A new Monte Carlo estimator for solving the matrix equation x=Hx+b is presented, and theoretical results comparing this estimator with the traditional terminal and collision estimators are given. We then make a detailed investigation of the average complexity of the Monte Carlo estimators when several popular random variable generation techniques are used, and we show that the average complexity can be as low as $C\Vert z\Vert _{1}n+N$, where n is the number of random walks generated, N is the size of the matrix H, z is the solution of an associated matrix equation, and C is a small constant. As a consequence of the complexity results, we observe how scaling of matrices, a well-known technique in deterministic methods, can increase the efficiency of the Monte Carlo method.
One advantage of the Monte Carlo method is the efficiency at which it can be parallelized. The algorithms we discuss can provide fast and approximate solutions to systems of linear equations in massively parallel computing environments. Surprisingly, sequential (or adaptive) Monte Carlo methods can even be competitive in single-processor computing environments. We present numerical results and compare our Monte Carlo algorithms with Krylov subspace methods for some test matrices.


Shot noise is the signal observed at the output of a linear filter when the input is a sequence of random pulses with random amplitudes arriving at random times. These times are a point process and the randomness of the pulses appear as a modulation effect of this process. The calculation of the spectrum of shot noise has been considered in various papers with usually tedious mathematical treatment. The first purpose of this paper is to show that all these calculations can be strongly simplified by using a coincidence function which is defined and discussed. The second purpose is to present various examples of shot noise spectra not only by their mathematical expressions but also by a graphical representation which yields in general the most important features for the applications.


showing that this is one of the most common sources of disability in the United States today. There is also an exercise section on isolation of specific muscle groups. Although the descriptions include helpful photographs on proper techniques, there is only 1 description per exercise, so the complete movement from start to finish is not visualized. A very helpful component of this textbook is the inclusion of sample health questionnaires, consent forms, emergency procedures forms, treadmill exercise forms, sample contracts for hiring employees, and monthly budget reports. It appears to contain every resource needed to open an exercise facility. Although this ''handbook'' contains a vast amount of information, each topic is given a cursory look, and it is written in a typical textbook fashion, which makes it unwieldy and dry. I believe it would serve as the perfect resource for the physical therapist seeking certification or opening an exercise facility. It has little applicability for the practitioner of wilderness and environmental medicine.


In order to lay a foundation for effective regeneration of P W heteropoly acid catalyst supported on SiO 2 aged in the alkylation of isobutane with butene, the molecular structure and physicochemical properties of coke precursor deposited on the surface of solid acid alkylation catalyst are clearly recognized and identified by means of various characterization approaches, including IR, NMR, GC MS and GC. According to the characterization results, the coke precursors are mainly made up of long chain saturated hydrocarbons and small amount of polynucleo aromatics. The coke precursors deposit on the catalysts do not block the pores of the catalysts, but deposited on the acid centres of catalyst. It causes that the acid strength of active centres of the catalyst descends, and selectivity for alkylation becomes worse. It is found that the species of coke precursor consist of C 13 ~C 21 paraffin. The results obtained in the project are different entirely from that other researchers gained before. It will be of benefit to investigate and find out new regeneration methods of solid acid alkylation catalyst.


Introduction: In recent years, different studies have considered a possible association between immunologic factors such as anticardiolipin antibody (Ac/a) and the risk of premature myocardial infarction (MI). In the present study, Acla is compared in patient with premature MI and their children with controls.
Method: In this case-control study, three paired groups (parent-child) of 25 each, were selected by simple random sampling and their Acla levels measured by ELISA method. A comparison was made between parents who had premature MI ( 55 years and one of their children, as well as those with no heart attacks and one of their children as the first and second control groups. Data have been analyzed by SPSS/win using the Chi square test.
Result: In this study, the number of positive and or relatively positive titers of Acla was higher in those with premature MI and their children. Also, the percentage of concomitant elevated Acla in parents and their children of the case group was significantly higher than the two control groups (40%vs. 12% and 8% respectively, P < 0.05).
Discussion: The findings of this study point to the probable role of Acla as a risk factor in predicting premature MI. More research is recommended in this regard.


The aim of this paper is to study the interactions between packaging and food. For that purpose, additives were first characterized. Kinetic studies of their specific migrations have been carried out by using different analytical methods such as gas chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectrometry and differential scanning calorimetric analysis. The influence of various parameters such as temperature, agitation, nature of food simulant and initial concentration of plasticizer was considered.


The energy level schemes and gyromagnetic factors of the excited states of a series of transitional nuclei, ${}^{146\ensuremath{-}150}\mathrm{Nd},$ Gd, Sm, Dy, and ${}^{156}\mathrm{Nd}$ have been studied within the framework of cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov formalism with the inclusion of hexadecapole deformation in the cranking Hamiltonian. The calculated results are discussed with the available experimental findings on these transitional nuclei. It has been observed that the Routhians of these transitional nuclei distinctly indicate deformation structures that can be explained on the basis of the present theoretical model scheme.


This report discusses our work with an emulator based on f ield programmable gate array technology. This technology has made possible the construction of hardware emulators capable of emulating systems having a million gates at clock speeds of 1 MHz and more. Thus it is now possible to run realistic workloads on prospective designs and measure the results. There are three areas that these new emulators can be applied to: 1) validation; 2) concurrent hardware and software development; and 3) rapid prototyping of design alternatives. The report outlines the technology of emulators discussing strengths and weaknesses. It discusses our experiments with a second generation emulator. Concluding remarks address the future potential of this technology.


The question of the entry of Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Kingdom of the SHS is important to research and study through the columns of the National Unity, the official newsletter of the new national authorities. Although in its first issue it was announced with pomp, it was an independent newsletter, it was everything, but not independently. Namely, this is a school example of the Edict list, which served to glorify the new state of Slovenians, Croats and Serbs, and later to glorify the unification into the Kingdom, that is, first of all, the glorification of the Serbian element in the Kingdom of the SHS. This work follows the information contained in columns from November 4, when the first number of the National Unity was published, until December 26, 1918, or less than two months.


The Fluorescent lamp,the incandescent lamp,LED and so on were measured by G-W counter. The result shows the fluorescent lamp can emit high energy photon that can penetrate black paper with it covering photo sensitive film. It is measured by energy spectrometer that the fluorescent lamp emits energy spectrum of photon,which shows that emission peak's energy of the fluorescent lamp is 83 kev. Radiation can hunt nervous tissue of the retina while the fluorescent lamp has been used for a long time,character that the radiation declines sharply in air may be utilized. The distance ought to be beyond 50 cm between the eyes and the fluorescent lamp.


The dynamic observation and roentgenoen- doscopic examinations are of importance in the diagnosis of postoperative comissural ileus. The decompression and prolonged intubation of intestine are obligatory in relaparotomy. The intensive therapy, all kinds of intestine stimulation including ultraviolet laser blood photomodification are necessary in the early period after relaparotomy.


where pA and pB are the proportion of subjects expected to have an event on regimens A and B, respectively. It is hence simply the reciprocal of the proportional di erence between treatments. The convention therefore is to simply take the reciprocal of the con dence interval of pA − pB to obtain the corresponding con dence interval for the NNT [1]. Table I gives some examples of con dence intervals for di erent sample sizes.


The idea of a progressive law arbitrate by placing the concept of law as an instrument in achieving social goals. This idea also emphasizes the discovery of the laws in each judge's decision as an attempt to explore the values that live in the community. This progressive legal thought has been applied in several decisions of judges in Indonesia. One is in the civil case, known as "The Case of Mango Tree" which occurred in the jurisdiction of the Jayapura District Court. The aim in this study was intended to examine the normative juridical one court decision in a civil case based progressive law. The method used is a normative approach to the court decision as a primary legal materials. The results showed that there is a judicial consideration of progressive law judge based on the decision of the court, where the judge has successfully completed the legal issues, including complicated and abstract categories. The conclusion of this cases shows that every legal issue can be resolved without having to override the rules by sticking fast to the rules to achieve a sense of justice, expediency and the rule of law as a hallmark of progressive laws.


The key role of information and communication technologies in ensuring sustainable economic development of the country is identified. It is formulated and justifiably proven the hypothesis about the existence of a direct relationship between the Information and Communication Technologies Development Index, the Digital Competitiveness of the country and the Global Competitiveness Index of the country. Considering the ability of digital business to have a significant impact to the country's economic development, the conceptual basis of digital business management (considered on the example of online retail) is proposed. It is determined the specifics of interaction between the participants of digital business in accordance with the fundamental principles of digital business management, that involve the use of appropriate tools and a portfolio of relevant methods for managing digital business.


The linear representation of the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus 2 defined by V. Jones is examined. It arises from the Iwahori–Hecke algebra representations of Artin's braid group of 6 strings. Under a certain nontrivial specialization, the image of the Torelli group is explicitly computed. As an application, the relation with the Rochlin invariant of homology 3-spheres is discussed.  2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. MSC:primary 57N05; secondary 20F38, 20C08


OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: Infection with Helicobacter pylori is closely associated with the development of gastritis, peptic ulcer and gastric cancer. Expression of the iceA gene was induced in H. pylori following attachment of the bacterium to the gastric epithelium. There are two gene families, iceA1 and iceA2, and the incidence of peptic ulcer is related to the iceA1 genotype. We investigated the distribution and clinical significance of the iceA genotypes in H. pylori isolated from Taiwan. IceA genotypes from 49 H. pylori isolates determined by polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The iceA1 allele was detected in all 49 H. pylori isolates and the iceA2 allele was detected in 29 (59%) isolates. Twenty isolates (41%) exhibited the iceA1 genotype: 10 isolates (50%) from asymptomatic gastritis; 5 isolates (25%) from gastric ulcers; 4 isolates (20%) from duodenal ulcers and 1 isolate (5%) from gastric cancer. A total of 29 H. pylori isolates exhibited the iceA1 iceA2 genotype: 5 (17.1%) isolates from asymptomatic gastritis; 2 (6.8%) isolates from gastric ulcers; 21 (72.4%) isolates from duodenal ulcers and 1 (3.4%) isolate from gastric cancer. Among the 25 H. pylori isolated from the duodenal ulcer patients, 21 (84%) isolates exhibited the iceA1 iceA2 genotype and 4 isolates (16%) exhibited the iceA1 genotype. The presence of the iceA1 iceA2 genotype is significantly associated with the development of duodenal ulcers following H. pylori infection (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In summary, all locally isolated H. pylori exhibited the iceA1 allele. The iceA1 iceA2 genotype in H. pylori is associated with the development of duodenal ulcers following infection with these bacteria.


Abstract : Task 5 was concerned with the development of test and calibration techniques required to measure the sensor compliance with the performance, mechanical, and electrical specifications. A test program was written that provides for a rigorous examination of each basic sensor design as it applies to performance in the operational environment and its ability to survive the environment imposed by storage, transportation, predeployment, and deployment handling. (Author)


Since Griffith's demonstration of capsular type transformation in pneumococci a vast amount of research has been done on pneumococcal and other type transformations with a variety of genetic markers. (For general reviews see Ephrusi-Taylor, 1951; Austrian, 1952.) Type transformations in pneumococci have been obtained by in vivo and in vitro methods. For in vitro transformations competent cells, a suitable environment, a transforming principle, and experimental methods adequate to demonstrate transformations which may occur at a low frequency have been found to be necessary. Only certain strains yield competent cells, and competency can be determined only by testing the cells in a transforming system. For a suitable environment anti R serum, serous fluid, bovine serum albumin, or Fraction V of bovine serum albumin has been found to be necessary. The transforming principle has been found to be a biologically active desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Various methods of extracting and purifying this principle have been devised. Analogous transformation reactions have been described for Escherichia coli, Hemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis (Alexander and Redman, 1953). Broth that will support growth has been found to be adequate for the environment. In some cases the environment does not have to support growth. Reports of transformations which are based on less complete studies include: sulfonamide resistance in E. coli, streptomycin resistance in Salmonella typhosa, pigment production in Staphylococcus aureus, colony morphology in Shigella, and Vi antigen in Salmonella.


This research aimed to know the effectiveness of contextual teaching and learning model (CTL) with POE method toward students' high order thinking skill attainment on static fluids. This research is quasi experiment with Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design. Sample taking was done with simple random sampling technique to find experiment and control class. The technique used was instrument test called pretest and posttest. Technique of analizing data used t-test one tailed based on sig value and normalized gain (N-gain). The data analysis result showed that CTL model with POE method gave possitive influence and could increase students's high order thinking skill. This was showed by result of sig. value posttest score which reached 0,001 and result of attainment with N-gain got by experiment class which was in medium category, higher than control class category.


The triple clad plates of high carbon alloy steel 8Cr13MoV and austenitic stainless steel are taken for example to study carbon diffusion in heat treatment.Combined with the practical application of the composite material in the producing cutleries and scissors products,the carbon diffusion of the interface in the course of rolling and heat treatment is analyzed.The results show that the calculation of carbon diffusion can be applied to select time of heat treatment.


a regular and necessary accompaniment of anesthesia and resuscitation. Knowing full well the difficulties of preparing a text of this nature, I am still impelled in the interest of the prospective reader to present what I think are some deficiencies. There is some strange organization. For example, hypoxia due to hypoventilation appears in the middle of the discussion on the "Pharmacology of General Anesthetics"; the chapter on the "Recovery Room" as a hodge¬ podge of items, such as oxygen therapy, endoscopy, thoracotomy drainage, and hypothermia; and the chapter on "Intubation of the Tra¬ chea" appears after the chapter on "Resuscitation." There is also room for debate on the balance of space devoted to pertinent items. For example, there is almost as much space devoted to preoperative investigation as to the pharmacology of general anesthetic agents. There is a very short section


Let A be finite dimensional algebra over the reals R. A is said to be commutative if ∀x, y xy = yx. The it is customary to introduce for x, y ∈ A the quantity C(x, y) =: [x, y] =: xy − yx, called the commutator. Similarly, one says that A is associative if ∀x, y, z x(yz) = y(xz). In this case one introduces, similarly or x, y ∈ A the quantity A(x, y, z) =: [x, y, z] =: x(yz) − y(xz), called the associator.


The soil landscape relationship was investigated in the Upper Urumqi River Basin of the Tienshan Mountain Range, Xinjiang, China. Cryosols occurred in glaciated valleys and north\|facing toeslopes at elevations above \{3 000\} m. Most cryosols developed in moraine are Aquiturbels. The microrelief is dominated by earth hummocks, thus the surface organic layers are either discontinuous or broken due to frost action. The Bg horizons are either gleyed or mottled and frost\|churned organic matter is common in the lower Bg horizons. Stratified horizons and buried organic or A horizons are also common on gentle sloping or undulating moraines indicating the effects of gelifluction. Reticular structures formed in the lower active layers due to ice lens formation and freeze\|thaw cycles. The active layer thickness ranges from 140~200 cm. The organic cryosols (Hemistels) occur in depressions and north\|facing toeslopes with an active layer thickness ranging from 90~110 cm. Soils formed on south\|facing slopes have a mollic epipedon 20~25 cm thick and a strong brown cambic horizon and are classified as Haplocryolls. The distribution of cryosols is smaller as compared with the extent of permafrost due to the depth requirement of permafrost in cryosol classification. However, the existence of permafrost at greater depth cannot be ignored in land use interpretations.


The collection of retirement fund consists of threes modes as collection-payment,full collection,and partial collection,while the payment of it consists of two modes as payment assurance and collection assurance.Fund collection-payment mode is the combination of the fund collection mode and fund payment mode.The choice of fund collection-payment mode should depend on whether it will be beneficial for the balance of the fund,whether it will be beneficial for the functionality of the fund,whether it will be beneficial for the balance between efficiency and fairness,whether it will be beneficial for the retirement welfare and the economical development as criteria.And the proper selection of synthesized modes and mixed style will be ideal to assure the sound functionality of retirement fund.


208 pages with 75 laboratory lessons and solutions in Algebra and Geometry suitable for use in middle and high schools. Students explore and discover various algebraic and geometric concepts and then use their discoveries and observations to develop solutions to algebraic problems that are provided with each lab. This book requires the use of the Geometer's Sketchpad, Version 4, a registered trademark of Key Curriculum Press. The book was supported by Key Curriculum Press with a grant to the authors.


Kawasaki disease associated with agranulocytosis was observed in a one‐year‐old girl. The agranulocytic state continued for a month, and granulocyte transfusions were required. We discuss the relation between agranulocytosis and drugs, viral infections, Kawasaki disease, etc. The systemic vasculitis of Kawasaki disease seems to be the cause of the bone marrow disturbance.


1. The serum described as " gonococcal antitoxin" appears to .have no specific anti-gonococcal effect. 2. It appears to delay the development of the active immunity essential to recovery from gonorrhoea without substituting any compensatory passive immunity. 3. Its use in gonorrhoea is inadvisable on account of its lack of therapeutic value, its serious side-effects, its frequent interference with recovery, and possibly also the risk of its rendering patients liable to suffer from serious allergic reactions in the event of their requiring at some future date treatment with antitoxic sera for other bacterial infections.


The first product of the Chinese Zeekr brand and the first vehicle to be based on its all-new modular architecture, the 001 all-electric luxury car has emerged after seven years of platform development


In this paper, we incorporate price search decision into an otherwise standard life-cycle model with incomplete markets and an endogenous labor supply, differentiating consumption from expenditure. In our model, consumers can allocate part of their time to searching for low prices, and this leads to an endogenous price dispersion. We have three contributions. First, we analytically study the determinants of price search and its relation to consumption and expenditure inequalities in a static model. Second, we study quantitatively the role of price search in a dynamic version of the model. A plausible calibration implies that the life-cycle increase in the cross-sectional variance of log consumption is about 40 percent lower than the increase in the cross-sectional variance of log expenditure. Third, we show that price search provides an additional quantitatively significant partial insurance mechanism against adverse income shocks.


Purpose
From January 2021, the potential flow of Chinese household non-mortgage loans, including business loans and short-term consumption loans to the residential real estate market, has attracted the attention of the regulatory authorities. This study aims to examine the effects of household non-mortgage loans on the Chinese residential real estate market.

Design/methodology/approach
Based on a monthly data set between July 2011 and December 2019, this study adopts a cointegration analysis.

Findings
This study finds that household non-mortgage loans do play a significant role in driving residential real estate prices in China.

Originality/value
While many studies have examined the Chinese real estate market and its linkage with the financial system and the economy, this study is the first of its kind in the academic literature that exclusively focusses on the role of non-mortgage loans in real estate prices, and makes an original contribution.


In order to assess the risk of chronic exposure to pesticide drift in populations surrounded by croplands, five compounds (chlorpyrifos ethyl, cypermethrin, atrazine, glyphosate, and 2-4-D) used in the production of corn and wheat in an irrigation area of the Bajío de Guanajuato were evaluated during the 2019-2020 agricultural cycle. A multi-criteria analysis of the variables involved in the evaluation of risk components was implemented, that is, vulnerability (intrinsic and extrinsic) and threat, establishing specific weights for each variable through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and making use of tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing, to facilitate the calculation and integration of the information. Data on the total population and vulnerable groups per block, as well as information on the topography, corresponding to 17 localities in the study area, was obtained from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (INEGI) 2020 census to determine the intrinsic vulnerability variables. In the case of extrinsic vulnerability variables, wind speed and direction data were analyzed for a period of 9 years (2013 to 2021), obtained from the network of meteorological stations of the Fundación Guanajuato Produce A.C. The propensity of the soil to erode and the geological barriers were also determined with information from INEGI and the vegetable barriers with field observations. The threat was determined by integrating the potential exposure of urban areas, and the severity of each pesticide. To establish the potential exposure, the area of crops surrounding the population points was first obtained, for which two land cover classification of satellite images were carried out for the spring-summer (SS) and autumn-winter (AW) agricultural seasons. These classifications consisted of the identification of the crops present in the study area through the training and validation of the Random Forest supervised classification algorithm, using as input the survey of 107 and 323 plots for the SS and AW seasons, respectively, 9 Sentinel-2 images from May to November 2019 (SS) and 11 from December 2019 to May 2020 (AW), and the normalized difference vegetation and water indices (NDVI and NDWI) derived from the bands of Sentinel-2 images. The results showed overall accuracies of 79.1% for the SS classification and 87.9% for the AW, which are acceptable compared to similar exercises reported by other authors. From the maps obtained, urban, corn and wheat areas were isolated, and buffers were established 500 m away from each urban pixel to calculate the area of crops within them. This information, together with the dose of the pesticide, the commercial formulation, the number of applications per season, the proportion of producers that use them, and the estimated proportion of product loss due to drift, served to determine the potential exposure of each urban pixel to each of the evaluated compounds. It should be noted that in the case of the proportion of loss due to drift, three scenarios were considered: minimum loss (14%), average (46%), and maximum (78%), according to values reported in the literature. Regarding the severity of pesticides, the environmental risk index (ERI) was used, which allowed a comparison between the physicochemical characteristics and the toxicological profile of the active ingredients evaluated, obtaining the category "very low" for glyphosate and cypermethrin, "low" for 2-4-D and atrazine, and "intermediate" for chlorpyrifos ethyl. This information was used, in conjunction with potential exposure, to determine the threat to urban areas. Once all vulnerability variables and threat components were determined, they were normalized within a 5-level scale (very high, high, intermediate, low and very low). They were weighted and integrated through aggregation levels, according to the AHP methodology, to obtain the corresponding risk assessment by drift scenario. The outcome showed that 11.8% of the urban blocks are "without risk", as they correspond to areas where there is no population, and therefore no vulnerability because they do not have croplands within 500 m, or both characteristics are present. It was also observed that the "low" risk category predominates in most localities (more than 70% of the blocks) and only a fraction (2.1% in the maximum drift scenario) is at "intermediate" risk. However, these results should not be underrated since 9% of the total population of the study area is in this last category, of which 48% corresponds to vulnerable population, that is, 722 children and 719 women of reproductive age. The localities with blocks within the "intermediate" risk category are San Nicolas de los Agustinos, San Pedro de los Naranjos, Maravatío del Encinal and Cupareo. These results show that the integration of indirect risk assessment tools, such as geographic information systems, remote sensing and multicriteria analysis, can be very useful to determine the urban areas most exposed to pesticide drift.


We argue in this paper that the Arab Spring has opened a window of opportunity not just to create stability and democracy in one of the most unstable regions of the world, but also for revitalizing Turkey-EU relations. In theory, Turkey-EU cooperation can make a decisive difference in determining the outcome of the triangular relationship between stability, development, and democratization in the Arab region. In normative terms, as an opportunity, it must be turned into an advantage. From a practical perspective, however, transforming the window of opportunity into policy output is linked to the policy leadership of the sides involved to undergo a paradigm shift in their approach to the region and toward one another.


In this paper the author studies the non-specific fundamental rights in the Labor Law. He
begins for describing them as a recent legal category in the discipline; establishes its descent;
fits them in the development that has taken the constitutionalisation of the various branches
of law; and ends by pointing their own characteristics, and stating a catalog of wich are the
non-specific rights.


Following the development of industry,many organic compounds have been discharged into the aquatic environment,resulting in serious pollution on the beaches.Many of these pollutants,such as PAHs,PCBs,OCPs and petroleum hydrocarbon,have been proved to be harmful to the human population.The benthic organisms,based on their ability in bio-accumulating organic contaminations,have been used internationally for bio-monitoring organic pollution in the coastal environment.In this paper we summarize the recent studies of benthic organisms in organic pollution ecology being mainly the following aspects:(1) The determination of the concentration of organic pollutants in benthic organisms and the bioaccumulation kinetics that organic pollutants accumulate and distribute in benthic fauna;(2) The physiological response of benthic organisms to the organic pollutants;(3) The effects of organic pollutants on the benthic fauna community.Studies here show that benthic organisms exhibit different accumulation patterns according to the source of pollution they were exposed to.Benthic organisms are observed to display a yearly cycle in the uptake of contaminants,due to changes associated with their reproductive cycle and lipid content.Organic pollutants are found to be harmful to the immune system of benthic organisms and cause an increase in DNA damage.These studies also show that the persistence of organic pollutants has a negative effect on the benthic community.In this paper,research progress in this field is reviewed and future research is suggested.


Information about safety greatly affects the decision by patients as to whether or not they will participate in clinical trails. Therefore, it is important to keep all participants fully informed. However, it is very difficult to manage information about adverse events that are reported during clinical trials, mainly because the amount of information is large and the casual relationship with investigational drug administration is often unclear.We sought to develop a method to effectively evaluate the clinical significance of reported adverse events and to also efficiently manage information. The adverse events reported to our institution by trial sponsors during the period between September 1999 and December 2001 were classified based on an evaluation of three factors : the degree of health hazard, the character (geographical location, previously known or new effect, clinical trial phase or post marketing phase), and causal relationship with the investigational drug.Based on the results of this analysis and a questionnaire survey of trial sponsors, we recommended that adverse events should be routinely categorized into three classes in the manner described above, and the dataregarding each event should be gathered in a standardized format, and electronic media should be used to transmit the data.


Narrating a personal experience occupies an important part in human discourse behavior. According to Labov and Waletzky's (1967) classic narrative model, an oral narrative in English typically encompasses certain components that give it the status of a well-developed story. Using this model as the frame of analysis, this study analyzed personal experience narratives told by Korean adult EFL learners to examine whether and how the stories meet the structural and functional features of a good narrative construction. The findings show that the EFL narratives largely align with the structural organization of the Labovian scheme with some variations. In particular, the syntactic properties delineated for the components of the model were employed, yet deviant manifestations were also identified as resources adopted by the learners to construct the stories. The functions of the components comprising the narrative data were similar to those prescribed in the model. Notable in the present study, however, was the prevalence of the optional components performing functions specific to EFL learners' narratives. Based on the findings of this study, implications for EFL instruction and L2 oral narrative research are discussed.


Vascularization is considered as one of the cur- rent limitations in thick-tissue engineering. The design of the scaffolds with a network of channels is a promising approach to solve the problem of vascularization in thick artificial tis- sues. This paper presents a simple approach to make collagen scaffolds with multi-channels by critical point drying and discusses how the channels influence the compressive proper- ties of the scaffolds. The average diameter of the channels within scaffolds is 1.19±0.37mm. Due to the shrinkage of the scaffolds after drying, the relative densities of the scaffolds with different number of channels vary, which results in the difference of compression properties of scaffolds.


PURPOSE
To assess the safety of alcohol compared to mechanical debridement for epithelial removal prior to photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

METHODS
Forty-one second eyes of 41 patients underwent epithelial removal using alcohol prior to PRK with a Nidek EC-5000 excimer laser. The results were compared with the results of the 41 first eyes of the same patients that had mechanical debridement.

RESULTS
Initial results showed that the alcohol treated group tended to stay slightly hyperopic but had less haze compared to the mechanical debridement group. The treating surgeons favored alcohol as the preferred method of epithelium removal.

CONCLUSION
Alcohol debridement is an effective procedure although algorithms may have to be altered to take into account the slightly different healing process postoperatively.


In 1983, when I was in the first year of residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, an eighteen years old mother died by invasive mole. Since the past 30 years, Mole hydadidiform (HM) as the origin of more invasive forms of Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia (GTN) ( [1] ) which affects women's health, has been as one of my concerns and I would like to share my perception and experience in this way with you. I realized that perhaps all of the mothers who were managed in our hospitals for molar pregnancies had husbands who were constructive workers, agricultural workers, or gardeners. A question was formed in my mind; what is the reason for this similarity between these mothers? I expanded my observations outside the hospitals, went to the addresses of a lot of mothers who had been managed for mole in the past and asked the husbands' jobs. After graduation and working as an obstetrics & Gynecologist, I faced to another question; why we do not cut women's ways not to progress to the drastic conditions and worse outcomes? Is our responsibility being active in clinics and operative rooms? Should we play passive roles? Should we wait for starting an ill process and then we enter the scene and play our role as repairers? In other words I was thinking for preventions and being leaders in the health domain not just disease. Thus, I tried to study in Master of Public Health course and select the role of husband's job in hydatidiform mole as my dissertation title.  I searched in the literature and found a few articles regarding to the etiology of HM and especially the role of husband's jobs ( [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] ) . The result of my research was published in 2008 ( [7] ) . I studied again on the risk factors of HM including the husbands' jobs a few years ago. For doing my second study and writing the report I was repeatedly reviewing the literature and found the following points: Fortunately, early detection has been happening due to progress of sonography. Treatment modalities for GTN have been developed. A few studies conducted in the genetic field. Some numbers on incidence have been reported from different countries and hospitals. But, women are still involved in HM and GTN. Thanks and appreciation to all researchers and clinicians, most of the studies in GTN including HM were in therapy rather than improving the detection of risk factors and focusing on prevention steps. Why we could not nipped HM and GTDs in the bud? Although, the term of Androgenisis in the pathologenesis of HM has been a scientific term ( [8] ) , but a little is known about this process. During the past decades we did not work seriously for responding to this question; what is happening in the fertilization of a molar pregnancy?  Why suddenly chromatin of ovum disappears and chromatin of sperm duplicate in the cytoplasm of ovum? If questions like this be solved, much improvement about abnormal changes in the cell level would be cleared. I appreciate all opinions of my colleagues regarding to this letter.


The Guitar Nebula is an Hα nebula produced by the interaction of the relativistic wind of a very fast pulsar, PSR B2224+65, with the interstellar medium. It consists of a ram-pressure confined bow shock near its head and a series of semicircular bubbles further behind, the two largest of which form the body of the Guitar. We present a scenario in which this peculiar morphology is due to instabilities in the backflow from the pulsar bow shock. From simulations, these backflows appear similar to jets and their kinetic energy is a large fraction of the total energy in the pulsar's relativistic wind. We suggest that, like jets, these flows become unstable some distance downstream, leading to rapid dissipation of the kinetic energy into heat, and the formation of an expanding bubble. We show that in this scenario the sizes, velocities, and surface brightnesses of the bubbles depend mostly on observables, and that they match roughly what is seen for the Guitar. Similar instabilities may account for features seen in other bow shocks.


Magnetic structure of γ-Mn which is experimentally believed to be a collinear antiferromagnet with lattice distortion of c / a < 1 is investigated by taking the non-collinear spin structures into account in the LMTO-ASA. Comparison of the total energies for various magnetic structures indicates that at c / a =1 the non-collinear antiferromagnetic structure is more stable than the collinear structure, although the energy difference is quite subtle (less than 0.1 mRy/atom). It is shown that the lattice distortion to c / a < 1 is strongly responsible for the collinear antiferromagnetic structure and it simultaneously makes the system stable.


Tibet, the land of snows, has always in many people's minds been a mystical land with a deeply rooted religion and a people living in harmony with themselves and nature. Once one step outside this picture, the confrontation with the reality of the enormous problems and suffering that the Tibetan people had gone through during the last fifty years becomes almost to painful. Much of the violations in Tibet have taken place without it being acknowledged in the rest of the world. The promises from China to solve the problems in Tibet together with the fear of offending China have made the nations of the world hesitate to demand freedom and respect for the human rights of the people of Tibet. His holiness the Dalai Lama, receiver of the Nobel Peace Prize, has ever since the escape from Tibet in 1959 been devoting his life to the peaceful struggle against the Chinese suppressers. Together with his closest fellow workers he has created the Tibetan Government in exile which resides in Dharamsala in India. This has become a natural meeting place for the Tibetan refugees and a place where the Tibetan religion and culture can be nourished. Schools have been built for the children to be able to learn the Tibetan language and traditions since these subjects are no longer thought in the schools within Tibet. To support the practice of religion many monasteries have been re-built in India. Although the Tibetans have in many ways have learned to exist outside their own country the independence and self-determination of Tibet is the object of the fifty years of Tibetan struggle. My thesis is devoted to try to find legal ground for the Tibetans to stand on in their request for self-determination. An existing legal ground for self-determination can be an incentive both for the world community to start acting towards this goal and, for the Tibetans not to give up the struggle for a free Tibet.


To solve the problem of difficult classification of air baggage, we use LMS511 LiDAR to collect the distance data from the baggage surface to the light-center of LiDAR, propose a new detection and classification algorithm, and the baggage detection and classification system is designed, thus, the self-service of air baggage check is realized. Firstly, an object-based classification method is proposed by considering the characteristics of target. The geometry, texture, corner features and shape descriptors of the baggage are extracted to construct the feature vectors, and the feature vectors are imported into the RDforest new model to classify the baggage samples. Secondly, based on the three-dimensional characteristics of LiDAR data, a classification method based on Seed area is proposed. By comparing the classification credibility values of two classification methods, the further classification results reached 91.33%. In addition, the filling rate and the average Gaussian curvature entropy were used to classify the hard shell packing box and the Luggage case in detail, and the classification results reached 100%. The experimental results show that target detection and classification system is more robust and has better recognition and classification effects.


Recently, the development of HVDC cables with polymeric insulation has received a renewed attention. The present work aims at determining the dependence of the dc insulation resistivity on temperature and electric field for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) which is used for manufacturing modern high voltage ac cables. Using a highly precise technique, resistivity measurements were made using thick (/spl sim/2 mm) disc samples at different dc electric fields ranging from 17 kV/mm to 33 kV/mm for a temperature range from 50/spl deg/C to 80/spl deg/C. Results indicate that the dc insulation resistivity of the investigated LDPE (/spl rho/) is a rapidly decreasing function of both temperature (T) and electric field (E). This relationship conforms generally to the law /spl rho/=/spl rho//sub 0/ e/sup -/(/spl alpha/T+/spl beta/E). The values of /spl rho//sub 0/, /spl alpha/ and /spl beta/ were determined using computer curve fitting techniques. Comparison between the present results and similar previously reported measurements made on less clean grades of LDPE indicates that the inherent dependence of the dc insulation resistivity of LDPE on temperature and electric field has not been appreciably improved by using a ultra-clean polymer. It is concluded that the successful utilization of LDPE for HVDC cables will require the modification of such dependence.


An introduction is being presented to the working principle,system composition and basic features of domestic ZHJZ-IV flame detection system,with focus on its application to a 3 091 t/h boiler and normal problems ever encountered,for which suggestions are proposed for further improvement of the system.


Elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) is presently the gold standard for management of symptomatic gall stone disease, replacing open cholecystectomy. Following laparoscopic cholecystectomy, patients usually recover faster, have a shorter length of stay post operatively and have minimal wound related morbidity. Abdominal ultrasound has become the procedure of choice for documenting gallstones and is also useful in identification of associated biliary dilatation when present. Diseases of the GB are regularly diagnosed by USG because it is superficial in location with no overlying bowel gas. Gallbladder wall thickening is a frequent sonographic finding and has been subject of great interest for being considered as a hallmark feature of acute cholecystitis, despite the fact that such a finding is observed in a number of other medical conditions. A small yet significant proportion of patients undergo conversion to an open procedure and complications such as bile duct injuries, haemorrhage, etc. which increases morbidity. Prediction of conversions and complications is ABSTRACT


Amir Temur, who left a big mark in the history of statehood, was a just, enlightened statesman and was well aware of the previous state systems. He was well acquainted with Genghis Khan's Yaso, the way in which the caliphate of the Prophet Muhammad and the Choryars was governed, and with Nizamulmulk's Siyasatnoma, the enlightened minister of the Seljuk sultans.


Deserved reproach and infamy' was the lot of Charles I's judiciary following the great ship-money trial of 1637-8, according to Edward Hyde, the later Earl of Clarendon, then a practising barrister of the Middle Temple. A m o n g the twelve men in scarlet who delivered judgment in R. v. Hampden, only two seem to have been excepted from the charge of undue subserviency to the Crown, 'by being made use of in this and the like acts of power'. Almost exact contemporaries, Sir George Croke, Justice of King's Bench, and Sir Richard Hutton, Justice of C o m m o n Pleas, were both in their late seventies and hence nearly a quarter-century senior to the most enthusiastic judicial supporters of Charles I's claim to levy ship money as a regular charge without parliamentary consent Chief Justice Sir John Finch, and the puisne justices Sir Robert Berkeley and Sir Francis Crawley. But while the Crown's case put by the Attorney-General Sir John Bankes and Solicitor-General Sir Edward Litdeton received nothing like unanimous endorsement, Croke and Hutton were the only judges prepared to dissent on grounds of general principle rather than, or as well as, procedural technicalities. It was Hulton's decision "both for matter and form ... not to give judgment for the king' which led Clarendon to characterise him as 'a very venerable judge', 'a man famous in his generation'. Apart from a brief DNB entry, Hutton has received no more than the passing attention of later historians. In that he is hardly unique among his professional colleagues. While the bishops and courtiers of James and Charles I have been quite intensively scrutinised in recent years, the early Stuart judiciary remains largely ignored by scholars. The sole significant exception to this pattern of general neglect is W J. Jones's admirable Politics and the Bench: the Judges and


Tonsillectomy results in severe throat pain, ear pain, and trismus until the exposed and inflamed muscle becomes covered with regenerated mucosa. Sucralfate binds with the fibrinous exudate of duodenal ulcers, forming a protective barrier that promotes healing. If a similar buffer could be created in the tonsillar bed, morbidity may be diminished.


Shigella and enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) cause human bacillary dysentery with similar invasion mechanisms and share similar physiological, biochemical and genetic characteristics. The ability to differentiate Shigella and EIEC from each other is important for clinical diagnostic and epidemiologic investigations. The existing genetic signatures may not discriminate between Shigella and EIEC. Phylogenetically, Shigella and EIEC strains composed of multiple clusters and are different forms of E. coli. In this study, we identified 10 Shigella clusters, 7 EIEC clusters and 53 sporadic types of EIEC by examining over 17,000 publicly available Shigella/EIEC genomes. We compared Shigella and EIEC accessory genomes to identify the cluster-specific gene markers or marker sets for the 17 clusters and 53 sporadic types. The gene markers showed 99.63% accuracy and more than 97.02% specificity. In addition, we developed a freely available in silico serotyping pipeline named Shigella EIEC Cluster Enhanced Serotype Finder (ShigEiFinder) by incorporating the cluster-specific gene markers and established Shigella/EIEC serotype specific O antigen genes and modification genes into typing. ShigEiFinder can process either paired end Illumina sequencing reads or assembled genomes. ShigEiFinder provided nearly perfect differentiation of Shigella from EIEC with 99.70% and 99.81% accuracy to assign isolates to the correct clusters for the assembled genomes and reads mapping respectively. ShigEiFinder was able to serotype over 59 Shigella serotypes and 22 EIEC serotypes and provided a high specificity with 99.40% for assembled genomes and 99.38% for reads mapping for serotyping. The cluster markers and our new serotyping tool, ShigEiFinder, will be useful for epidemiologic and diagnostic investigations. Data summary Sequencing data have been deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information under BioPreoject number PRJNA692536.


This research formed part of a larger study concerning an investigation of the e-learning needs of students with disabilities, which involved the use of the Nominal Group Technique (NGT). The NGT is a highly structured consensus method which involves four phases, as follows: Silent generation; round-robin of sharing; open discussion and anonymous voting. The NGT has proven to be a student-friendly data gathering technique and was employed in this study as it was important to provide an opportunity for the participants to discuss and prioritise their e-learning related needs, as well as their recommendations in this regard. The inclusion of students with visual impairments presented challenges, however, as these participants would not be able to read from a hard copy chart sheet or to respond in handwriting. The nominal group process therefore had to be adapted to make accommodations for this category of participants. The objectives in making accommodations for students with visual impairments were to enable them to participate in a particular study and to explore the possibility of conducting the NGT by the use of technology, thus increasing participation for students in distributed locations. The aim of this study required qualitative research and an explorative, descriptive and contextual design was followed. An action research approach, involving cycles of plan, act, observe and reflect was taken. These cycles related to making adaptations to the NGT as data gathering method, to include the specific group of participants. The anticipated use of the Blackboard® online chat tool was abandoned when a range of discoveries was made with regard to the participation of students with visual impairments in a chat. The problems encountered necessitated a review of plans, which initiated a second cycle of action research. The NGT was adapted, but the adaptations limited participation. Yet another cycle of action research is indicated to ensure the full participation of students with visual impairments in studies of this nature in future. Furthermore, recommendations were made for technological advancement for students with disabilities at the institution.


RFID-based and NFC-based applications can be found, apart from others, in security critical application fields, such as payment or access control. For this purpose, Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC) is commonly used hardware integrated in resource constrained applications in order to provide authenticity and data integrity. On the one hand, specialized crypto hardware approaches provide good performance and consume low power. On the other hand, they often lack flexibility, caused, for example, by hardware integrated protocols and cryptographic parameters. Here we present a flexible and lightweight ECC-based authentication solution that takes into account resource constrained systems. This technique permits to shift parts of the computational intense ECC calculations from the resource constrained device to the authentication terminal. By employing a security controller with a small multi-purpose hardware acceleration core, high computation speed is achieved and a maximum level of flexibility is maintained at the same time. We demonstrate the feasible implementation of the proposed technique by means of an Android-based reader / smart card system, which represent a prime example of contemporary power-constrained and performance-constrained embedded systems. An ECC-based authentication can be carried out on average within 25 ms and checked against a back-end server within 66 ms in a secured manner. Thus, a secured and flexible one-way authentication system is given that shows high performance. This solution can be utilized in a wide variety of application fields, such as anti-counterfeiting, where flexibility and low chip prices are essential.


Abstract Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) experience a significantly high number of measles cases and have low levels of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunisation. There is little evidence on: why immunisation levels are low; beliefs and practices surrounding the MMR vaccine; or the factors that promote or hinder uptake. This paper presents data from five focus groups with 16 GRT mothers in Kent, South East England. Between them, they had 35 children of whom just under half had not received the course of vaccinations. Focus groups explored the issues GRT parents consider when making vaccination decisions in the context of wider social, ideological, material and practical considerations. Four interrelated themes were identified: way of life and access; engaging with health care staff; perceptions and evaluations of risk; and strategies to minimise MMR-related risks. Our findings provide little support for explanations that emphasise cultural values or practices in shaping immunisation behaviour. Poor service provision, situational constraints related to living circumstances, and multifaceted and severe health issues, which precede and inform decisions over childhood immunisation, were more significant in explaining low uptake.


Ribonuclease P is a ubiquitus ribonucleoprotein enzyme, responsible for the production of the 5´ mature ends of all precursor tRNA molecules. RNase P endonucleolytic activity has been isolated from organisms representing the three domains of life, namely Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. It has been shown to contain an essential RNA subunit and one (Bacteria) or more (Archaea, Eukaryotes) proteins. The RNase P RNA subunits from bacteria and some archaea are catalytically active in vitro, whereas those from eukaryotes and most archaea have lost most of their functionality and require protein subunits for activity. RNase P has been characterized biochemically and genetically in several systems, and structures for both RNA and protein subunits have emerged. The integration of structural and functional data is slowly forming a scenario for the evolution of RNase P from an ancient enzyme to a highly organized ribonucleoprotein complex.
Dictyostelium discoideum RNase P harbors an essential RNA subunit, and has high protein content, as judged by its low boyant density. Nevertheless, our knowledge on the exact composition was limited. In the current study, a gene showing significant similarity to human Rpp30 RNase P protein subunit was identified in Dictyostelium genome. The gene encodes a protein (DRpp30) which is significantly larger than its homologues, due to an unusual C-terminus. The gene was cloned, overexpressed, and was used for the production of polyclonal antibodies. The participation of DRpp30 in the macromolecular complex of RNase P was verified by an immunobiochemical approach. The recombinant protein was shown to bind specifically both the RNase P RNA subunit and the pre-tRNA substrate in vitro, thus giving a first insight of its role in the holoenzyme complex. Homology modeling using as a template the archaeal Ph1887p, and molecular dynamics simulations of the modeled structure suggest that DRpp30 adopts a TIM-barrel fold.
While our efforts to isolate the gene encoding the RNA subunit of D. discoideum RNase P were in progress, Norman Pace and his group identified it through phylogenetic comparison. The full transcript of the gene was detected in active RNase P samples along with a smaller transcript of the same gene. The exact 5´and 3´ ends of both transcripts were identified and were cloned. Both these transcripts can substitute the endogenous RNA subunit in vitro, but no enzymatic activity associated with these RNA molecules could be detected so far.


The utility model provides a moisture absorbent and quick-dry fabric structure and particularly relates to a moisture absorption and sweat releasing stereoscopic multi-layer one-sided fabric structure with a cooling function. The structure comprises a moisture guiding layer, a diffusion layer and an evaporation layer. The moisture guiding layer is an inner layer, is designed to be of a laid-in stitch structure and makes contact with the surface of the skin of a human body; the diffusion layer and the evaporation layer are outer layers and are connected through tuck stitches and looping stitches in an interweaving mode and then connected with the laid-in stitch structure of the moisture guiding layer. The fabric has the functions of moisture absorption, moisture guiding and sweat releasing, and can make people have a cool sense in hot summer.


The two species of francolin used as game birds in Benin are Francolinus albogularis Hartlaub and Francolinus bicalcaratus Linnaeus belong to the family Phasianidae. This study aims to evaluate the importance of the commercialization of these game birds at the level of the different actors involved in the value chain. Data collection is based on structured and semistructured surveys conducted at the outlets of species along inter-state roads, in restaurants and hotels, public dining places and bushmeat markets as well than consumers. In total, 495 people were surveyed. The data collected is essentially the actors of the marketing chain, the evolution of the price variation of an individual of francolin, the different transaction circuits, the places of supply. The Minitab 16 software, with the descriptive statistical function, was used to assess the evolution of the price of a francolin individual over the last thirty years among the actors of the marketing circuit. Calculated meat supply frequencies and Kruskal-Wallis tests were performed. The results from the analysis of the data show that three main actors intervene in the distribution of the product, a varaiation of frequency of supply of the meat, the price of sale of an individual of francolin rose from 50 FCFA there is thirty years to 1600 FCFA this day at the level of hunters. For women processors, this price went from 200 FCFA twenty years ago to 1500 FCFA that day; while he spent for the same period from 300 FCFA to 3500 FCFA among the tenants of restaurants and hotels. This shows a consequent increase in prices. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed a significant difference between the average selling prices of an individual francolin by hunters from thirty years ago, twenty years, ten years, five years ago and then today. It follows from all the above that urgent measures are being taken to adopt a domestication model for the multiplication of individuals and the valorization of francolins' meat.


ALTHOUGH postoperative enterocolitis was first reported by Finney1 in 1893 and Dearing and Heilman2 mention cases encountered before the use of antibiotics, the syndrome known variously as pseudomembranous enteritis, staphylococcal enterocolitis and acute necrotizing enteritis has rarely been described until recently. The apparent increase seems to coincide with the greater use of the broad-spectrum antibiotics, particularly of the tetracycline derivatives. The depression of the normal bacterial flora upsets the natural symbiotic balance, and may produce a fertile field for the unrestricted development of certain resistant virulent bacterial strains. Coagulase-positive hemolytic staphylococci have been incriminated in the fulminating enterocolitis. Two patients . . .


This paper presents the author's subjective experience in using program example to teach a course on Web Applications Development. The purpose of the course is to teach the principles of data-base driven web sites. A series of program examples are developed to provide students framework of Web-based applications, Lectures and demonstrations are used to provide information on a need-to-know basis. Each student is responsible for a course project, building their knowledge on database, on ASP and on client/server applications within a "learning by Doing" environment, and had developed near-professional quality web sites by the end of the semester. This Application-Centered approach is proved to be efficient learning style among students and grasped database application programming skills effectively.


A critical limiting factor to the performance of many underwater sonar detection and localization techniques is the typically high degree of uncertainty regarding the ocean environment. Several researchers have proposed mode‐based processing methods for Matched Field Processing, depth‐dependent pre‐filtering, and sub‐array processing. Provided that an appropriate modal decomposition can be applied, these methods are believed to provide processing that is less sensitive to environmental mismatch, with the added potential advantage of computational efficiency. In this paper, we attempt to quantify the performance of mode‐based processing in uncertain environments, and compare this performance to more classic processing approaches. Results are presented from Monte Carlo simulations of range‐dependent environments in which the uncertainty is varied parametrically. An analytical framework for describing the uncertainty is presented and discussed.


Coexistence in the d-dimensional, isotropic, N-component phi 4 model is studied at first order in epsilon =4-d, using a renormalisation technique similar to that appropriate for bicritical crossover. The central result is the identification of a zero-temperature fixed point controlling the Goldstone singularities, with coupling constant u** varies as epsilon /(N-1)+O( epsilon 2), at which the transverse fields have canonical scaling dimensions. Both critical and Goldstone singularities are fully regularised by this renormalisation group, and a complete exponentiation of the equation of state is achieved. The leading behaviour of the correlation functions is also exhibited.


Five carefully constructed problems illustrate the concepts of second-market discounting, price skimming, limit pricing, random discounting, premium pricing, and bundling.


A highly regular dendrite pattern surface was fabricated using a dot-pattern zinc sheet by electrodeposition. The relationship between pretreatment conditions and morphology of the dendrite pattern...


Background: High-throughput sequencing efforts in molecular tumor diagnostics detect increased numbers of novel genetic variants, including the ones that are predicted to affect splicing. Current approach for predicting whether a specific variant may result in aberrant RNA transcripts often consists of in-silico prediction using bioinformatics prediction tools, which is sometimes followed by RT-PCR analysis of the RNA extracted from blood, or functional splicing reporter assays. Although high-quality patient RNA analysis is usually preferred, such RNA is not always available, or the analysis is hampered due to degradation of aberrant transcripts through nonsense-mediated decay. To overcome this issue, we investigated the possibility of analyzing RNA isolated from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues, with the underlying hypothesis that formalin fixation may inhibit RNA degradation, enabling the detection of aberrant RNA products. Methods: RNA analysis was performed for 13 canonical splice site variants predicted or known to affect splicing in the cancer predisposition genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, APC and BRCA1. Of 11 variants, total nucleic acid was obtained from FFPE tumor tissues. For two variants, no FFPE material was available, but EBV-transformed B-cells carrying a splice variant were cultured. Primers were designed to amplify the exon-exon boundary predicted to be affected. Housekeeping gene expression was assessed to determine presence of RNA. Results: Total nucleic acid was successfully isolated for 10 variants from eight FFPE tumor tissues and two EBV-transformed B-cell lines. Aberrant splicing was confirmed in all six variants known to result in splicing. Of one known splice variant, present in the B-cell line, the known aberrant splice product could only be detected after formalin fixation of the cells, suggesting that formalin fixation possibly inhibited RNA degradation. Conclusion: Aberrant splicing was successfully identified in all known splice variants and three of four variants predicted to affect splicing, of which the splice effect was previously unknown. Using a RNA sequencing approach, somatic splice variants could be easily and rapidly analyzed, enabling retrospective analysis of variants predicted to result in splicing when only FFPE material is available in clinical settings. Citation Format: Anne M. Jansen, Heleen M. van der Klift, Jaap D. van Eendenburg, Carli M. Tops, Juul T. Wijnen, Frederik J. Hes, Ajay Goel, Hans Morreau, Tom van Wezel. Development of a novel RNA sequencing approach that identifies aberrant splicing in cancer predisposing genes [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 649.


Although much investigated, the factors constraining cereal grain protein accumulation are not well understood. As a result of the development of a new technique, new approaches to this question are now possible. A peduncle perfusion system was used to deliver a range of plant growth regulators (PGRs) and/or N solutions into barley (Hordeum vulgare) plants during the grain-filling period. The perfusion technique floods the peduncle interior with a treatment solution for periods of weeks to months, allowing the plant to take up administered substances from the perfused solution. The objectives of the present work were to determine: (1) whether some PGRs could alter the overall pattern of N allocation within barley plants, perhaps leading to higher protein accumulation in the seeds, (2) whether the addition of N through the peduncle could increase the seed N concentration even when the concentration of N in the rooting medium was high, and (3) whether or not PGR-stimulated elevations in grain protein levels and peduncle-added N increases in grain protein levels were additive. Three experiments were conducted to determine the physiological effects of (I) peduncle-administered PGRs (2) combinations of soil- and peduncle-applied N and (3) selected combinations of soil- and peduncle-administered N, and peduncle-applied PGRs on photosynthetic rate, dry matter partitioning and N accumulation of barley plants during grain filling. The first experiment tested four PGRs: abscisic acid (ABA), kinetin, gibberellic acid (GA 3 ), and 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) each at three concentrations. The second experiment tested three levels of soil N (NH4NO3) fertility, and two concentrations of peduncle-added N (urea). The third experiment tested four PGRs: ABA, kinetin, GA 3 , and 2,4-D with two soil N concentrations and two concentrations of peduncle-added N. ABA and 2,4-D decreased total seed weight of the perfused spike. The addition of peduncle-perfused N increased seed protein concentration and content under conditions of high soil N fertility, suggesting that seed protein accumulation is more limited by the ability of roots to take up N from the soil than by the seed to take up N from the rest of the plant. The effects of the PGRs on N allocation among plant parts varied with the amount of N available to the plant. Because it resulted in less protein stored in the flag leaf and more in the seeds, GA 3 perfusion caused an overall change in the allocation of N among plant parts. Peduncle perfusion of kinetin and ABA affected some aspects of photosynthetic physiology.


Objective. This study aims to analyze the scientific production on research data management indexed in the Dimensions database.
Design/Methodology/Approach. Using the term "research data management" in the Dimensions database, 677 articles were retrieved and analyzed employing bibliometric and altmetric indicators. The Altmetrics.com system was used to collect data from alternative virtual sources to measure the online attention received by the retrieved articles. Bibliometric networks from journals bibliographic coupling and keywords co-occurrence were generated using the VOSviewer software.
Results/Discussion. Growth in scientific production over the period 1970-2021 was observed. The countries/regions with the highest rates of publications were the USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Among the most productive authors were Andrew Martin Cox, Stephen Pinfield, Marta Teperek, Mary Anne Kennan, and Amanda L. Whitmire. The most productive journals were the International Journal of Digital Curation, Journal of eScience Librarianship, and Data Science Journal, while the most representative research areas were Information and Computing Sciences, Information Systems, and Library and Information Studies.
Conclusions. The multidisciplinarity in research data management was demonstrated by publications occurring in different fields of research, such as Information and Computing Sciences, Information Systems, Library and Information Studies, Medical and Health Sciences, and History and Archeology. About 60% of the publications had at least one citation, with a total of 3,598 citations found, featuring a growing academic impact.
Originality/Value. This bibliometric and altmetric study allowed the analysis of the literature on research data management. The theme was investigated in the Dimensions database and analyzed using productivity, impact, and online attention indicators.


Background: Under the guidance of carbon peak and carbon neutral targets, China's economic development is facing unprecedented challenges. It is of great strategic significance and value to study the integrated development of regional low-carbon economy. The harmonious development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) has become a national strategy, and its importance is prominent. Objective: To promote the regional economic integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is the top priority of promoting the development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration at present, and is the key to achieving the coordinated development and mutual benefit of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. Methods: In this context, this paper studies the fuzzy control evaluation algorithm of regional economy based on SDM model. Realized the prediction of the expansion of the low-carbon economy in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and put forward the development strategy of the economic integration of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei. The ranking of regional competitiveness of fuzzy control evaluation method is in line with the reality of today's economic expansion. The application of fuzzy rules improves the speed, accuracy and objectivity of evaluation. Results: The final experiment shows that the accuracy of the algorithm is very high, reaching 95.14%. In addition, the algorithm has higher efficiency and better performance. The fuzzy control evaluation algorithm of regional economy can better predict the economic growth of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Conclusion: Propose the development strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei low-carbon economic integration to further promote the development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration and promote the adjustment and optimization of China's economic structure.


Internet allows investors to use friendly tools which help them to make and implement their investment choices in an online environment. Individuals can have access to volumes of information related to alternative financial instruments and craft their strategies according to their needs and preferences. However, in the presence of multiple choices, investors with limited experience and knowledge may need support in making adequate decisions. Recommendations systems have been used in e-commerce in the past to provide customers with advice in purchasing products and services. The purpose of this work is to investigate the potential value of rendering recommendations to investors. The findings indicate that users of recommendations-enriched online investment website expressed higher levels of satisfaction and intention to use.


This paper measures and analyzes the technical efficiency of Islamic banks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the period 2007–2012. To do this, the bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach was employed in order to provide a robust estimation of the overall technical efficiency and its components: pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency in the case of MENA Islamic banks. The main results show that over the period of study, pure technical inefficiency was the main source of overall technical inefficiency instead of scale inefficiency. This finding was confirmed for all MENA Islamic banks as well as for the two subsamples: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and non-GCC Islamic banks. Furthermore, our results show that GCC Islamic banks had stable efficiency scores during the global financial crisis (2007–2008) and in the early post-crisis period (2009–2010). However, a decline in overall technical efficiency of all panels of MENA Islamic banks was recorded in the last two years of the study period (2011–2012). Thus, we recommend that MENA Islamic bank managers focus more on improving their management practices rather than increasing their sizes. We also recommend that financial authorities in MENA countries implement several regulatory and financial measures in order to ensure the development of MENA Islamic banking.


In a coronary artery disease, the plaques form on the walls of the coronary artery result in a localized narrowing or stenosis of the artery lumen. Accurate representation of plaque morphology is critical for realistic representation of flow in a stenosed coronary artery. The degree of stenosis is a common measure to represent the extent of the disease. However, it is becoming clear that degree of stenosis is not a true representation of the characteristics of turbulence, and suggests a need to explore the dependence of flow features on the morphological features of the plaque.


in general, method of inquiry guide can increasing the capability of metakognitive and result of students. metacognition is thinking about thinking. Metacognition goes beyond thinking (meta+cognition) in that it is the active awareness and knowledge of one's own thinking processes. Metacognitive skill are sometimes refered to as "self direction skills . Metacognitive could be different between the high and low student. This result showe in research to class ten of three grade student of senior high school in PGRI Punggur. The result showed so that using inquiry guide-metacognitive to the aspect of self-planning with activity formulate problem and formulate guess while with score applying 66,78, aspect self-monitoring with activity collect information and testing guess while with score applying 61,10, and aspect self evaluating with activity conclude and summary with score applying 71,37. Kata kunci: Guide Inquiry, kemampuan Metakognisi, Hasil Belajar


Objective: Study the influence of Hematoporphyrin Monomethyl Ether (HMME) concentration in blood vessel in a rather short time on photodynamic therapy (PDT) microvascular effect by mathematical modeling and animal experiment. Methods: The yields of singlet oxygen in blood vessel in a short time in different animal were simulated by mathematical model, and the yields of singlet oxygen in Leghorn Cocks vessel were simulated when the irradiation time was 20 min with 5 min and 60 min drug-light interval separately. 0.2 ml blood was gotten at 0, 5,15,10,15, 20, 30, 50, 80 min after HMME (10 mg/Kg) was injected intravenously in Leghorn Cocks and was measured by fluorescence spectrophotometer for calculation of HMME concentration. Simultaneity, a square of cock comb (2times2 cm) was randomly irradiated (532 nm, 100 mW/cm2) at 5~25 min and another one was irradiated at 60~80 min, and the change was observed by macroscopy and pathology. Results: Simulations showed that the yield of singlet oxygen in vessels of different animals varied markedly in a short time and correlated with the concentration of photosensitizer in vessels. The produce of singlet oxygen in cock's blood vessel during 5~25 min PDT is 5.3 times more than that during 60~80 min PDT. Experiments showed that the red color of the square irradiation at 5~25 min was faded, but the color of the square irradiation at 60~80 min had no change. Conclusions: The change of HMME concentration in blood vessel during a short time after intravenous injection have a big influence on the PDT microvascular effect.


Flying start of a wind generator is a common requirement in wind turbine applications. This paper proposes a novel method for allowing the flying start of a permanent magnet generator (PMG). The proposed method is based on the discontinuous mode of operation of the converter and the phase-locked loop (PLL). During the discontinuous mode of operation, a series of zero-voltage pulses is applied to the generator, causing the occurrence of the short-circuit current, and thereby employing the PLL structure to estimate the rotor speed and angle. Also, a short-circuit current control structure with automatic adjustment of the reference value is proposed. The input signal to a PLL structure is adequately selected in order to enable a continuous mode of operation of the PMG. Simulation results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method on the surface and interior PMGs, as well as on low- and high-power PMGs. The estimation accuracy does not depend on changes in the PMG parameters. The proposed method was implemented in a digital control system and experimentally verified on a 375 kW interior PMG. Experimental responses referring to the flying start of the PMG demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


The effect of WIF (work interference with family) on the Job Stress and FIW (family interference with work) to the Job stress has produced many findings in empirical research by the previous experts. In this study will re-analyze the effect of WIF on the Job Stress and FIW on the Job Stress with meta-analysis study.
This research aimed to know the relationship between WIF on the Job stress and FIW on the job stress through a meta-analysis study based on the 18 proof of empirical study which collected in accordance with the determined criteria. The final goal in this meta-analysis study will be analyze or compare the level of the relationship between WIF on job stress and FIW on job stress.
 The result of meta-analysis study shows that generally the correlation between WIF to the job stress and also FIW to the job stress found the positive significant. The results of combining the whole study (CI=95%) shows that the relationship FIW on the Job stress including in belongs to the strong category (r=0.54) and for the relationship FIW on the job stress including in belongs to the medium category (r=0.4). Moreover, from the result of analysis of the value of egger's regression known that there was no publication bias in this meta-analysis study. In the end, the findings in this meta-analysis study concluded that the effect of WIF on job stress has a higher correlation value than the effect of FIW on job stress.


Several typical hypersonic vehicle flowfields are simulated by using the conservation form of Navier-Stokes equations with multi-species,nonequilibrium molecular thermal excitation and chemical reactions based on the high-resolution TVD scheme.The aerothermodynamic properties(such as convective heat flux) and the thermo-chemical nonequilibrium phenomenon of hypersonic-continuum flowfields are obtained during reentry trajectory,and these results are in good agreement with experiment and flight data.By analyzing and comparing the difference of the hypersonic vehicle reentry flowfields in multiple cases,the predictive results,such as wall heat flux,aerodynamic-force coefficients,particularly the thermal nonequilibrium areas in the computational domain,are achieved to benefit the design of vehicle thermal protection system.


Butylidenephthalide (Bdph), an antispasmodic compound originally isolated from the rhizome of Ligusticum chuaxiong, has a selective anti‐anginal effect without changing blood pressure. Experiments have been performed to determine the mechanism of this action.


This paper presents the results of the accelerated test and the exposure test on penetration and diffusion property of chloride ion in concrete from literature survey. At the results of arrangement and examination for literature data, the characteristic values of diffusion equation showed the tendency to change with passing period, and converge to the constant value at the exposure test. At the accelerated test, immersing in salt water showed that characteristic values change similar with exposure test. At alternating immersion, however, characteristic values were constant from initial stage of test. Moreover, influences of water cement ration on characteristic values were little in each test method.


Reviewing the process of the conservation ofhistoric districts and areas in Chinese cities and recogniz-ing the ordinary old districts to be the container of citieshistory, this paper points out the importance of ordinaryold districts for the conservation and development of thecitieshistory, and raises some strategies on the point ofview of multi-subjects.


Abstract In 1957, soon after his emigration from Hungary, György Ligeti began an internship at the electronic music studio of Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in Cologne. The three electronic works Ligeti produced there constitute a small portion of his oeuvre, but it is commonly acknowledged that his experiences in the studio were crucial for his stylistic development. This article makes specific analytical connections between the techniques of elektronische Musik that Ligeti encountered at the WDR and his sound-mass techniques in acoustic composition. The discourses in circulation in the electronic studio of the 1950s – especially as articulated by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Karel Goeyvaerts, and Gottfried Michael Koenig – reveal a collective obsession with gaining compositional control over timbre. By internalizing and reusing mainstream elektronische Musik techniques such as additive synthesis, filtering, and Bewegungsfarbe in an acoustic form, Ligeti brought timbre forward as the central compositional problem in the acoustic work Atmosphères.


For quantum Turing machines we present three elements: Its components, its time evolution operator and its local transition function. The components are related with the components of deterministic Turing machines, the time evolution operator is related with the evolution of reversible Turing machines and the local transition function is related with the transition function of probabilistic and reversible Turing machines.


This paper describes the scan test challenges and techniques used in the Godson-3 microprocessor, which is a scalable multicore processor based on the SMOC (Scalable Mesh of Crossbar) on-chip network and targets high-end applications. Advanced techniques are adopted to achieve the scalable, low-power and low-cost scan architecture at the challenge of limited I/O resources and large scale of transistors. To achieve a scalable and flexible test access, a highly elaborate TAM (Test Access Mechanism) is implemented with supporting multiple test instructions and test modes. Taking advantage of multiple cores embedding in the processor, scan partitions are employed to reduce test power and test time, and test compression with more than 10X compression ratio are utilized to decrease the scan chain length. To further decrease test time, a Data-Synchronous-Comparator (DSC) is proposed for comparing the scan responses of the identical cores.


The relative abundances of the nuclei B-Si, the group P-V, and the group Cr-Ni (the iron group) have been measured with an instrument on the OGO-5 satellite in the energy range approx.10 to 60 MeV nucleon$sup -1$ in the period of changing solar modulation in the 1968--1971. Stringent criteria were applied for the selection of interplanetary quiet-time data in order to eliminate the highly variable solar component. The purpose of the investigation was to obtain evidence for the solar or galactic origin of the nuclei in this energy range where it is known that the H and He spectra display striking differences in shape from the galactic cosmic-ray spectra at higher energies. We find that: (1) The relative abundances are in good agreement with nuclear abundances of the galactic cosmic rays. For example, since we find that boron has an abundance relative to oxygen which is characteristic of the secondary nuclei in the galactic radiation, the component we are measuring is not characteristic of solar abundances. (2) The differential energy spectra of C and O are found to diverge at these low energies from the characteristic modulated galactic spectra; i.e., if J proportional E/sup gamma/ represents the spectra form in this energy region, with $gamma$=1.0 at the higher energies, we find $gamma$$Yields$0 with decreasing energy. (3) During the change in solar cycle modulation from 1968 to 1971, the changes in C+N+O flux were observed to undergo a phase lag in time with respect to the high-energy galactic cosmic rays which was the same as the phase lag for helium nuclei of galactic origin in the energy range 30 to 100 MeV nucleon$sup - 1$. These measurements were extended to a brief period in 1972. (AIP)


The coordinated imine groups of the Schiff's base – zinc complexes derived from various 2-substituted benzothiazolines are easily reduced with sodium borohydride to the corresponding amines. Removal of the metal ion from these reduced complexes yields the free ligands, providing a simple route to novel aminomercaptan chelating agents. Compounds of bi-, tri-, and tetradentate types were prepared in this manner.Evidence is given for a disproportionation of 2,2′-dimethyl-2,2′-bibenzothiazolinyl into 2-methylbenzothiazoline and 2-methylbenzothiazole in chloroform solution.


Community Bus is a new and emerging mode in the public transport family of services in many areas in North America. The Community bus mode uses smaller vehicles than traditional main line service and the vehicles are usually less than 20 seats. These vehicles operate in suburban and semi-urban areas and provide links to mainline or trunk-line transit service. Community bus may be fixed route, demand responsive, service routes or combination of route options, but in general, it is very flexible. For many seniors, community bus is a life line to independence. The purpose of this paper is to document an emerging issue for community transport, namely the need for new vehicle specifications and new vehicles that meet those specifications to improve access for older travelers and those with disabilities.


AVAT S.A. is a company with more than 25 years of experience in the provision of computer solutions. Currently, the company has effective business strategies and processes; however, the worldwide market of the provision of computer solutions is changing; each day different products are developed to attend in a personalized way the business of all type of clients: government, private, health, education, among others. Therefore worldwide technological hardware acquisitions have been reduced or changed by the purchase of other products such as cloud services, so this fact forces the General Management to develop new business strategies to maintain the continuous growth that the company has had in the last years. On this background, the General Management requests the Project Management to present an analysis of the company that allows the company to examine if the current Enterprise Architecture effectively supports the business requirements; and to present improvement proposals in terms of capacity that contemplate the current business model and possible future strategies that may arise. In compliance with this requirement, the Project Management presented as proposal the Architect Development Method – ADM of the Open Group Architecture Framework -TOGAF to formulate the future Enterprise Architecture or "To be" of the company. Due to the requirements of the company, this thesis takes as main domains the following phases of the ADM: Business Architecture, Information Systems Architecture, and Technological Architecture. On this basis, the current status of each one of these domains of the company are formalized, also an assessment and an analysis of compliance/efficiency is performed and formalized for each one of this domains. As a result of this assessment and analysis, improvement initiatives are proposed for the three domains: Business Architecture, Information Systems Architecture, and Technological Architecture. At the end the proposal of the future Enterprise Architecture or "To be" and a high level migration plan is formulated. For this last stage, the following ADM phases are taken as reference: Opportunities and Solutions, and Migration Planning.


In this chapter we describe the implementation of solvers for large sparse systems of linear equations on a general purpose distributed memory multiprocessor. Solving this type of systems is part of an automatic placement tool that has been developed at our university's EE department and has proved to be the tool's computationally most intensive subtask. Implementing the solver on a parallel computer was aimed at increasing both the execution speed and the maximum dimension of systems that can be solved with all data residing in main memory. Two solvers have been chosen for implementation and have been analyzed with respect to these requirements. One of them has been investigated in detail using the performance analyzer PATOP developed in our group's TOPSYS project.


The paper presents a study of flow stability in Pelton turbine nozzles. Theoretical background of stability flow analyses and numerical flow simulations describing this phenomenon are presented. A new practically applied solution of the flow stability increase is described and results of the model tests are presented in paper as well. Navier-Stokes equations are basic equations applied for describing flow through any geometrical area. These equations were used for describing the flow stability in common axisymmetric area. The flow through the Pelton turbine nozzle was numerically modelled as an axisymmeric flow to apply to below mentioned equations for flow stability description in axisymmetric area. By means of theoretical analysis the intensification of velocity perturbations in axisymmetric areas were studied. Some common criteria describing perturbation behaviour were evaluated and these criteria are discussed in context with flow through Pelton turbine nozzle. These criteria were modified to the form of easy equations. In case that the velocity distribution in studied area is known these equations could be evaluated and flow stability in Pelton turbine nozzle could be described by characteristic numbers only. Values of these numbers are some criteria of analysed Pelton turbine nozzle geometry from the view of absorbing of perturbation in the turbine nozzle. Theoretical investigation of the flow stability applied to flow in Pelton turbine nozzles appears as the realistic way for whole Pelton turbine efficiency increase. The stability of the flow at the nozzle outlet was improved after new theoretical result applications. A lot of new ideas directed to the flow stability in Pelton nozzles are open in the paper and some of them are answered.


At the onset of the BSE-crisis in 2000 the integrated detection method (western blot) to detect CNS-specific proteins NSE (neuron specific enolase) and GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) was applied by two private laboratories in addition to a cholesterol screening test to investigate for CNS-tissue in meat products. Difficulty of test interpretation led to non-plausible results: especially raw poultry meat products caused false-positive NSE- or GFAP-results respectively. In some cases business relations between production and retail level were considerably affected by these results. Recent modification of the national Guidelines for Meat and Meat Products has enabled a food regulatory evaluation resulting in official food inspection measures: undeclared admixture of non-SRM (specified risk material) tissue of brain and spinal cord constitutes a deception of the consumer that can only be ascertained by inspections on production level.


Proteinase 3 (P3), a serine protease constitutively expressed on the membrane on a fraction of resting granulocytes and commonly existed in primary granules, is the target of autoimmunity in Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and of anti-leukemia immunity mediated by P3-derived PR1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). We showed that soluble P3 and membrane expressed (mP3) peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) significantly inhibited healthy donor T-cell proliferation stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies in a reversible, does-dependent, and enzyme-independent manner. Furthermore, there is an inverse correlation between percent proliferation of T cells and the amount of mP3 on AML (R=0.45, P <0.001). This inhibition was blocked by anti-P3 antibody. In addition, mP3-expressing AML blasts similarly inhibited T cell proliferation whereas AML blasts expressing no mP3 showed little effect. Interestingly, mP3 expression is significantly higher in bone marrow myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC) from leukemia patients compared to MDSC from healthy donors, (79.4±5.23% (n=7) versus (22.4±11.55% (n=3), respectively ( P <0.001).

MP3-mediated T cell inhibition was independent of arginase I but suppression of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation partially reversed mP3-mediated inhibition of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell proliferation by 15% and 23%, respectively, implicating the ROS pathway in mP3-mediated T cell inhibition.

Because mP3 inhibited proliferation of T cells stimulated via the T cell receptor (TCR), i.e. anti-CD3/CD28, we evaluated the effects of mP3 on ZAP70 signaling by phospho-flow cytometry. ZAP70 phosphorylation in CD8+ and CD4+ T cells co-incubated with mP3+ PMNs plus anti-CD3/CD28 mAbs for 5 minutes, was reduced by 51% and 70%, respectively, compared with T cells stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 mAbs alone (n=4, P <0.001 for CD8 cells and P <0.05 for CD4 cells), suggesting that P3-mediated inhibition of T cell proliferation involves downstream TCR signaling pathways. Calreticulin (CRT), which binds to low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP), is associated with mP3 expression on apoptotic PMNs. We showed that LRP expression increased significantly on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells ( P <0.05) after stimulation with anti-CD3/CD28. Because LRP binds to CRT, which is co-associated with mP3 on apoptotic PMNs, we studied role of LRP+CRT in mP3 inhibition. To test this, CFSE-labeled PBMC stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 were co-cultured with PMNs treated with anti-CRT or untreated at a ratio of 5:1 or in the presence or absence of anti-LRP for 5 days. Anti-LRP reversed mP3-expressing PMNs-mediated inhibition of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells by 86% and 53%, respectively. Similarly, the capacity of PMNs to suppress T cell proliferation was reduced in the presence of anti-CRT mAb. In conclusion, our data supports a role for mP3, which is co-associated with CRT on PMNs, on blocking the interaction of CRT with LRP on activated T cells. Taken together, these data implicate a novel role for mP3 in regulating T cell proliferation via CRT-LRP interactions.

Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.