survey guidelines for the design of scholarly posters and categorize the types of advice they provide. Second, I use the categories of advice to develop a framework which highlights principles of communication common to written, oral, and visual communication. This framework should help instructors to (1) identify opportunities for facilitating the transfer of communication skills among modes and contexts, and (2) to balance instruction between fundamental principles of communication and techniques specific to a mode or software tool.


This paper presents efficient components in the designs and implementations ation based on ColdFire MCF52233 U-ISP on studying its program mechanism deeply and integrated instances.The components contain flash page erase,flash page write and their initialization component.Practically,they can be used in all ColdFire MCUs in the same way.


Organ transplant recipients have a high incidence of cancer associated with persistent viral infections, such as human herpes virus 8. This virus is associated with Kaposi's sarcoma, and a change in the dose or type of immunosuppression regimen should be the first step in its treatment. A multidisciplinary approach with nephrologists, dermatologists and oncologists is necessary for the management of this disease. We report a clinical case with atypical presentation and discuss the treatment options.


Stress has been shown to alter the normal behavior of human speech production and the resulting speech feature characteristics. Stress in this context refers to environmental, emotional, or workload stress. The variability introduced by a speaker under stress causes degradation in speech recognition performance and is usually absent in synthetic speech systems. The primary goals of this thesis are therefore to identify indicators of stress and formulate novel statistical models to characterize speech parameter variation under stress. The proposed models can be integrated within speech synthesis and recognition systems to improve the naturalness of synthetic speech and recognition of speech under stress. The models could also be applied to modify the speaking style of any new input speaker in a way which would convince a majority of listeners that the modified speech is under stress. While a variety of speech under stress conditions are possible, the stress conditions considered here are angry, loud, and Lombard effect. The analysis, modeling, and evaluations conducted in this work are based on a previously established stress database, called SUSAS (Speech Under Simulated and Actual Stress). Two different modeling/synthesis schemes are considered in this study. The first scheme is based on a code-excited linear prediction (CELP) vocoder, and the second is based on hidden Markov models (HMM). The stress perturbation algorithms represent the first reported systematic approach for imparting stress onto neutral speech. Four text-dependent approaches were considered for perturbing neutral parameters to produce stressed synthetic speech within the CELP vocoder; whereas the speaker-independent text-independent HMM-based stress perturbation algorithms perform integrated modification of pitch, duration, and overall spectral structure based on differences from neutral speaking conditions. Performance of the generated stressed synthetic speech is assessed along three independent domains: listener evaluation, stress classification, and robust speech recognition. Computer based stress classification results are used to independently confirm results from listener evaluations. Finally, improved stressed speech recognition is achieved by training models using synthetically generated stressed speech tokens. This study has therefore demonstrated that knowledge of speech production variation under stress can be modeled, and systematically imparted onto neutral speech for synthesis and improved speech recognition.


The possibility of reducing the thermal conductivity of silicon nitride as a basis of high-temperature electrical converters was investigated in the thesis. Also, the values of thermoelectric figure of merit and efficiency of thermoelectric current generator for the case of refractory oxygen-free composites were simulated. During the study, the dependence between the m coefficient, which determines the maximum possible efficiency of the thermoelectric generator and the ZT thermoelectric figure of merit, was determined. It was shown that the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the studied materials ranges from 1,2 to 4·106 m2/s and is characterized by a negative temperature coefficient over the entire temperature range. It was found that the thermal conductivity of Si3N4-based materials varies from 2,1 to 5,1 W/(m·K) depending on the type of sintering activator. The use of Al2O3 as an activator makes it possible to obtain a 25 % lower thermal conductivity value comparing to materials with the addition of MgO. For the first time, it was proved that currently it is not possible to achieve an efficiency of 0,5 hT in Si3N4-based materials used as a composite basis for high-temperature thermoelectric generators development.


Objectives Evaluate efficacy and safety of guselkumab (GUS) in patients (pts) with active psoriatic arthritis (PsA) over 56 weeks (wks). Methods Pts w/active PsA (defined as ≥3 tender and ≥3 swollen joints, C-reactive protein ≥3 mg/L) and ≥3% body surface area (BSA) of plaque psoriasis despite current or previous treatment w/standard-of-care therapies, including previous TNF inhibitor therapy, were eligible to participate and were randomised 2:1 to receive GUS 100 mg subcutaneously or placebo (PBO) at wk 0, 4, and every 8 wks thereafter through wk44. At wk16, pts from either group with <5% improvement from baseline in both swollen and tender joint counts were eligible for early escape (EE) to open-label ustekinumab. All remaining PBO pts crossed-over to receive GUS 100 mg at wks24, 28, 36, and 44. At wk56, a post-treatment follow-up visit was conducted. Efficacy post wk24 through wk44 and wk56 was evaluated in pts who did not EE and continued treatment at wk24 (post wk24 efficacy analysis set) based on observed data. The wk24 data in this population were included as a reference. Results 149 pts were randomised to receive study agent (PBO: 49, GUS: 100). The study met its primary and all secondary endpoints through wk24. At wk24, 29 pts in the PBO group crossed over to receive GUS, of which 28 completed treatment through wk44. 86 pts in the GUS group continued treatment at wk24 and 84 pts completed treatment through wk44. Post wk24, ACR 20/50/70 and PASI 75/90/100 responses improved in PBO to GUS crossover pts and were well-maintained in GUS pts through wk44 (last efficacy assessments while on drug) and wk56 (final follow-up visit) (table 1). The efficacy results from wk24 through wk44 and wk56 are summarised in table 1. Through wk56, 17.2% of PBO→GUS, 46.0% of GUS, and 39.5% of the combined GUS pts had ≥1 AEs, of which infections and infestations were the most commonly reported (3.4%, 27.0%, and 21.7%, respectively). Post wk24, there was no disproportional increase in overall AE frequency, or infections and infestations among GUS pts with longer exposure. Through wk56, among 129 pts who received GUS, there was 1 pt with malignancy (basal cell carcinoma), 1 pt with 2 serious infections (both pneumonia), 6 pts reported ≥1 SAEs (myocardial infarction, osteoarthritis, pupils unequal, radius fracture, pneumonia, ulcerative keratitis), 2 pts discontinued treatment due to AEs, 1 pt had neutropenia meeting NCI-CTCAE toxicity grade 3, and 6 pts were positive for antibodies to GUS. No deaths occurred through wk56.Abstract OP0308 – Table 1 Efficacy results from Wk24 through Wk44 and Wk56 in post Wk24 efficacy analysis set based on the observed data Conclusions In pts with active PsA and ≥3% BSA of psoriasis, GUS demonstrated substantial benefits on joint symptoms, physical function, psoriasis, enthesitis, dactylitis, and quality of life, and efficacy was well-maintained through wk56. GUS was well-tolerated with no unexpected safety findings in this population after ~1 year of exposure. Disclosure of Interest A. Deodhar Grant/research support from: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, A. Gottlieb Grant/research support from: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, W.-H. Boehncke Grant/research support from: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, B. Dong Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, Y. Wang Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, Y. Zhuang Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, W. Barchuk Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, X. Xu Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC, E. Hsia Shareholder of: Johnson and Johnson, LLC, Employee of: Janssen Research and Development, LLC


This paper sets out to examine the impact of the fiscal contract system on economic growth in China's different provinces. Empirical testing is conducted using the error components model and pooled cross-section (provinces) and time-series data from 1989 to 1993. The empirical results for the whole sample show an inclination towards convergence of regional economic growth, with any increase in regional tax revenue hindering investment and employment due to excessive taxation, which is unfavorable to economic growth. The same finding applies to extra-budgetary revenue. Ranked by their overall strength, the provinces are divided into economically advanced and backward groups for empirical testing. Comparison of the empirical results using a sample of the top and bottom fifteen, in terms of their overall strength, reveals that the economic growth of the top fifteen provinces tends to be divergent. More fiscal revenue and extra-budgetary funds are unfavorable to economic growth and the results are the same for all provinces; the result also remains the same when fiscal revenue is itemized. The difference between the two lies in fiscal expenditure.


PURPOSE: To reduce harm to the health of a user by an electromagnetic field near the head part of the user, by extending a ground plate from the base of an antenna to the side face of a housing facing the head part of the user during the operation of a radio equipment. CONSTITUTION: An operation position is decided by an acoustic exit opening part 5 turned to the direction of the ear of the user and an acoustic entrance opening part 6 turned to the direction of the mouth of the user. In an operation state, the antenna 2 positioned on an upward casing surface is attached on a housing side face 8 separated from the head part of the user. The ground plate 3 positioned in a vertical direction to the longitudinal direction axis of the antenna is formed between the base of the antenna and the housing side face 4 facing the head part of the user, and at the time, it is formed by providing the metal of a sectorial shape (center is positioned at the base of the antenna) on the inner side of the housing inside the area. The ground plate deflects the radiation characteristics of the antenna 2 and prevents the head part of the user from being exposed to electromagnetic radiation so much.


Drawing on strong ethical and evidence-based principles, Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada, in collaboration with healthcare leaders, has developed guiding questions to help boards of healthcare organizations carry out a critical governance function—the oversight of key organizational risks. The resulting list of 21 questions is the first of its kind for healthcare and focuses on the core mandate of healthcare organizations which is providing high-quality care. Recommended practices accompany each question.


Cloud manufacturing provides solutions for a number of tasks concerning the integration of manufacturing resources and production networks. Through it, new possibilities also arise for increasing product individualization. The paper describes how cloud manufacturing concepts allow an Internet marketplace to be established for flexible manufacturing services, which can be used to provide customized products. To do this, first of all use cases related to an appropriate IT infrastructure are analyzed with special regard to the management of manufacturing services which are used to represent manufacturing resources from a technical, financial, logistical, and contractual perspective. Furthermore, requirements on the platform which have to be fulfilled during execution of manufacturing services in a manufacturing cloud are explained and concepts and an architecture for realization of both are described.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


Dick, as he was universally known, was recruited from Sick Kids in Toronto to McGill and the MCH in 1986 to be Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and Pediatrician-in-Chief of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Then Dean Cruess, a long-time friend, was instrumental in this recruitment. Dick served a full 10-year term in these positions. He was a man of impeccable manners and demeanor, some would say courtly, who was measured in his speech and his words. He led in a quiet way, seeking consensus before proceeding forward. Most of the present senior medical and research leadership of the Department and hospital (myself included) were recruited during his term, so time has validated his skill at talent spotting. Aside from his intensive administrative roles, Dick was at the forefront of pediatric gastroenterology as both a clinician and a laboratory scientist, developing animal models for the study of human disease. He forged international collaborations in low resource settings long before global health was a buzz word or facilitated by the instant connectedness of the Internet. For his multiple contributions to health and the Canadian community, Dick was awarded an Order of Canada in 2002. It also should be realized that Dick's lifetime of substantial accomplishments took place against a continual backdrop of significant medical challenges.


This paper presents a method and a tool for solving the reliability-based design optimization (RBDO). The RBDO aims to minimize a cost function by changing the value of design parameters while ensuring a level of reliability. Uncertainties propagation is a key concept in reliable studies and it can be associated with a sensitivity analysis in order to sort parameter influences. Global and local sensitivities are compared in this study in order to keep a reasonable cost versus accuracy ratio. A software tool has been also developed to automate reliable studies. It is applied to the reliable optimization of a magnetic nano switch with SQP algorithm using Jacobian calculated by composition of automatic and symbolic differentiation. In comparison to the formulation of the classical optimization problem, the inequality constraint ap- pears modified: {P (Hj(X) 0) PHj} which is a reliability constraintinvolving the stochastic vector X modelling the uncertainties inherent in the model, and PHj is the maximal probability allowed.


In order to investigate the dynamic change of soil properties in the rhizosphere, root mat boxes were applied to separate rhizosphere soil from root system, and a series of rhizosphere and non rhizosphere soils were sampled at different growth stages of maize and soybean. Wet soil pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microorganism mass were measured over time by routine analysis methods, while oxidation reductive potentials (Eh) were measured in situ by microelectrodes. The results showed that the properties of the rhizosphere soil varied significantly. During the early stage of growth, DOC concentration in rhizosphere increased rapidly and DOC decreased gradually after 20 days. Change in pH of the rhizosphere followed a similar pattern. During the 100 days of the study, Eh decreased continuously while microorganism mass increased gradually. The patterns of the changes were very similar for maize and soybean while the magnitude of the change in the maize rhizosphere were larger than that in the soybean rhizosphere.


In this study, a novel bifacially active transparent dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSCs) assembled with a transparent poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) counter electrode and a colorless iodine-free polymer gel (IFPG) electrolyte was developed. The IFPG electrolyte was prepared by employing an ionic liquid (1,2-dimethyl-3-propylinmidazolium iodide, DMPII) as the charge transfer intermediate and a polymer composite as the gelator without the addition of iodine, exhibiting high conductivity and non-absorption characters. PEDOT electrodes were prepared via a facile electro-polymerization method. By controlling the amount of polymerization charge capacity, we optimized the PEDOT electrodes with high transparency and a favorable activity for catalyzing the IFPG electrolyte. The bifacial DSSCs device fabricated by this kind of transparent PEDOT electrode and colorless IFPG electrolyte showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.35% and 4.98% at 100 mW cm-2 AM1.5 illumination corresponding to front- and rear-side illumination. It is notable that the PCE under rear-side illumination approaches 80% that of front-side illumination. Moreover, the device shows excellent stability as confirmed by aging test. These promising results highlight the enormous potential of this transparent PEDOT CE and colorless IFPG electrolyte in scaling up and commercialization of low cost and effective bifacial DSSCs.


adhesive patch comprising an adhesive base agent and a support body, wherein the adhesive base agent containing 3% by mass to 30% by mass of a polyisobutylene of low molecular weight molecular weight of 10,000 to 60,000, hydroxide aluminum, a thermoplastic rubber and edetic acid or a salt thereof, but basically contains no water, wherein the thermoplastic rubber is a block copolymer styrene-isoprene-styrene.


Objective:To study the effect on virus inhibition by Chlorogenic acid in vitro. Methods:Utilizing the culture hep-2 cell and the mixed experiment to observe the inhibited effect of Chlorogenic acid on virus of commonly seen in respiratory tract infection. Results:The concentration of Chlorogenic acid separately being 0. 05mg/mL、0. 1mg/mL、0. 4mg/mL、0. 8mg/mL,could separately inhibite Respiratory Syncytia Virus、Cox-sackie B3 virus、Adeno-Associated 7 virus、Adeno-Associated 3 virus and Coxsackie B5 virus. Conclusion:Chlorogenic acid has a strong inhibited effect on virus of commonly seen in respiratory tract infection.


In this paper, we present six new theorems and their corollaries on a rigid subchain of a planar, non fractionated, pin jointed kinematic chain. Among them theorem 4 is more universal than E R Tuttle′s theorem 1.Our new theorems are all easy and practical to use,they will provide the new rationale for structural analysis and numerical synthesis of plane pin joint mechanisms.


Impaired relaxation is a prevalent form of diastolic dysfunction, present in nearly all cases of heart failure and in many asymptomatic adults. To date, there are no accepted treatments for impaired relaxation, despite its biochemical control by calcium reuptake, thin filament deactivation, and crossbridge kinetics. Mechanical modification of relaxation was previously theorized to occur through afterload; we, however, have recently shown that relaxation was actually modified by the strain rate of myocardial lengthening. We termed this Mechanical Control of Relaxation, or the sensitivity of the relaxation rate to the strain rate. The mechanisms underlying Mechanical Control of Relaxation are unknown, but computational models and our preliminary data suggest a dependence on myosin detachment. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether myosin was a modifying factor of Mechanical Control of Relaxation. Intact cardiac trabeculae and cardiomyocytes were obtained from rats (Sprague Dawley both treated and untreated with propylthiouracil, Spontaneously Hypertensive, and Wistar Kyoto strains) and underwent load-clamp studies. Mechanical Control of Relaxation could be improved by reducing preload (length) 5%, increasing the sensitivity of the relaxation rate to strain rate by 28±16%. Treatment with 400μM Omecamtiv Mecarbil, a myosin-ATPase specific drug, induced similar increases. Myosin isoform differences were also studied. Collagenase treatment of intact trabeculae increased Mechanical Control by 21±3%; intact myocyte studies show no collagen-dependence. These data provide evidence that the properties of myosin's response to strain rate are major factors that modify Mechanical Control of myocardial Relaxation.


It is to provide an ion wind generator capable of achieving at least one of a variety of air volume and wind direction. Ion wind generator 3, the first electrode 9, and the second electrode 11 having a lower basin part 11m from the first electrode 9 is disposed at a position shifted to the positive side of the x-direction in a plan view, the first electrode 9 and a dielectric 7 which is provided between the second electrode 11. In plan view, the distance d in the x direction to the downstream side edge 11b of the lower basin unit 11m from the downstream side edge portion 9b of the first electrode 9 are different in the y direction perpendicular to the x direction.


Introduction: Intraventricular catheter (IVC) placement is the standard intervention in patients with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) to reduce intracranial pressure (ICP) by draining cerebrospinal fluid. We compared 3 categorical, semi-quantitative methods in measuring IVC TH, IVC placement accur


The present invention has the formula (A): Are obtained substituted by one or more); a is 1 to 10, preferably is an integer from 1 to 5; b is 1 to 10, preferably is an integer from 1 to 5; and R, the first fat group carbon atoms and secondary aliphatic carbon atoms, secondary alicyclic carbon atoms, and represents an organic residue containing a + b carbon atoms selected from aromatic carbon atoms, each the carbon atom may, phosphates or providing - (ethyl oxa) polymerizable phosphoric acid ester derivative having a linking acryl derivative group) 2.


To solve the view of the difficulty in treating high concentration nitrogen oxides in explosive industry,a new absorption equipment,rotating packed bed,is applied.Due to its advanced characteristics,the rotating packed bed can be used to increase the efficiency of the absorbent treatment of nitrogen oxides,reduce the costs of treatment and reach the state discharging standards.When pure water was used as absorbent in initial experiment,the effects of gas flow,liquid gas ratio and high gravity factors on absorptivity were investigated and the best operation parameters were determined.In this experiment,absorbent was used for intensification of mass transfer and absorption mechanism was briefly discussed.The result indicates that absorptivity could amount to 85.3% at a gas flow rate of 2m3/h,liquid gas ratio of 20L/m3 and high gravity factor of 90.After double stage treatment,the nitrogen oxides tail gas reached the state discharging standards.The rotating packed bed has wide industrial prospect for its advantages of smaller occupation of land,lower cost investment,easier operation and higher absorption efficiency.


Geological interest and economic wealth of the Archaean to Proterozoic Dharwar craton in the Precambrian Indian peninsular shield have motivated several geological and geophysical studies. However, many of the earlier geophysical investigations were focused on eliciting the broad, deep-seated regional signatures in parts of the craton. Yet, there are very few reports of detailed crustal configuration of the region. Further, there are very few instances of semi-detailed geophysical investigations in the craton. Keeping this in mind, an area in eastern Dharwar craton was identified for 2D semi-detailed geophysical and remote sensing image analysis. Since, the area has its contiguity with Maddur-Narayanpet kimberlite field; it forms the south and southeast extension. Therefore, motivated by this proximity, using a posteriori approach, published report of occurrences of kimberlites in Maddur-Narayanpet kimberlite field was reanalyzed to develop a sub-surface topographic criterion to identify zones with potential for occurrence of kimberlites. This criterion was then used to locate such zones in the study area. This book is very useful for practicing geophysicists in kimberlite serach.


The problems of query containment, equivalence, and minimization are fundamental problems in the context of query processing and optimization. In their classic work [2] published in 1977, Chandra and Merlin solved the three problems for the language of conjunctive queries (CQ queries) on relational data, under the "set-semantics" assumption for query evaluation. While the results of [2] have been very influential in database research, it was recognized long ago that the set semantics does not correspond to the semantics of the standard commercial query language SQL. Alternative semantics, called bag and bag-set semantics, have been studied since 1993; Chaudhuri and Vardi in [5] outlined necessary and sufficient conditions for equivalence of CQ queries under these semantics. (The problems of containment of CQ bag and bag-set queries remain open to this day.) More recently, Cohen [7, 8] introduced a formalism for treating (generalizations of) CQ queries evaluated under each of set, bag, and bag-set semantics uniformly as special cases of the more general combined semantics. This formalism provides tools for studying broader classes of practical SQL queries, specifically important types of queries that arise in on-line analytical processing (OLAP). Cohen in [8] provides a sufficient condition for equivalence of (generalizations of) combined-semantics CQ queries, as well as sufficient and necessary equivalence conditions for several proper sublanguages of the query language of [8]. To the best of our knowledge, no results on minimization of CQ queries beyond set-semantics queries have been reported in the literature.
 Our goal in this paper is to continue the study of equivalence and minimization of CQ queries. We consider the problems of (i) finding minimized versions of combined-semantics CQ queries, and of (ii) determining whether two CQ queries are combined-semantics equivalent. We continue the tradition of [2, 5, 8] of studying these problems using the tool of containment between queries. We extend the containment, equivalence, and minimization results of [2] to general combined-semantics CQ queries, and show the limitations of each extension. We show that the minimization approach of [2] can be extended to general CQ queries without limitations. We also propose a necessary and sufficient condition for equivalence of queries belonging to a large natural sublanguage of combined-semantics CQ queries; this sublanguage encompasses (but is not limited to) all set, bag, and bag-set queries. Our equivalence and minimization results, as well as our general sufficient condition for containment of combined-semantics CQ queries, reduce correctly to the special cases reported in [5] for bag and bag-set semantics. Our containment and equivalence conditions also properly generalize the results of [8], provided the latter are restricted to the language of (combined-semantics) CQ queries.


In this paper, we propose and analyze the design of MANIP, a parallel machine for processing nondeterministic polynomial complete problems. The most general technique that can be used to solve a wide variety of NP-complete problems on a uniprocessor system, optimally or suboptimally, is the branch and bound algorithm. We have adapted and extended the branch and bound algorithm for parallel processing. The parallel branch and bound algorithm requires a combination of sorting and merging. A common memory to sort for a large number of processors can become a bottleneck in the system. We have proposed a system with distributed intelligence so that sorting can be carried out in a distributed fashion. A unidirectional ring network is proved to be the optimal and most cost-effective interprocessor communication network when sorting is done by a hardware priority queue in each processor. Lastly, the performance on the proposed system is evaluated using the vertex covering problem.


A number of methods have been designed for recording roentgen-ray findings, particularly in cases of fracture. These methods vary from a simple tracing to an elaborate colored photograph. During the war, the French had a very good idea in which colored chalk was used; but while this method is excellent and graphic, it requires considerable time and experience. At the Post-Graduate and Beekman Street hospitals I have recently been using a modification of this French plan; our roentgen-ray records are now in black and white, and for want of a better name, I call them silhouettes. An ordinary tracing is first made ( A ) on architect's tracing paper (sometimes called vellum), and then the interosseous and extra-osseous parts are painted solid black ( B ) with a small brush, a dull black paint, such as black japan, being used. The parchment-like tracing paper is quite absorptive, and the paint will not run. An


Rotational bands of nuclei are known to display several puzzling features [1], and many of them are still very poorly understood. We expect the band structure of each nucleus to be unique. It is, therefore, very unusual that two nuclei should have identical bands (IBs). Many examples of IBs in odd-A normal deformed nuclei were pointed out for the first time by A. K. Jain [2]. Later on, many examples of IBs in the rare-earth region [3] and the actinide region [4] were also pointed out. An excellent review of the IBs and the various explanations may be found in [7]. IBs in highK 3qp rotational bands based on same band head spin have been found and analyzed on the basis of TAC model [5]. A number of criteria have been used in the literature for the selection of IBs. The systematic studies would be very beneficial in the investigation of the origin of IBs because of the known spin, configuration, and excitation energy of normal deformed bands. Mostly equality of γ-ray energies, and dynamic moment of inertia = of two bands or several other quantities indirectly related to these parameters have been chosen as criteria for selection of IBs [9].


The application of a six-port device in a frequency modulated continuous wave sensor system is presented. Two completely different modes of operation are combined in the distance sensor to achieve an outstanding performance. A frequency sweep is accomplished and evaluated using the uncalibrated six-port device without degrading the final distance accuracy. The obtained distance accuracy is determined by the phase measurement accuracy of the calibrated six-port operating at 35 GHz. Influences of the six-port parameters with respect to the phase accuracy are treated.


Logistic nodal infrastructure consists of four typ es of facilities: ports, transshipment terminals, w arehousing centres and logistics centres. The models of develo pment of logistics centres in Poland are different from those typically found in Western Europe. Since 1990 we have been observing an intensive growth of modern warehousing space. The resources of modern warehousing space in Poland are estimated at ca. 4.8 M m 2 . There are two decisive determinants involved in the process of selecting location for m odern warehousing facilities: the agglomeration det erminant and the infrastructural determinant. The former accounts fo r the impact of such determinants as population siz e and household income, retail sales volume and volume of sold prod uction. The latter is related to the availability a nd quality of transport infrastructure. Having taken into consideration all above mentioned determinants, an evaluation method was developed in order to estimate the demand for modern warehousing space in the largest urban agglomerations in Polan d. It was found out that the modern warehousing space market in Poland does not demonstrate saturation, however, the deman d for this type of space is diverse. New investment projects will be i mplemented predominantly in those urban agglomerations which until recently did not attract much interest from investo rs.


The views expressed and the conclusions reached in this publication are those of the author and not necessarily those of persons consulted. RIRDC shall not be responsible in any way whatsoever to any person who relies in whole or in part on the contents of this report. In submitting this report, the researcher has agreed to RIRDC publishing this material in its edited form. iii Foreword This report was prepared as part of a nationwide cooperative project, which aimed to summarise the national knowledge base on clear wood production in eucalypts. This report collates literature, both from Australia and internationally, and recent information on eucalypt plantation silviculture from unpublished research and field experience. Silvicultural techniques such as pruning, are used by growers to produce logs with a high proportion of clear wood suitable for high value end uses. However, there is little information available to growers on how best to apply such techniques to eucalypts. This report summaries the research results to date thereby providing a basis for the development of species and regional specific pruning regimes by growers and advisers and helping to direct future silvicultural research in planted eucalypts. This report, a new addition to RIRDC's diverse range of over 900 research publications, forms part of our Agroforestry and Farm Forestry R&D program, which aims to integrate sustainable and productive agroforestry within Australian farming systems. Most of our publications are available for viewing, downloading or purchasing online through our website: iv Acknowledgments This report was prepared as part of a project funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation under their Joint Venture Agroforestry Program, this is gratefully acknowledged. This project was made possible with the assistance of a range of research and industry partners, who formed a cooperative national task force. We gratefully acknowledge their input.


A 15-year-old female African lion (Panthera leo) maintained at the Zoological Garden of Pistoia, Tuscany (Italy), showed signs of malaise, dyspnoea, tremors, pale mucous membranes and ataxia for two days prior to death. Complete blood count showed anaemia, thrombocytopaenia and severe lymphocytosis. At autopsy, the most relevant finding was severe, generalised splenomegaly. Histologically, high numbers of neoplastic lymphocytes diffusely infiltrated the spleen, liver, heart, pancreas, kidney and lungs. The lymphoid cells were positive for CD79a and negative for CD3 on immunohistochemistry. The histologic features of the neoplastic cells and their immunophenotype are consistent with B-cell lymphocytes. Based on surface membrane co-expression of immunoglobulin M and immunoglobulin D in most neoplastic cells, which indicated that they were naïve, antigen-inexperienced and mature circulating resting B-cells, and consistent with their appearance as small lymphocytes with high nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratios, a diagnosis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia was made.


Abstract Critical realism has been used in connection with different epistemological positions. The article reviews its different uses in German, American, and British philosophy and examines its relation to Barbour's introduction of the term in the science and theology debate. The result is that there is a close connection to scientific realism, but not to philosophical critical realism in a narrower sense. Critical realism is a type of realism defining the term in Kant's sense as related to the question of the existence of the tempospatial world. It distinguishes itself as a middle way between naïve realism and other extremes.


The influence of a new qumarin derivative (laboratory code πQ 226) on individual behavior of mice in open field test in usual conditions and after action of acute hypoxia with hypercapnia has been investigated. The peculiarities of open field behavior of mice after hypoxia were described.


Objective of this research was to evaluate the benefits and the best level of cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (PCSc) added on the diet, on intestinal morphology of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica), during the production phase. 400 Japanese quails (42 to 154 days of age), were distributed in a complete random design, with five treatments and 10 replicates with 8 birds each. It was used five diets with different levels of cell wall of S. cerevisiae (0; 0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0kg t-1). Diet was fed ad libitum during all the experimental period. The variables were: height and width of the villus, width / height ratio of the villi and depth of the intestinal crypt. Height, width and height and width ratio of the intestinal villi were influenced by the inclusion of PCSc in the diet, while the crypt depth was not influenced by the addition of PCSc. The inclusion of the cell wall of S. cerevisiae in the diet up to 1.7kg t-1 brought positive changes in the morphology of the intestinal epithelium of Japanese quail (C. c. japonica) in the production phase.


MicroRNA (miR)-518-3p has been shown to function as a tumor suppressor. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of miR-518-3p in colorectal cancer (CRC). The miR-518-3p mimic, mimic negative control (NC), miR-518-3p inhibitor, inhibitor-NC, ShRNA-TRIP4 and ShRNA-NC vectors were transfected into SW480 cells using Lipofectamine 2000. Cell viability was detected using CCK 8. The clone-formation, invasive and migratory capacities were separately assessed by plate clone formation, Transwell and wound healing assays. Relative mRNA and protein levels were detected using RT qPCR and western blot, respectively. The target gene thyroid hormone receptor interactor 4 (TRIP4) of miR-518-3p was identified and further verified using dual luciferase reporter assay. Compared with normal people, miR-518-3p was decreased and TRIP4 was elevated significantly in patients with CRC. Following transfections with miR-518-3p mimic or ShRNA-TRIP4, cell viability decreased in a time‑dependent manner. The cloning efficiency, wound closure rate and the number of invading cells were much lower than those in the corresponding NC and control groups. miR-518-3p overexpression or silence of TRIP4 significantly down-regulated MMP‑2/‑9 expression. Knockdown of miR-518-3p had the opposite effects and TRIP4 was identified as a target of miR-518-3p. The inhibitory effects of miR-518-3p on the progressions of CRC are associated with TRIP4.


12 2 Abstract: Crop plants are usually affected by biotic and abiotic stresses that reduce their relative yields. Soil salinity is abiotic stress factor that poses a serious threat to agricultural production, as more than 800 million hectares of land in the world have been salt affected, which account for 6% of the total land area. Impacts of climatic and anthropogenic factors such as soil salinity, soil acidity and depletion of soil organic matter leading to reduced soil productivity continue to be a constraint and will become more serious under climate change and variability. Understanding the molecular basis of salinity will be helpful in developing selection strategies for improving salinity tolerance. To determine gene function relationships, large scale genome-wide reverse genetics approaches have been developed which includes both non-transgenic technology platforms such as TILLING (targeting induced local lesions in genomes) and EcoTILLING and insertional mutagenesis systems based on transgenic technology. In this review we discuss effects of salinity on plant growth and production, different mechanisms used by plants to handle this problem, the genes related to salinity tolerance in barley (and other plants) and the potential of EcoTILLING technique for detection of salinity stress genes variation in barley.


The diversity of climate variability studies has grown substantially over the last decade, especially as policy makers now demand less uncertainty in future predictions of climate change. Under this umbrella of research, work has focused mainly on either modeling past climates (e.g., experimenting with quasi-realistic climate models, such as general circulation models) or reconstructing past climates from proxies in natural archives. Effectively linking these two approaches has become one of the holy grails of recent climate change research, especially with a view to testing models and improving model parameterization. The Climate in Historical Times: Toward A Synthesis of Holocene Proxy Data and Climate Models reports on progress and findings of such an ambitious program.


The system comprises: - a first sensing assembly (30) of a wind shear own to generate a first warning of approach of the platform (12) to a region (14) of windshear; - a second set of detecting an own windshear generating a second alert presence of the platform (12) in the region (14) of windshear; and - a guide unit of the platform (12) The guide unit is capable of automatically selecting a first guidance mode when a first alarm is generated by the first sensing assembly (30), and selecting automatically a separate second guidance mode of the first embodiment when a second alert guidance is generated by the second sensor assembly. The system includes an own device information to be displayed a unified information windshear alert and / or a unified information of implementation of a guidance mode common to the first alert and the second alert.