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4,506,900 | 4th International Conference on Mathematical Applications in Engineering 2017 (ICMAE’17) Preface Mastery and perfection in mathematics is a mandatory pre-requisite in advancing the frontiers of science. Mathematics provides the methodology and framework of rigorous thoughts in understanding and unveiling the beauty of the physical universe. It is often astonished how simple mathematical expressions are sufficed in describing complex physical phenomena. Today, the rapid development in science and technology poses new challenges to mathematicians and scientists that requires innovative approach and methodology or eventually new mathematical theories. As such, the Kulliyyah of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) in collaboration with MIMOS Bhd. are therefore proud to present the 4th International Conference on Mathematical Modelling in Engineering 2017 (ICMAE4). We aspire ICMAE to serve as an effective platform for academicians and researchers internationally to share ideas, state-of-the-art innovations and future developments of mathematical methods in diverse field of studies. The specific conference topics include: Mathematical physics and differential equations Algebra & analysis Mathematical modelling & simulation Probability & mathematical statistics Analytical & numerical methods This publication contains papers presented during ICMAE4 which was held on the 8-9 August 2017 in the Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University Malaysia. All 25 papers selected have been subjected to peer reviewing process. As such, we would like to thank all reviewers, type-setting editors and last but not least all committee members for the successful publication of this special issue of ICMAE4. Guest Editors, Abdumalik Rakhimov Bekbaev Ural Jamal I. Daoud Khikmat Saburov Md. Sazzad H. Chowdhury | 250675361 |
4,506,901 | Automatic Brightness Control In Image-Intensified Fluoroscopy This afternoon, I want to describe to you some reactions from our clinical colleagues about how they feel towards automatic bright-ness systems. Perhaps the first point to be made, as has been pointed out, is that radiologists by and large do not understand what an automatic brightness system is or how it works. Some radiologists may have a "textbookish" recollection of what was taught to them at one time in physics, but they don't really have a working knowledge of automatic brightness control systems in general, or of the specific system they are using in particular. With the increasing trend towards pushbutton automatic x ray systems, radiologists are increasingly losing the opportunity to become knowledgable about the systems and about the effects of components of the systems upon image quality. These are concerns I have heard many radiologists express. They also express some concern for retaining manual control of fluoroscopy for certain examinations, and desire an automatic brightness controlled fluoroscopic system which also provides manual capability. Another prob-lem which has been mentioned during my discussions with radiologists is the problem of large area sensing. This problem has been discussed by several speakers already, and I have little to add to this discussion. There apparently is a problem concerning movement of the x ray beam over areas of the upper thorax, esophagus, and neck, and reception in the edge of the field of intense radiation which misses the neck. A third difficulty which was addressed by two of the preceding speakers | 173179111 |
4,506,902 | is the relatively slow response time of automatic brightness controlled systems and the problems this creates when crossing interfaces. | 173179111 |
4,506,903 | Guest Editorial: Special issue on Fair Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals This special edition of Food Chain focuses on Fair Trade and its relevance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With its emphasis on producer empowerment, living wages, fair pricing, and long-term partnerships, linked to socially focused businesses and supply chains, the Fair Trade movement aims to transform both production and consumption and contribute to wider systemic change that supports sustainable livelihoods. We refer to Fair Trade (two words) as a broad range of organizations and campaigning networks, including Fairtrade (one word) certification, social enterprises, and cooperatives that espouse Fair Trade principles and support the International Fair Trade Charter (2018). | 226527211 |
4,506,904 | Impact of 5‐Year Weight Change on Blood Pressure: Results From the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial In this secondary analysis of the Weight Loss Maintenance trial, the authors assessed the relationship between blood pressure (BP) change and weight change in overweight and obese adults with hypertension and/or dyslipidemia who were randomized to 1 of 3 weight loss maintenance strategies for 5 years. The participants were grouped (N=741) based on weight change from randomization to 60 months as: (1) weight loss, (2) weight stable, or (3) weight gain. A significant positive correlation between weight change and systolic BP (SBP) change at 12, 30, and 60 months and between weight change and diastolic BP (DBP) change at 30 months was observed. From randomization to 60 months, mean SBP increased to a similar degree for the weight gain group (4.2±standard error=0.6 mm Hg; P<.001) and weight stable group (4.6±1.1 mm Hg; P<.001), but SBP did not rise in the weight loss group (1.0±1.7 mm Hg, P=.53). DBP was unchanged for all groups at 60 months. Although aging may have contributed to rise in BP at 60 months, it does not appear to fully account for observed BP changes. These results suggest that continued modest weight loss may be sufficient for long‐term BP lowering. | 26171711 |
4,506,905 | Obesity, Diabetes And Other Problems* My grandfather introduced me to the works of Rudyard Kipling when I was still young. Kipling's honest serving men are as useful to us today as they were a century ago. It is always necessary for individuals to be prepared to stand up and ask awkward questions. There is widespread confusion over the causes of obesity and late onset diabetes. Those who eat too much and take insufficient exercise inevitably become obese; but why are increasing numbers of people becoming obese? It is my opinion that obesity, diabetes and most of the other diseases of civilisation are manifestations of selenium deficiency in association with one or more other problems. In general, the worse the quality of the diet that is consumed, the more refined carbohydrate and saturated fat it contains and the more that has to be swallowed to supply the vitamins and minerals our bodies need. But even when diets containing recommended quantities of fruit and vegetables are being consumed obesity and ill health can develop when the intake of selenium is insufficient. The recommended daily intake of selenium is 75 |Hg for a man and 60 for a woman, but in 1997 the estimated average intake was only 39 jLLg. There appears to be an absence of scientific evidence to prove that obesity causes late onset diabetes, it is more likely that they are associated because they have a common cause. Although the brain represents only 2% of total body weight it is generally agreed that it accounts for | 46178561 |
4,506,906 | about 20% of the metabolism of a resting person. This high energy requirement arises because of the extent of the blood-brain barrier which confines brain tissue. Blood vessels run alongside every nerve fibre and energy has to be expended in maintaining different | 46178561 |
4,506,907 | Doxycycline orally on long term is well tolerated and may be beneficial in DPLD We have collected our small real-world experience of use of doxycycline in an ethically approved protocol with informed consent on 154 patients so far. The agent has been given alone or in combination with other drugs and the outcome in terms of change in forced vital capacity (FVC) is noted with the adverse effects of the agent been used. The DPLD population selected was heterogeneous clinico-radiologically. Etiologically, the patients remained not clearly defined in most of the circumstances as the evaluation contained no surgical biopsy, limited use of bronchoscopy, and serology. No patient was included in acute state or with history exacerbation in the preceding 3 months. The patients with any uncontrolled or severe systemic disease or having any other concomitant pulmonary disease were also excluded. Simultaneously, the suspected cases of sarcoidosis and advanced cases of DPLD (FVC< 40% of predicted) were not included in the protocol. | 211233561 |
4,506,908 | The philosophy of psychiatric nursing. In this panoramic overview of the meanings of mental health care, Philip Barker maps out the birth (or rebirth) of the philosophy of psychiatric nursing. The time is ripe for a fundamental re-examination of the main premises and values of the nursing culture, and for the rejection of concepts which have outlived their usefulness. Returning the focus of psychiatric nursing to the identity of the person in care, the 'binding' of the nurse and patient, regardless of conventional and expected roles, is the most important issue on the psychiatric agenda. Dr. Barker's brilliant analysis challenges psychiatric nurses to review their own values and practices, and acts as a catalyst for change. | 7086861 |
4,506,909 | Self-decoupled porphyrin with a tripodal anchor for molecular-scale electroluminescence. A self-decoupled porphyrin with a tripodal anchor has been synthesized and deposited on Au(111) using different wet-chemistry methods. Nanoscale electroluminescence from single porphyrin molecules or aggregates on Au(111) has been realized by tunneling electron excitation. The molecular origin of the luminescence is established by the vibrationally resolved fluorescence spectra observed. The rigid tripodal anchor not only acts as a decoupling spacer but also controls the orientation of the molecule. Intense molecular electroluminescence can be obtained from the emission enhancement provided by a good coupling between the molecular transition dipole and the axial nanocavity plasmon. The unipolar performance of the electroluminescence from the designed tripodal molecule suggests that the porphyrin molecule is likely to be excited by the injection of hot electrons, and then the excited state decays radiatively through Franck-Condon π*-π transitions. These results open up a new route to generating electrically driven nanoscale light sources. | 207098811 |
4,506,910 | Invariant Property Preserving Extensions of Elementary Petri Nets We deene an extension of an elementary Petri net and give a suucient criterion for the preservation of invariant properties. Properties of a net are described by propositional temporal formulas. An elementary Petri net is an extension of another net if the smaller net can be embedded into the larger one by an injective function that maps places on places and transitions on transitions. It is shown that every extension preserves the static properties of the net, viz. the properties expressable in rst order propositional logic. The criterion for the preservation of invariant properties is that the embedding function preserves the pre-and postset of places. That means that the ow relation of the smaller net is preserved and furthermore that only the image of a transition can have a larger pre-or postset in the extension than its soure in the original net. | 10286551 |
4,506,911 | Beyond the Use Case: Combining Task Analysis and Scripts in Object-Oriented Requirements Capture and Business Process Re-engineering A camera hold steady strap composed of elastic stretch fabric having a certain amount of "give" which acts as a shock absorber when a hook having a base pivoted to the lower end of an adjustable loop formed by a portion of the strap is connected to the user's belt with the so pivoted base of the hook located behind and slightly above the top of such belt. Thus, when the strap is looped over the belt top, as when the camera falls or depends below the belt, or the camera is pulled away from the user by a camera snatcher, the hook is locked on the belt by the strap overlapping the belt top. The strap also serves as an elastic hold down link to the user's belt, for the camera, when carried by the user's camera neck strap; so that the "give" in the elastic stretch fabric permits the user to jog, etc. without damaging the camera. The "give" in the strap also enables the user to take pictures with the camera either horizontal or vertical without having to adjust the strap length. | 40928101 |
4,506,912 | Efficiency of muscular work: some clinical implications. The concept of mechanical efficiency is briefly reviewed. Biochemical considerations set a maximum potential efficiency of 25 percent, but, in some instances, storage of energy in elastic tissue may yield a higher apparent efficiency. Comparisons of efficiency between normal and handicapped individuals can be made in terms of the oxygen cost of specific activities, or, if due regard is paid to the effects of the primary disease, the simpler indexes of pulse rate and ventilation may be used. Measurements of efficiency can be helpful in improving the working technique of both the healthy individual and the handicapped person, Useful gains of efficiency can result only if tasks initially have an efficiency substantially below the theoretical ultimate of 25 percent. | 33966001 |
4,506,913 | Realization of red shift of absorption spectra using optical near-field effect In many applications such as CO2 reduction and water splitting, high-energy photons in the ultraviolet region are required to complete the chemical reactions. However, to realize sustainable development, the photon energies utilized must be lower than the absorption edge of the materials including the metal complex for CO2 reduction, the electrodes for water splitting, because of the huge amount of lower energy than the visible region received from the sun. In the previous works, we had demonstrated that optical near-fields (ONFs) could realize chemical reactions, by utilizing photon energies much lower than the absorption edge because of the spatial non-uniformity of the electric field. In this paper, we demonstrate that an ONF can realize the red shift of the absorption spectra of the metal-complex material for photocatalytic reduction. By attaching the metal complex to ZnO nano-crystalline aggregates with nano-scale protrusions, the absorption spectra by using diffuse reflection of the metal complex can be shifted to a longer wavelength by 10.6 nm. The results of computational studies based on a first-principles computational program including the ONF effect provide proof of the increase in the absorption of the metal complex at lower photon energies. Since the near-field assisted field increase improves the carrier excitation in the metal-complex materials, this effect may be universal and it could applicable to CO2 reduction using the other metal-complex materials, as well as to the other photo excitation process including water splitting. | 149446601 |
4,506,914 | Mathematics in chemistry: indeterminate forms and their meaning The mathematical language and its tools are complementary to the formalism in chemistry, in particular at an advanced level. It is thus crucial, for its understanding, that students acquire a solid knowledge in Calculus and that they know how to apply it. The frequent occurrence of indeterminate forms in multiple areas, particularly in Physical Chemistry, justifies the need to properly understand the limiting process in such cases. This article emphasizes the importance of the L’Hôpital's rule as a practical tool, although often neglected, to obtain the more common indeterminate limits, through the use of some specific examples as the radioactive decay, spectrophotometric error, Planck's radiation law, second-order kinetics, or consecutive reactions. | 123679251 |
4,506,915 | The Japanese Business Information Scene: Birth of the New Social Library for Free Agents in the Context of Knowledge Management in Japan When attempting to obtain and understand Japanese business information, most non Japanese don’t understand how important it is not only to deal with the language issue but also to know the Japanese business culture and philosophy. However, Japan is now in a period of large scale transition from Japanese style business to global business, and this change is affecting the delivery of business information for local people. One example of the change is the newly established membership-based Academyhills Roppongi Library, where people can get the latest business data as free agents, unconstrained by the limits faced by company workers. | 153534201 |
4,506,916 | A Formal Interpretation of Relations and Quantification in HPSG This paper formalizes the language used for expressing the principles found in Pollard and Sag 1994. In a sense, this is not a new language, but rather the language that Pollard and Sag (1994) and other HPSG linguists have already been using. There have been many logics proposed for the task of uniication-based processing with constraint-based grammars such as HPSG, such as HH ohfeld and Smolka 1988, and Carpenter 1992; but because of certain practical considerations, they have eschewed some of the formal devices that a declarative, formal speciica-tion of the constraints themselves requires. The major properties that distinguish our formal language will be described below. The language is called RSRL, a relational extension of SRL (Speciate Re-entrant Logic, see King, 1989). SRL is actually a logic that was proposed as a formalization and reenement of the language used in Pollard and Sag 1987; and Pollard and Sag 1994 incorporated many of those reenements. SRL is nevertheless not an adequate formalism for Pol-lard and Sag 1994, pace King (1999) and Pollard (1999), as it crucially lacks an explicit means of quantiication, which is necessary to express the quantiication either understood or explicitly stated in many of the principles of Pollard and Sag 1994. In fact, the principal contribution that RSRL makes is not its addition of relations but its formalization of 1 We are most grateful to | 17477201 |
4,506,917 | Out of control The author is a medical missionary in southern Africa. He describes the human devastation wrought by HIV/AIDS in the region. The adult wards remain filled with young, wasted males and females with persistent coughs and other manifestations of tuberculosis (TB), generalized lymphadenopathy, Kaposi's sarcoma, pyogenic infection, and neural and ocular manifestations of HIV infection. The main reason for admission to the wards is to exclude or identify treatable infections, especially pulmonary TB. The lack of physical and other resources, however, result in the early discharge of terminal and untreatable cases. Deaths which do occur in the hospital are most commonly caused by untreatable TB or profuse diarrhea combined with chronic wasting and anemia. The children's ward is largely populated by babies and toddlers with a combination of pneumonia and failure to thrive, while outpatient clinics simply providing a preview of future inpatients. The author points out that this heavy toll of AIDS-related morbidity and mortality does not exist in a vacuum, but in the context of many other long-standing diseases. Many AIDS patients die in a state of denial. Finally, there are numerous personal, social, and psychological ramifications associated with each case of AIDS. | 46462201 |
4,506,918 | Berlin prospective Study of children bom to HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-positive mothers The presence of HIV-IgG-antibodies (AB) in newborns does not provide conclusive evidence of an actual infection with the virus. This is determinable only by long-term observation concerned in accordance with clinical, immunological and virological criteria.Consequently, since July 85, all NB of HIV-AB-positive mothers are being kept under close central and 38 newborns have so fare been included in the study.During an observation period of now over 20 months, none of the children have as yet contracted AIDS. A slight neurological abnormality was apparent in 3 children. 1 child who had become seronegative at 6 months of age suffered a bacterial meningitis at 11 months of age. Now the HI-virus was identified in CSF despite further seronegativeness.As expected, 15 children whose virus culture was negative, became seronegative at between 3 to 7 months, however also 7 children with a positive virus culture became seronegative.These results clearly show that AB-Screening is not a sufficient method of course control but that long-term observation is essential for accurate classification of HIV-AB in newborns. | 35037201 |
4,506,919 | Perceptions of RFID Technology - A Cross-national Study – Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an important technology for many aspects of business including supply chain management (SCM). The global implications of RFID necessitate cross‐national studies of the technology. The purpose of this paper is to conjecture that the way RFID is perceived and implemented and the extent to which RFID impacts business performance will vary from country to country. Using data collected from firms located in the USA and South Korea, the two countries' views regarding the intrinsic attributes, the perceived benefits and risks, and the strategic impact on business performance of implementing RFID are compared., – The authors developed a research instrument to assess the perception of the importance of RFID, the benefits and risks of RFID, and the perceived impact of RFID on business performance. The authors used the instrument to survey executives and managers in the USA and South Korea., – The paper did not find any discernable difference between the two countries in terms of the perception of the importance of RFID, the benefits and risks of RFID, and the perceived impact of RFID on business performance. This shared perception of RFID may be viewed a sign of readiness of the technology to become a global business tool., – The varying sampling and data collection processes between the two countries may have introduced unintended bias to the study. The paper's scope may not have addressed all of the technical, organizational, cultural, and political issues that may have influenced the outcome., – The | 206373801 |
4,506,920 | findings of the study provide empirical evidence that RFID has become a comprehensive business tool to assist more seamless global SCM., – This unique comparative study is a useful contribution for both academicians and practitioners to gain a better understanding of how RFID technology is perceived by firms in different countries. The paper also helps companies improve their RFID strategies in the global market by recognizing different perceptions and approaches to implementing RFID. | 206373801 |
4,506,921 | Evolution of resistance to transgenic crops: interactions between insect movement and field distribution. The refuge strategy is designed to delay evolution of pest resistance to transgenic crops producing Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bt) toxins. Movement of insects between Bt crops and refuges of non-Bt crops is essential for the refuge strategy because it increases chances that resistant adults mate with susceptible adults from refuges. Conclusions about optimal levels of movement for delaying resistance are not consistent among previous modeling studies. To clarify the effects of movement on resistance evolution, we analyzed simulations of a spatially explicit model based partly on the interaction of pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), with Bt cotton. We examined resistance evolution as a function of insect movement under 12 sets of assumptions about the relative abundance of Bt cotton (50 and 75%), temporal distribution of Bt cotton and refuge fields (fixed, partial rotation, and full rotation), and spatial distribution of fields (random and uniform). The results show that interactions among the relative abundance and distribution of refuges and Bt cotton fields can alter the effects of movement on resistance evolution. The results also suggest that differences in conclusions among previous studies can be explained by differences in assumptions about the relative abundance and distribution of refuges and Bt crop fields. With fixed field locations and all Bt cotton fields adjacent to at least one refuge, resistance evolved slowest with low movement. However, low movement and fixed field locations favored rapid resistance evolution when some Bt crop fields were isolated from refuges. When refuges | 43764951 |
4,506,922 | and Bt cotton fields were rotated to the opposite crop type each year, resistance evolved fastest with low movement. Nonrecessive inheritance of resistance caused rapid resistanceevolution regardless of movement rate. Confirming previous reports, results described here show that resistance can be delayed effectively by fixing field locations and distributing refuges uniformly to ensure that Bt crop fields are not isolated from refuges. However, rotating fields provided better insect control and reduced the need for insecticide sprays. | 43764951 |
4,506,923 | The spiral wind-up and dissipation of vorticity and a passive scalar in a strained planar vortex The response of a Gaussian vortex to a weak time-dependent external strain field is studied numerically. The cases of an impulsive strain, an on–off step function, and a continuous random strain are considered. Transfers of enstrophy between mean and azimuthal components are observed, and the results are compared with an analogous passive scalar model and with Kida's elliptical vortex model. A ‘rebound’ phenomenon is seen: after enstrophy is transferred from mean to azimuthal component by the external straining field, there is a subsequent transfer of enstrophy back from the azimuthal component to the mean. Analytical support is given for this phenomenon using Lundgren's asymptotic formulation of the spiral wind-up of vorticity. Finally the decay of the vortex under a continuous random external strain is studied numerically and compared with the passive scalar model. The vorticity distribution decays more slowly than the scalar because of the rebound phenomenon. | 54596101 |
4,506,924 | A Novel Reconfigurable Logic Unit Based on the DNA-Templated Potassium-Concentration-Dependent Supramolecular Assembly. Plenty of molecular circuits with specific functions have been developed; however, logic units with reconfigurability, which could simplify the circuits and speed up the information process, are rarely reported. In this work, we designed a novel reconfigurable logic unit based on a DNA-templated, potassium-concentration-dependent, supramolecular assembly, which could respond to the input stimuli of H+ and K+ . By inputting different concentrations of K+ , the logic unit could implement three significant functions, including a half adder, a half subtractor, and a 2-to-4 decoder. Considering its reconfigurable ability and good performance, the novel prototypes developed here may serve as a promising proof of principle in molecular computers. | 4783651 |
4,506,925 | Management of a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleed: the duodenal gangliocytic paraganglioma A 59-year-old, otherwise medically healthy, lady presented with a 3-day history of melaena. She was haemodynamically stable and biochemistry was unremarkable. Gastroscopy revealed a 15 × 20 mm submucosal mass with ulceration and bleeding in the second portion of the duodenum. Endoscopic ultrasound characterized a uniformly hypoechoic oval-shaped subepithelial lesion in the medial duodenal wall. Cytological examination of the fine-needle aspiration biopsy showed a triphasic morphology, with epithelioid cells, spindle cells and ganglion-like cells. Subsequent three-phase computed tomography scan characterized a 17 × 17 × 20 mm arterially enhancing luminal duodenal mass with normal arterial and venous anatomy, as well as a 12-mm right subpectoral lymph node. The mass was not avid on dotatate Ga68 scan, but was avid on 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. There was no evidence of tumour spread. The patient underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy with pancreaticojejunostomy, hepaticojejunostomy and gastrojejunostomy. The unencapsulated tumour was relatively well circumscribed, and there was no macroscopic evidence of metastatic disease, with clear margins on the superior mesenteric artery and vein (Figs 1,2). Final histological examination revealed a 20 × 20 × 20 mm tumour, 20 mm proximal to the ampulla. Upon microscopic analysis, the tumour was pathognomic for gangliocytic paraganglioma (GP) – triphasic morphology with an admixture of epithelioid cells, ganglion cells and spindle cells (Fig. 3). There was characteristic positive staining for synaptophysin in the epithelioid cells and ganglion cells; positive staining for chromogranin and neurofilament protein (NFP) in the ganglion cells; and NFP and S100 | 232356051 |
4,506,926 | in the spindle cells. Sixteen lymph nodes showed only non-necrotizing granulomatous inflammation. The patient made an uneventful recovery, and remains disease free on follow-up. GPs are a rare subclass of duodenal neuroendocrine neoplasm, arising in proximity to the major duodenal papilla of Vater. According to the World Health Organization classification of gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), duodenal GPs are classified as low-grade NETs, based on their mitotic activity and Ki-67 proliferation index. However, there is an argument that GPs should be classified as an independent entity based on their clinical behaviour and better prognosis. The GP is characterized by its triphasic cellular differentiation: epithelioid neuroendocrine cells, spindle cells with Schwann cell differentiation and ganglion cells, all of which were identified on endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNA) in this case. The epithelioid cells resemble welldifferentiated NETs or paraganglioma in both cytologic and architectural features, and are generally positive for neuroendocrine markers such as synaptophysin and chromogranin, and are frequently positive for keratins. The spindle cells resemble those seen in peripheral nerve sheath tumours, and are generally positive for S100. The ganglion-like cells have characteristic abundant cytoplasm and prominent nucleoli, and are positive only for synaptophysin. These cell components can vary in distribution and proportion within the tumour itself, and upon diagnosis, care must be taken to biopsy multiple regions, so as to not sample a heterogeneous region and misdiagnose the GP as a well-differentiated NET, gastrointestinal stromal tumour, paraganglioma, leiomyoma or schwannoma. EUS-FNA was undertaken as tissue diagnosis confirms the diagnosis, with immunohistochemical examination (progesterone receptor | 232356051 |
4,506,927 | and pancreatic polypeptide), allowing for identification of GP even on small biopsy specimens. | 232356051 |
4,506,928 | Factors controlling diurnal variation in the isotopic composition of atmospheric water vapour observed in the taiga, eastern Siberia Deciduous forest covers vast areas of permafrost under severe dry climate in eastern Siberia. Understanding the water cycle in this forest ecosystem is quite important for climate projection. In this study, diurnal variations in isotopic compositions of atmospheric water vapour were observed in eastern Siberia with isotope analyses of precipitation, sap water of larch trees, soil water, and water in surface organic layer during the late summer periods of 2006, 2007, and 2008. In these years, the soil moisture content was considerably high due to unusually large amounts of summer rainfall and winter snowfall. The observed sap water δ18O ranged from −17.9‰ to −13.3‰, which was close to that of summer precipitation and soil water in the shallow layer, and represents that of transpired water vapour. On sunny days, as the air temperature and mixing ratio rose from predawn to morning, the atmospheric water vapour δ18O increased by 1‰ to 5‰ and then decreased by about 2‰ from morning to afternoon with the mixing ratio. On cloudy days, by contrast, the afternoon decrease in δ18O and the mixing ratio was not observed. These results show that water vapour that transpired from plants, with higher δ18O than the atmospheric water vapour, contributes to the increase in δ18O in the morning, whereas water vapour in the free atmosphere, with lower δ18O, contributes to the decrease in the afternoon on sunny days. The observed results reveal the significance of transpired water | 129137901 |
4,506,929 | vapour, with relatively high δ18O, in the water cycle on a short diurnal time scale and confirm the importance of the recycling of precipitation through transpiration in continental forest environments such as the eastern Siberian taiga. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. | 129137901 |
4,506,930 | [A competency-based approach for nursing care instruction. Analysis of teaching practices]. The aims of this qualitative research is in understanding how the teaching methods of nursing instructors favor the student's development in competency. Eight nursing instructors were interviewed in a non-directive approach. A thematic as well as a structural analysis of the data indicates that in the majority of cases, their methods are based primarily on an impression and conditioning model, and in an isolated approach on an interactive and constructive model. The analysis of the nursing instructors' accounts in regards to their role as educators illustrates: an inadequacy between teaching goals and the choices of pedagogical methods; an ambivalent and unclear understanding of their role as instructor leading to the privileging of strategies for their success rate over teaching quality. inconsistencies in conveying the training and qualification evaluations as well as between the theoretical and clinical evaluations. In conclusion, various individual strategies, institutional and national, are offered with the view of favoring a competence-based approach for nursing training. | 42501551 |
4,506,931 | Relevant approach to assess performances of wastewater biosolids composting in terms of micropollutants removal. The presence of organic pollutants in wastewater biosolids and their possible impact to the environment contribute to decrease interest for the agricultural spreading of biosolids. It is thus important to have a better overview of sewage sludge quality in terms of organic pollutant content and ecotoxicity assessment. It is also necessary to better understand the impact of biosolid composting processes on the pollutant and toxicity removal. Therefore, concentrations of oestrogens (E), nonyphenol ethoxylates (NPE), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and linear alkyl benzene sulphonates (LAS) and some of their associated toxic effects were determined at different stages of a composting process using, respectively, chemical analysis and in vitro bioassays (estrogen receptor alpha, dioxin receptor and pregnan X receptor reporter cell lines). Pollutants concentrations were higher in the final compost than in biosolid due to dry matter reduction through composting. Mass balance calculation shows a positive impact of the aerobic treatment on the removal of the most degradable pollutants. The three toxicological activities were measured in both biosolids and in the initial and final compost: oestrogenic activity increased whereas dioxin-like and pregnan X activities decreased. The difficulty in correlating chemical and toxicological results underlines the importance of combining both approaches in order to improve the assessment of the compost quality. | 20277201 |
4,506,932 | Proof of Concept of a Low-Cost Beam-Steering Hybrid Reflectarray that Mixes Microstrip and Lens Elements Using Passive Demonstrators In this article, a proof-of-concept study on the use of a hybrid design technique to reduce the number of phase shifters of a beam-scanning reflectarray (RA) is presented. An extended hemispherical lens antenna with feeds inspired by the retrodirective array is developed as a reflecting element, and the hybrid design technique mixes the lenses with the microstrip patch elements to realize a reflecting surface. Compared to the conventional designs that only use microstrip antennas to realize a reflecting surface, given a fixed aperture size the presented design uses 25 percent fewer array elements while shows comparable beam-steering performance. As a result of using fewer elements, the number of required phase shifters or other equivalent components such as RF switches and tunable materials is reduced by 25 percent, which leads to the reduction of the overall antenna system's complexity, cost, and power consumption. To verify the design concept, two passive prototypes with a center frequency at 12.5 GHz were designed and fabricated. The reflecting surface was fabricated by using standard PCB manufacturing and the lenses were fabricated using 3D printing. Good agreement between the simulation and measurement results is obtained. The presented design concept can be extended to the design of RAs operating at different frequency bands including millimetre-wave frequencies with similar radiation performances. The presented design method is not limited to the microstrip patch reflecting elements and can also be applied to the design of the hybrid RAs | 246753301 |
4,506,933 | with different types of reflecting elements. | 246753301 |
4,506,934 | The Nutrition Transition in American Indians The purpose of this article was to examine whether a nutritional transition has occurred among American Indians (AI) by evaluating related articles and government health statistics. Findings indicate that although the primary health risk for the AI population around 1970 was undernutrition, now there is an obesity epidemic among all age groups that is associated with a loss of traditional food practices and reduced physical activity. Deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and cancer have outpaced death from infectious disease. With abundant high-energy foods and limited physical activity, the acculturated environment has resulted in obesity and increased mortality from chronic diseases. To improve AI health and survival, the obesity epidemic must be approached in a concerted, culturally appropriate manner with encouragement of traditional foods and safe opportunities for physical activity. | 43142701 |
4,506,935 | AIDS: MetLife's experience. The national health burden created by AIDS/HIV disease has had a significant impact on the insurance industry. In an analysis of the MetLife health and life insurance claims from 1986 through 1989, it was found that a total of $323,900,000 has been paid for AIDS/HIV disease. This figure and related information from those years were based on the Company's underwriting and claims files, with personal and group operations reported separately. Personal life insurance claims rose from 344 in 1986 to 874 in 1989 with the dollar amounts increasing from $3.2 million to $8.9 million. In 1989 there were 689 group life claims with a face amount of $31.5 million and 6,450 people who received group medical claim payments for a total of $111.2 million. In 1989 AIDS claims comprised 1.61 percent of MetLife claims--up from 0.4 percent in 1986. | 37274551 |
4,506,936 | Identification of Marbon in the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal. Marbon is isomeric with Dechlorane Plus (DP). Both are produced by the Diels-Alder condensation of hexachlorocyclopentadiene with cyclic dienes, and both have elemental compositions of C18H12Cl12. Dechlorane Plus is commonly found in the environment throughout the world, but Marbon has, so far, only been detected at low levels in one sediment core collected near the mouth of the Niagara River in Lake Ontario. Here we report on the concentrations of Marbon and anti-DP in 59 water samples from five Lake Michigan tributaries [the Grand, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and Lower Fox Rivers, and the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal (IHSC)], 10 surface sediment samples from the IHSC, and 2 surface sediment samples from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Three Marbon diastereomers were detected in the water and sediment samples from the IHSC, which is far from the location of its previous detection in Lake Ontario. The sum of the concentrations of the three Marbons was greater in the water from the IHSC (N = 11, median =150 pg/L) compared to those in water from the other four tributaries (N = 11-13, medians =0.9-2.0 pg/L). Marbon concentrations in sediment samples from the IHSC were up to 450 ng/g dry weight. Anti-DP was also measured for comparison. Its concentrations were not significantly different among the water samples, but its sediment concentrations in the IHSC were significantly correlated with those of Marbon. The source of Marbon contamination in the IHSC is not clear. | 670801 |
4,506,937 | Identification of new rat dentin proteoglycans utilizing C18 chromatography. Although only one small PG has been identified in dentin until now, a preliminary investigation has shown indications of the presence of several new proteoglycans (PGs) in rat incisor dentin. The aim of the present investigation was to isolate and characterize these PGs, which were labeled with 35S to facilitate the analysis. C18 chromatography resolved five dentin PGs. Based on SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, their size varied from 100 to 400 kDa. The core proteins of the first four PGs appeared as 25, 40, 70, and 115 kDa bands. They stained turquoise with Stains All but did not stain with Coomassie Brilliant Blue. The core protein of the fifth PG appeared at about 45 kDa. This core protein stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue but not with Stains All. In all PGs, the glycosaminoglycans consisted mainly of chondroitin 4-sulfate. To investigate their incorporation into predentin (young dentin that is not yet mineralized) and dentin, rat dentin PGs were pulse-labeled by injecting rats with [35S]sulfate at 5, 28, 55, or 177 h before killing the animals. Radiolabeling of predentin PGs was highest after 5 h and decreased rapidly (76%) over the next 50 h. In dentin PGs, a large percentage (34%) of the final quantity of incorporated 35S (at 177 h) was already present at 5 h. C18 chromatography of dentin PGs for each of the four time intervals showed similar 35S distribution patterns representing all five PGs, whereas the predentin appeared to contain mainly the fifth PG. This study | 5556101 |
4,506,938 | demonstrates the existence of several apparently novel PGs in dentin that can be resolved by the use of a new method. These PGs were found in mineralized dentin and are thought to be rapidly transported toward the mineralization front. Part of the predentin PGs, on the other hand, seems to be lost as mineralization proceeds. | 5556101 |
4,506,939 | Behavior of shell structures Shell structures have been used in construction for many years to span over large columnless spaces. New forms and variations on old ones have become popular in construction. The structural action of shells facilitates the efficient use of materials. The wide variety of shapes available results in aesthetically pleasing structures that enclose flexible space. There are many approaches to the analysis and design of shell structures. The laws governing the behavior of general shell structures are given by the mathematically intensive general shell theory. The theory is valid for any shell under any loading condition, but requires the use of highly advanced mathematics to arrive at a solution. The membrane theory neglects the bending stresses in shells and simplifies the process of analysis considerably. But the membrane theory is only valid under special conditions. This thesis aims to 1) provide the reader with an introduction to various methods of shell analysis, and 2) to examine the effects of certain parameters upon the occurrence of bending in shell structures. The use of the approximate method and computer based finite element analysis are explained in detail. The parametric analysis is intended to provide some insight as to the influence of certain geometrical properties on the stress systems of shell structures. THESIS SUPERVISOR: JEROME J. CONNOR TITLE: PROFESSOR OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING | 16488401 |
4,506,940 | Synthesis of Highly Tetragonal BaTiO3 Nanopowders Using Acetone as a Solvent by Alkoxide–Hydroxide Route BaTiO3 (BT) nanopowders were synthesized in acetone to remove the TiO2 second phase, which was formed in the specimens synthesized in the 2-methoxyethanol solvent at above 100 °C due to H2O evaporation. No TiO2 second phase was formed in the specimens synthesized in acetone, even at 260 °C, due to the low boiling temperature of acetone which evaporated at above 55 °C and suppressed the H2O evaporation by increasing the vapor pressure in the vessel. However, for the BT nanopowders synthesized at 250 °C for 60 h, TiO2 second phase was formed at a Ba/Ti ratio of ≤1.5 and the BT nanopowders were agglomerated at a ratio of ≥3.0. Homogeneous BT nanopowders were obtained at a ratio of 2.0 and they exhibited a high c/a ratio of 1.0082 with a small size of 95.2 nm. Therefore, these nanopowders can be a good candidate for future multi-layer ceramic capacitor. | 95569251 |
4,506,941 | Retorika Islam Nusantara Elit Intelektual NU di Media Online This article reports on study of NU’s elite intellectual rhetoric on Islam Nusantara published by NU’s official web portal. Using Stephen Toulmin's rhetorical analysis and the Teun A. van Dijk's text analysis, the findings illustrate that the rhetoric of NU's elite intellectuals on Islam Nusantara, conveyed through their articles, frequently presents the background attributed to the NU's 33rd summit and provides argumentation based on a local situation that are directed to make the conclusion that Islam Nusantara is a distinctive Islam of NU. It is not aimed to localize Islam, but it attempts to understand and perform Islamic teachings, without putting aside the place where Muslims are held and embraced. | 158556501 |
4,506,942 | Effect of Motor Imagery Training on Somatosensory Evoked Potentials and Upper Limb Function in Stroke Patients Background: Motor imagery is the mental representation of an action without overt movement or muscle activation. However, few previous studies have demonstrated motor imagery training effects as an objective assessment tool in patients with early stroke. Objective: To investigate the effect of motor imagery training on Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SSEP) and upper limb function of stroke patients. Design: A quasi-experimental study. Methods: Twenty-four patients with stroke were enrolled in this study. All subjects were assigned to the experimental or control group. All participants received traditional occupational therapy for 30 minutes, 5 times a week. The experimental group performed an additional task of motor imagery training (MIT) 20 minutes per day, 5 days a week, for 4 weeks. Both groups were assessed using the SSEP amplitude, Fugl-Meyer assessment of upper extremity (FMA UE) and Wolf motor function test. Results: After the intervention, the experimental group showed significant improvement in SSEP amplitude and FMA UE than did the control group. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the MIT effectively improve the SSEP and upper limb function of stroke patients. | 216500851 |
4,506,943 | 1494 An Audit on The Management of Adhesional Small Bowel Obstruction at St Helier Hospital To compare our current management of adhesional small bowel obstruction (ASBO) with the BMJ best practice treatment algorithm1 and National audit for small bowel obstruction 20172 guidelines and produce a flow chart to aid stasndardised : Data collected prospectively from the general surgical take list over a three-month. Thirty-five patients were diagnosed with ASBO. All patients were prescribed IV fluids. Thirty-four (97.1%) and 31 patients (88.6%) received analgesia and anti-emetics, respectively. Twenty-one patients (82.9%) had a NG tube inserted. Five patients (14.3%) underwent laparotomies within 37 hours from time of admission. Thirty patients (85.7%) underwent a trial of conservative management. Twenty-four patients (80%) received water-soluble contrast, of whom 13 (59.1%) were managed successfully. Eight patients (36.3%) failed to resolve and underwent emergency laparotomy within 70 hours from admission. One patient (2.9%) failed conservative management and was palliated. Our results are in line with national standards. Our first line management for ASBO (analgesia, anti-emetics and NG insertion) could be instituted more promptly. Failure of NG insertion is multifactorial, an improved insertion rate may have further positive impact on conservative management outcome. A step-by-step sequential flow chart could introduce on induction at the beginning of general surgical rotation could help to re-iterate this management. | 244603201 |
4,506,944 | Improving the performance of flat heat pipes by exploiting benefits of additive manufacturing Next to the industrial pick-up of Flat Heat Pipe (FHP) technology, the overall understanding of its two-phase heat transfer characteristics will contribute to further improvements of its performance. In this study, an FHP with dimensions of 20×40×6 mm3 was designed and manufactured. Investigations until now have concentrated on conventional manufacturing technologies rather than on the performance of FHPs using novel Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques. Surface-functional wick structures were additively fabricated having the appearance of a screen mesh enriched with sintered-like microstructures. The effects of heat load (ranging from 7.5 to 82.5 kW/m2), cooling water temperature (ranging from 25°C to 45°C) and inclination angle (horizontal to vertical) on the FHP's heat transfer characteristics were examined experimentally. In this paper, key performance indicators, such as temperature distribution, thermal resistance and superheat, are discussed. Results show that the developed FHP can effectively transfer heat. Moreover, optimal combinations of cooling water temperature and inclination angle were found defined by the lowest superheat and thermal resistance. A minimum total thermal resistance of 0.30 K/W for a heat load of 67.5 kW/m2 was reached for the following conditions: (a) 30° inclination angle and 25°C cooling water temperature, or (b) horizontal orientation and 35°C cooling water temperature. Moreover, as the cooling water temperature decreases from 45°C to 25°C, the condenser wall temperature decreases; however, thermal resistances do not decrease continuously as well. Also, tilting the FHP at relatively high heat loads does not impact the thermal performance. The FHP proposed | 253804301 |
4,506,945 | in this study profits from novel AM fabrication capabilities and could suit thermal management challenges of current and future electronic components due to its excellent heat transfer characteristics, consistent temperature distribution and manufacturing flexibility. | 253804301 |
4,506,946 | Polymer dots and derived hybrid nanomaterials: A review Quantum dots are tiny (∼5 nm) nanoparticles with outstanding electronic, optical, luminescence, and semiconducting properties. Polymer dots are important and unique quantum dots. Polymer dots have been designed and used for advanced hybrid nanomaterials and applications. This review article deliberates scientific trials on design, fabrication, characteristics, and technical solicitations of polymer dot-based nanomaterials. Polymer dots are made from both conducting and non-conducting polymers with appropriate processing techniques. Polymer dots have facile surface modification tendencies. Functional polymer dots have an important use in hybrid/nanocomposite materials. Consequently, polymer dots have been combined with other quantum dots and nanoparticles to form advanced hybrid nanomaterials. Polymer dot-based nanomaterials have unique morphology, conductivity, electrochemical, luminescence, and sensing features. Subsequently, many applications are seen for polymer dot nanomaterials as solar cell, supercapacitor, electronics, probes, gas sensor, biosensor, bioimaging, and drug delivery. | 234853251 |
4,506,947 | [Analytical method for natamycin in wine using high-performance liquid chromatography]. An analytical method was developed for determining amount of natamycin in wine using a C18 minicartridge column and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with photodiode array (PDA) detection. Natamycin purified from wine was identified in accordance with the retention time and UV spectrum obtained from PDA detection. The limit of quantification of natamycin in wine was estimated as 0.05 microg/ml. Recovery of natamycin in wine was acceptable at 91.0% with low relative standard deviation (2.3%). | 20277951 |
4,506,948 | Okadaic acid activates microtubule-associated protein kinase in quiescent fibroblastic cells. Okadaic acid is a potent and specific inhibitor of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A, and is a strong tumor promoter that is not an activator of protein kinase C. Treatment of quiescent cultures of rat fibroblastic 3Y1 cells with okadaic acid induced marked activation of a kinase activity that phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein (MAP) 2 and myelin basic protein, but not histone or casein, in vitro. This activated kinase eluted at approximately 0.15 M NaCl on a DEAE-cellulose column and its apparent molecular mass was determined to be approximately 40 kDa by gel filtration. Detection of the kinase activity in polyacrylamide gels containing substrate proteins after sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis revealed that the okadaic-acid-activated kinase activity resided mainly in two closely related polypeptides with apparent molecular mass approximately 40 kDa. The characteristics of this kinase were indistinguishable from those of the mitogen-activated MAP kinase in the same cells. The okadaic-acid-activated MAP kinase was deactivated by protein phosphatase 2A treatment in vitro. These results suggest that MAP kinase is negatively regulated by protein phosphatases 1 and/or 2A in quiescent cells and therefore can be activated by inhibiting these protein phosphatases. Interestingly, the okadaic-acid-induced activation of MAP kinase was transient and epidermal-growth-factor-induced activation was also transient, even in the presence of okadaic acid. These data may imply that protein phosphatases 1 and 2A are not involved in the deactivation of MAP kinase in cells. | 26026651 |
4,506,949 | The Role of Hormone Therapy in Female Aesthetic Rejuvenation. Hormones are intricately involved in age-related aesthetic changes. Declining levels of several hormones in the postmenopausal period are associated with unwanted changes in appearance, including weight gain, fat redistribution, aged skin, and hair thinning. Hormone therapies may prevent or reverse these changes. In this article, we explore the role of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and melatonin in female aesthetics. Based on our current understanding of the literature, dermatologists may safely and efficaciously incorporate several hormone formulations in their repertoire of treatments for female aesthetic rejuvenation. J Drugs Dermatol. 2022;21(9):954-960. doi:10.36849/JDD.6232. | 252120451 |
4,506,950 | A multi-criteria decision making approach to identify a vaccine formulation ABSTRACT This article illustrates the use of a multi-criteria decision making approach, based on desirability functions, to identify an appropriate adjuvant composition for an influenza vaccine to be used in elderly. The proposed adjuvant system contained two main elements: monophosphoryl lipid and α-tocopherol with squalene in an oil/water emulsion. The objective was to elicit a stronger immune response while maintaining an acceptable reactogenicity and safety profile. The study design, the statistical models, the choice of the desirability functions, the computation of the overall desirability index, and the assessment of the robustness of the ranking are all detailed in this manuscript. | 6317851 |
4,506,951 | Genitourinary infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria at a university hospital in Taiwan, 1996-2008. Genitourinary infections caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are rarely reported. The medical records of all patients with genitourinary NTM infections treated at National Taiwan University Hospital from 1996-2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Fifteen patients were identified, of whom 10 (67%) were male. More than two-thirds of patients had underlying conditions, the most common of which was chronic renal disease. Only one patient had AIDS. Acid-fast smears of urine were negative in all patients. Eleven isolates were available for further confirmation by sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Mycobacterium avium complex was the most common (n = 5, 33%), followed by both Mycobacterium abscessus (n = 2; 13%) and Mycobacterium fortuitum (n = 2; 13%). Of the 12 patients receiving anti-NTM treatment, only four received adequate prescribed regimens and none died of NTM infections. Two patients died of refractory urosepsis before the urinary NTM infections were diagnosed. The clinical characteristics of the 15 patients were also compared with 43 previously reported patients with genitourinary tuberculosis. Patients with genitourinary NTM infections were more likely to report constitutional symptoms, seek medical help within 1 month after the onset of symptoms and develop leukocytosis. Patients with genitourinary tuberculosis were more likely to have ureteral strictures and abnormal chest radiographs associated with active or inactive tuberculosis. Although rare, genitourinary NTM infections pose a significant threat to life and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of genitourinary infections, especially when patients are unresponsive to conventional antibiotic treatment. | 1509801 |
4,506,952 | Predicting Crowdworkers' Performance as Human-Sensors for Robot Navigation This paper provides and evaluates a new paradigm for collaborative human-robot operation in search and rescue-like settings with information asymmetry. In particular, we focus on settings where the human, a crowdworker in our case, is used as a sensor, providing the route-planning module with essential environmental information. In such settings, the ability to predict the expected performance of the collaborating crowdworker in real-time is instrumental for maintaining a continuously high level of performance. Through an extensive set of experiments with crowdworkers recruited and interacted through Amazon Mechanical Turk, we show that effective online prediction is indeed possible, however only if distinguishing between two subpopulations of crowdworkers, termed ”operators” and ”sensors”, applying a different prediction model to each. Furthermore, we show that even the classification of crowdworkers to the two types can be carried out successfully in real-time, based merely on the first two minutes of collaboration. Finally, we demonstrate how the above abilities can be used for a more effective workers’ recruiting process, resulting in a substantially improved overall performance. | 225146251 |
4,506,953 | Induction machine bearing faults detection based on artificial neural network Electrical machines are frequently facing bearing faults due to fatigue or wear. The detection of any damages in their incipient phase can contribute to prevention of unplanned breakdowns in industrial environment. In this paper an artificial neural network (ANN) based bearing fault detection method is detailed. Upon this method the phase currents of the induction machines are measured and analyzed by means of a new classifier scheme laying on a flexible ANN and an optimal smoothed graphical representation. For both the healthy and faulty machines specific kernels were identified. The results obtained by using the proposed classifier show that the applied Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for the ANN training is an excellent choice for such diagnosis purposes and it can be a beneficial method for all electrical machine diagnosticians. | 13942451 |
4,506,954 | A Convenient and Efficient Moldable Dressing for Skin Grafts In this paper we present our positive experience with use of Aquaplast thermoplastic as a tiedown dressing for securing and maintaining skin grafts in good position against their nutrient recipient beds. This unique polymer is safe to use, simple to apply, and maintains uniform pressure across the entire surface of the skin graft, no matter how contoured the shape of the anatomical region. | 8700601 |
4,506,955 | II: Political Thinkers and Ideas/Penseurs et Idées Politiques This study starts from the assumption that the theory of distributive justice as fairness, theorized by John Rawls and the theory of justice as entitlement outlined by Robert Nozick, are the main rivals in the arena of debate in contemporary political philosophy. After reiterating the arguments that describe R. Nozick's conceptual framework relating to the minimal state and the right of property, the author brings into discussion the contrasting elements of the two approaches about the social justice. [R] | 220710851 |
4,506,956 | The Project BIBLIO – Boosting Digital Skills and Competencies for Librarians in Europe: An Innovative Training Model for Creating Digital Librarian Abstract The role of digital libraries is changing, offering new services supporting the user’s activities. Libraries and librarians are facing the need of a reinvention of models, ways of working and techniques. The project BIBLIO – Boosting digital skills and competencies for librarians in Europe: A new perspective for curation of Digital Cultural Heritage addresses the skills gap in the library sector due to the digital transformation that is changing the role of libraries and library professionals. The paper describes how the project is planning to facilitate the acquisition of digital and transversal competencies for library professionals, by setting up a system for competencies assessment, learning offer and validation and recognition. | 212824751 |
4,506,957 | Implementation Challenges and Functional Outcome Predictors for Elder Community-Based Disability Prevention Programs Background and Purpose:Strategies to foster elder well-being and reduce long-term care costs include efficacious community disability prevention programs. However, it is often difficult to replicate clinical trials into real-world practice settings. We (a) compared replication and clinical trial functional changes, (b) compared replication and clinical trial program structures and processes of care, and, additionally, (c) examined how replication client and site features are associated with function. Methods:We used secondary longitudinal data on 719 elder clients, and primary data through interviews with nurses, social workers, and site managers for the replication, and compared this to original trial data. We analyzed associations between baseline self-efficacy and functional outcomes and between site features and functional outcomes using multivariate and logistic models for the replication. Results:Replication functional outcome changes were lower and structures and processes were less intense than in the original clinical trial. Baseline client higher self-efficacy positively influenced 12-month function, and smaller sites and urban sites had better functional outcomes than larger sites and rural sites for the replication. Discussion and Conclusion:Exploring systemic strategies for using available resources to improve research translation is essential. In addition, practitioners need to focus on client self-efficacy enhancement techniques, which may be more important in replication studies to improve function. | 23797101 |
4,506,958 | Configuration from bare metal to the cloud-leveraging modern systems to enhance manageability Most users of a platform see the operating system as a fully instantiated entity. But from a system administration perspective, the platform is just as much the operating system (OS) and its application suite as it is the underlying substrate upon which the OS has been installed. And it is this substrate which includes hardware and firmware elements. Of the two, the firmware works in conjunction with the hardware and the OS-level installers and infrastructure code to both provision, manage, and recover a platform. The details of these firmware behaviors for management of the overall platform include capabilities to explicate the platform state, health, and security posture. Some of the platform capabilities can in turn be updated by the platform owner for interfaces that adjust the configuration of the machine. To particularize some of the points made above, industry standard firmware infrastructure, such as found in the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) [1], shall be used to demonstrate user cases and scenarios around the bare metal secure management of a platform. This will include both the extant challenges and emergent opportunities in fusing these firmware capabilities with an overall management strategy. | 51750351 |
4,506,959 | The Conflict in South Africa: Directed or Chaotic The domestic strife in South Africa between ruling whites and subordinated blacks threatens to become a major conflict of violent dimensions in the African continent. This strife is primarily a consequence of racial policies promulgated by the white, apartheid regime. Donald Woods (1978) describes apartheid in South Africa as “government of the blacks, by the whites, for the whites.” Since the early 1970’s, a new black movement has emerged to challenge the white regime “taking as its leitmotif the raising of black consciousness’’ (Ferguson and Cotter, 1978). This has led to uprisings of increasing violence in black communities mainly by university students and urban blacks inviting white police intervention and serious suppression of black organizations. . Worldwide attention has been drawn, in recent years, to the rioting incidents at Soweto; t o the death in detention of the new black movement’s acknowledged leader, Steve Biko; “the arrest of Percy Qoboza, editor of the IVorld, the largest black newspaper in South Africa; the banning of Donald Woods, editor of the ‘white’ Daily Dispatch; and the closure of the World itself.” (Ferguson and Cotter, 1978). But, there is even greater denial of human rights as a result of apartheid than is indicated by these incidents. The resignation of Prime Minister John Vorster and the selection of Defense Minister P.W. Botha to replace him signals to the international community the uncertainty surrounding the potential outcome of apartheid policies in the area. Since the appearance of whites in the Southern African region, | 145168601 |
4,506,960 | internal political problems as well as human rights issues have existed. | 145168601 |
4,506,961 | Sex Differences in Cardiac Baroreflex Sensitivity after Isometric Handgrip Exercise Purpose This study aimed to investigate potential sex-related differences on spontaneous cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (cBRS) after acute isometric handgrip (IHG) exercise. Methods Twenty men (age, 23 ± 3 yr) and 20 women (age, 24 ± 4 yr) randomly performed four sets of 2-min IHG exercise (two sets for each limb) at 30% maximal voluntary contraction (experimental) or 3% maximal voluntary contraction (sham). Beat-to-beat heart rate (HR) and arterial blood pressure (BP) were monitored using finger photoplethysmography before and 10, 20, and 30 min after IHG. Spontaneous cBRS was assessed via the sequence technique and cardiac autonomic modulation via time- and frequency-domain HR variability. Results After IHG, spontaneous cBRS increased during 10 min of recovery in men (&Dgr;13% ± 5%, P = 0.03 vs rest) and increased further in women (&Dgr;23% ± 4%, P < 0.01 vs rest; P = 0.04 vs men). During 20 and 30 min of recovery, cBRS returned to baseline in men but remained elevated in women. HR decreased 10 min after IHG in men (10 min: &Dgr;-2 ± 1 bpm, P < 0.01 vs rest; 20 min: &Dgr;-1 ± 1 bpm, P = 0.39 vs rest; 30 min: &Dgr;1 ± 1 bpm, P = 0.31 vs rest) and throughout recovery in women (10 min: &Dgr;-5 ± 1 bpm, P < 0.01 vs rest; 20 min: &Dgr;-3 ± 1 bpm, P < 0.01 vs rest; 30 min: &Dgr;-2 ± 1 bpm, P < 0.01 vs rest). Systolic BP increased 10 min after IHG | 80176551 |
4,506,962 | and remained elevated during 20 min and 30 min in men (P < 0.05). In women, systolic BP increased during 10 min (P < 0.01) and returned to baseline during 20 and 30 min of recovery. Time-domain HR variability (root mean square of successive differences) was increased during recovery in men and women (P < 0.05). Sham had no effect on any variables. Conclusions Acute IHG exercise increases cBRS and cardiac vagal activity in healthy young subjects, but the magnitude and the time course of changes in cBRS differ between men and women. | 80176551 |
4,506,963 | Recognition of speech in noise after application of time-frequency masks: dependence on frequency and threshold parameters. Binary time-frequency (TF) masks can be applied to separate speech from noise. Previous studies have shown that with appropriate parameters, ideal TF masks can extract highly intelligible speech even at very low speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Two psychophysical experiments provided additional information about the dependence of intelligibility on the frequency resolution and threshold criteria that define the ideal TF mask. Listeners identified AzBio Sentences in noise, before and after application of TF masks. Masks generated with 8 or 16 frequency bands per octave supported nearly-perfect identification. Word recognition accuracy was slightly lower and more variable with 4 bands per octave. When TF masks were generated with a local threshold criterion of 0 dB SNR, the mean speech reception threshold was -9.5 dB SNR, compared to -5.7 dB for unprocessed sentences in noise. Speech reception thresholds decreased by about 1 dB per dB of additional decrease in the local threshold criterion. Information reported here about the dependence of speech intelligibility on frequency and level parameters has relevance for the development of non-ideal TF masks for clinical applications such as speech processing for hearing aids. | 206470101 |
4,506,964 | Polymorphism at selected defence gene analogs (DGAs) of Musa accessions in Mauritius One of the major diseases affecting banana is Sigatoka or leaf spot disease that comprises three species, Mycosphaerella fijiensis , Mycosphaerella musicola and Mycosphaerella eumusae . Plants have a large number of defence related genes which trigger a cascade of defense responses that halt the spread of pathogens. Knowledge of the diversity present in genes related to the defense against Sigatoka disease will be useful in developing disease resistant banana cultivars. The defence genes of all sterile commercial banana cultivars (AAA genomes) are considered to have arisen from a similar gene pool belonging to the Musa acuminata complex. The objectives of this study were, (i) to assess the disease response of twelve banana cultivars to M. eumusae, (ii) to assess the level of polymorphisms in selected genes associated with defence against Sigatoka in banana, and (iii) ascertain if this polymorphism was related to levels of resistance to M. eumusae . Defence genes reported to act in response to M. fijiensis were selected and related to the response of M. eumusae . The genetic diversity of selected defence gene analogs (DGA) was assessed using degenerate primers designed from conserved motifs in the aligned amino acid sequences from known resistance genes. Highly polymorphic amplicon profiles for DGAs were selected for comparison. Cluster analysis was used to differentiate to some extent, cultivars considered as resistant/susceptible to M. eumusae . Specific amplicons from the profiles of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), iron superoxide dismutase (FeSOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) were | 15708551 |
4,506,965 | unique to a group of resistant cultivars and could act as markers for resistance to M. eumusae . Keywords: Banana, defence gene analogs, polymorphism | 15708551 |
4,506,966 | Measuring the Effect of Bankruptcy Laws on Entrepreneurship Across Countries Two recent papers examine the impact of corporate bankruptcy laws on new business start-ups in 29 countries over 1990 - 2008 (Peng et al., 2010; Lee et al., 2010). In this commentary, I briefly point out two significant issues which future researchers might want to consider. First, several countries in the data examined had changed their personal and corporate bankruptcy laws over the years studied. It is statistically inappropriate and inaccurate to treat bankruptcy laws as time invariant, as in Peng et al. (2010) and Lee et al. (2010), particularly in view of the dramatic changes in bankruptcy laws over time in so many countries. Second, Peng et al. (2010) and Lee et al. (2010) have a misplaced focus on corporate bankruptcy law while ignoring personal bankruptcy law. This focus is at odds with theory and prior work on topic which relates entrepreneurship to personal bankruptcy law. | 55629451 |
4,506,967 | Comparison Between Two Brain Computer Interface Systems Aiming to Control a Mobile Robot A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a type of communication device between the brain and a computer system without the need of normal muscle activation pathways. This technology has offered patients with locked-in syndrome a way to communicate with the outside world. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a comparison between two state of the art pieces of BCI equipment. One employs the active dry electrodes on a non-portable BCI system, and the second is the g.Nautilus wearable BCI device with active wet electrodes. The applications in question deal with the control of a mobile robotic platform using the Steady State Visually Evoked Potential and the Motor Imagery methods. The comparison takes into account delays in controlling the external device, the performances to collect the proper EEG signals, their treatment and extraction of the required info for the proposed control, time to prepare the required set-up etc. | 244274551 |
4,506,968 | Competitive Technical Intelligence applying Collaborative Learning: a Holistic Model approach to improve identification of opportunities to innovate The purpose of this paper is to present the Holistic Model, a new education model concerning the methodology of Competitive Technical Intelligence (CTI). CTI adds key value to foster innovation and to support the strategic decision process through the analysis of the external environment. Despite the increasing amount of research concerning CTI, the teaching-learning process has been rarely analyzed. With the objective of tackling this weakness, and as a result of years of pedagogic and technical research and implementation, a course in this field and later, a Holistic Model were developed. This model integrates Collaborative Learning to enhance the teaching-learning process. It has been applied in different academic and business courses. In particular, a retrospective analysis is given of a Master’s degree course. This analysis is focused on students’ projects where a systematic analysis of the external environment was made aiming at identifying future trends and opportunities to innovate. | 15875401 |
4,506,969 | P050: Unplanned return visits to the paediatric emergency department: Caregiver and physician perspectives Introduction: Unplanned return visits to the pediatric emergency department contribute to overcrowding and are used as a quality measure. They have not been well characterized in the literature making it difficult to design interventions to reduce unnecessary return visits. The aim of this study was to understand the reasons for return from the caregiver and physician perspective. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey performed on a convenience sample of unplanned return visits within 72 hours at the IWK Health Centre ED between February and October 2016. Exclusion criteria were: planned return visit, admission during the index visit, or triaged as Canadian Triage and Acuity Score (CTAS) 1 on return visit. Caregiver and physician surveys were developed based on themes identified in published literature. The caregiver was approached to complete a survey after triage and the most responsible physician from the return visit was asked to complete a survey immediately after discharge of the patient from their care. Demographic and clinical data were collected from the ED record from the index and return visits. The primary outcome measure was most important reason for return from the caregiver perspective. Results: There were 461 return visits during the study period and 67 caregivers (14.5%) were included in the final analysis. The response rate for the physician survey was 71%. Caregivers and physicians reported that the most important reason for return was a perceived progression of illness requiring reassessment (79.1% and 66.7% respectively). The majority of | 155345751 |
4,506,970 | caregivers had a family physician on record (95%) but a minority attempted to access their family physician (19.4%) or a walk-in clinic (11.9%). Of those who contacted their family physician only 3 (23%) were offered an appointment within 48 hours and of those who did not contact their family physician 21 (38.2%) stated they would not be able to get an appointment in a reasonable amount of time. Despite this 97% would have trusted their family physician to manage their child's illness. Physicians surveyed stated that the return visit was necessary in 64.6% of cases. Conclusion: Caregivers returned to the ED due to a perceived progression of disease. While some cases may have been appropriate for management in a primary care setting, perceived difficulty with timely access was a barrier. Improved caregiver education about the natural history of disease and the urgency of follow up may reduce return ED visits. | 155345751 |
4,506,971 | Cross-linguistic comparison of speech errors produced by English- and French-speaking preschool-age children with developmental phonological disorders Abstract Twenty-four French-speaking children with developmental phonological disorders (DPD) were matched on percentage of consonants correct (PCC)-conversation, age, and receptive vocabulary measures to English-speaking children with DPD in order to describe how speech errors are manifested differently in these two languages. The participants’ productions of consonants on a single-word test of articulation were compared in terms of feature-match ratios for the production of target consonants, and type of errors produced. Results revealed that the French-speaking children had significantly lower match ratios for the major sound class features [+ consonantal] and [+ sonorant]. The French-speaking children also obtained significantly lower match ratios for [+ voice]. The most frequent type of errors produced by the French-speaking children was syllable structure errors, followed by segment errors, and a few distortion errors. On the other hand, the English-speaking children made more segment than syllable structure and distortion errors. The results of the study highlight the need to use test instruments with French-speaking children that reflect the phonological characteristics of French at multiple levels of the phonological hierarchy. | 10094451 |
4,506,972 | [Report of a case of bilateral adrenal teratoma with CA19-9 production]. Reports of adrenal teratomas in adults are rare, and all of adrenal teratomas which were reported in the literature were found in unilateral adrenal gland. This is the first reported case of CA19-9 producing huge teratomas found in bilateral adrenal gland. Twenty-two year-old woman was hospitalized for an episode of abdominal growing mass and an abnormality of high CA19-9 serum level. Operatively, bilateral adrenal tumors were removed, and the weights of right one and left one were 3976g and 618g, respectively. Histological diagnosis of both tumors was mature teratoma. Immunohistochemical findings revealed CA19-9 was produced from intestinal epithelium in teratoma. | 22174201 |
4,506,973 | An Imaging Compensation Algorithm for Correcting the Impact of Tropospheric Delay on Spaceborne High-Resolution SAR Atmospheric refraction in the troposphere causes the propagation speed of electromagnetic signals to be less than the light speed. This creates a difference between the actual propagation path delay and the distance of the geometrical straight-line path, i.e, a quantity known as the tropospheric delay. As classical imaging algorithms for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) do not take the tropospheric delay into account, imaging filters are designed based on the assumption of rectilinear propagation with the light speed. Therefore, a residual phase exists in imaging results, which affects focusing quality under the condition of high resolution. In order to compensate for the impact of tropospheric delay on focusing performance, this paper modifies the spaceborne SAR echo model and then proposes an imaging compensation algorithm. The key to this algorithm is to fit a range delay coefficient based on the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service model of zenith delay and Niell mapping function, which projects the zenith delay onto the looking direction. After range compensation, classical imaging, and azimuth compensation, which compose the proposed algorithm, the processed results are well focused. | 19197851 |
4,506,974 | Visualization and Microanalysis of Susceptible Regions in Tubular Pharmaceutical Glass Vials Using Scanning Electron Microscopy Studies to assess the risk of particulate matter for injectables have been done with several Type-I pharmaceutical glass vials [1]. To continue the investigation of quality issues in injectables, it is important to understand the condensation of alkali and its role in affecting the durability of vial. For pharmaceutical applications, tubular glass vial is desired because of its dimensional consistency, lower weight and good thermal conductivity [2]. Borosilicate Type-I tubular glass vials are generally used for primary packaging. However, the condensate produced in Type-I borosilicate glass vials may react with active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), disturb glass network and generate particulates [3]. In this case, the condensate on interior of glass vial could be used as a critical indicator of the pharmaceutical package susceptibility. | 225523301 |
4,506,975 | Serum HGF levels in acute renal rejection after living related renal transplantation Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a long sought-after hepatotrophic factor, has recently been shown to act as a renotrophic factor in regeneration of the kidney. We investigated serum HGF levels in 16 renal transplant patients. In patients with acute rejection, the serum HGF level was markedly increased (over 1 ng/ml), and its elevation was accompanied by an increase in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN). In contrast, serum HGF levels were continuously low in patients without rejection. We conclude that serum HGF may become a clinically useful marker for the assessment of acute renal rejection. | 35947711 |
4,506,976 | Curcumin Suppresses Phthalate-Induced Metastasis and the Proportion of Cancer Stem Cell (CSC)-like Cells via the Inhibition of AhR/ERK/SK1 Signaling in Hepatocellular Carcinoma. Recent evidence indicating that phthalates promote cancer development, including cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, has raised public health concerns. Here, we show that bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate promotes the migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. In addition, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate increased the proportion of cancer stem cell (CSC)-like cells and stemness maintenance in vitro as well as tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. The various activities of curcumin, including anticancer, anti-inflammation, antioxidation, and immunomodulation, have been investigated extensively. Curcumin suppressed phthalate-induced cell migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, decreased the proportion of CSC-like cells in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines in vitro, and inhibited tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. We also reveal that curcumin suppressed phthalate-induced migration, invasion, and CSC-like cell maintenance through inhibition of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor/ERK/SK1/S1P3 signaling pathway. Our results suggest that curcumin may be a potential antidote for phthalate-induced cancer progression. | 20521111 |
4,506,977 | Mobile Music Business Models in Asia's Emerging Markets In the telecom business, there has been a heavy competition from Internet, media and handset vendors companies. These over-the-top (OTT) players offer compiling telecom services, cause a transformation in the telecom business ecosystem, and the most challenging services posed here are media services. China, India and Indonesia, as world’s emerging markets in Asia, are predicted to take the largest share in the global mobile traffic explosion by 2015. It is critical for mobile network operators (MNOs) in this region to explore strategy for mobile media services, as mobile broadband is likely preferred compared to fixed broadband. In this paper, we analyze and compare mobile music business models used in these markets and structure the relation models between the key actors, using Actors, Relations and Business Activities (ARA) model. We present the economic models that are emerging, and an insight of why and how these multitudes actors are betting on currently. We found that the MNOs generally have a much stronger position compared to their counterparts in the developed markets, and the personalization services, like ring-back tone, are still a huge success. The actors tend to deliver the services by their own, rather than to collaborate in a horizontal business setting. | 6597611 |
4,506,978 | Maintaining a Bargaining Unit of Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (Sawp) Employees This chapter analyzes how threats and acts of blacklisting impeded the fair application of the collective agreement between UFCW Local 1518 and Sidhu & Sons. The detection and analysis of the blacklisting of bargaining unit members at Sidhu uncover important “truths” about the management of migration among temporary migrant workers with the prospect of return. Broadly, it demonstrates that institutionalized programs' mechanisms, promoted in the global policy discourse embracing migration management as a means of stemming the flow of “irregular migration,” can impede access to and the exercise of labor rights. More narrowly, it shows that SAWP's “best practices” are by no means neutral, but are instead consistent with the dynamics of global capitalism, producing a race to the bottom in conditions of work and employment. This model temporary migrant work program (TMWP) permits state officials to behave in unprincipled ways that can involve, among other things, defying collective agreement provisions by delegating key responsibilities related to readmission—such as recruitment, selection, and aspects of documentation—to those in the interior and posted abroad. It also illustrates vividly how a labor relations tribunal compelled to prioritize national, and thereby sending-state, sovereignty, can be inhibited in—and even prevented from—implementing and enforcing host-state labor laws under its oversight. | 219819561 |
4,506,979 | Using a clinical pathway to support normal birth: impact on practitioner roles and working practices. BACKGROUND Widespread concerns are being voiced in the Western world about rising rates of childbirth intervention. In Wales, United Kingdom, a Clinical Pathway for Normal Labour (Normal Labour Pathway) was devised to support normal childbirth and reduce unnecessary interventions. This study investigated the implementation of the pathway, from the perspective of midwives, doctors, and midwifery managers. METHODS An ethnographic approach was used to observe use of the Normal Labour Pathway in real life settings and evaluate its implementation. Data were collected by means of semiparticipant observation, focus groups, and interviews. Participants (n = 56) included senior practitioners involved in creating the pathway (n = 4), midwives (n = 41), managers (n = 5), and doctors (n = 6). Data were analyzed thematically. RESULTS Key themes related to the effect of the Normal Labour Pathway on Welsh maternity care, and midwives' and doctors' experiences. Midwives' views focused on the pathway as a decision-making protocol and record of care. Recently qualified midwives were more likely to view the pathway positively than those with more experience. Doctors were critical of the pathway, experiencing it as exclusionary. Midwives and doctors considered that the Normal Labour Pathway had increased interprofessional tensions. There was no evidence that it had increased the normal birth rate. CONCLUSIONS The Normal Labour Pathway is a complex intervention with complex outcomes. It has had intended and unintended consequences, for maternity care in general and for the roles and relationships of maternity care | 13060861 |
4,506,980 | practitioners. The study raises questions about the appropriateness of clinical pathways and other standardized decision-making tools for the complexity of childbirth. | 13060861 |
4,506,981 | The Effect of an Increase in Worker's Compensation Benefits on the Duration and Frequency of Benefit Receipt We present quasi-experimental estimates of the effect of changes in workers' compensation benefits on benefit duration and application frequency, using administrative data for California. Our design exploits two increases in temporary disability benefits occurring during the mid-1990s. We find consistent increases in the duration among injured workers whose benefits were affected by the schedule changes, and some evidence indicating that the likelihood of filing for benefits conditional on being injured is responsive to benefit levels. Finally, we evaluate whether the frequency effect on applying for indemnity benefits introduces a sample selection bias into standard quasi-experimental estimates of duration benefit elasticities. | 22213661 |
4,506,982 | A Semantic-Based Topic Knowledge Map System (STKMS) for Lesson-Learned Documents Reuse in Product Design In the process of production design, engineers usually find it is difficult to seek and reuse others’ empirical knowledge which is in the forms of lesson-learned documents. This study proposed a novel approach, which uses a semantic-based topic knowledge map system (STKMS) to support timely and precisely lesson-learned documents finding and reusing. The architecture of STKMS is designed, which has five major functional modules: lesson-learned documents pre-processing, topic extraction, topic relation computation, topic weights computation, and topic knowledge map generation modules. Then STKMS implementation is briefly introduced. We have conducted two sets of experiments to evaluate quality of knowledge map and the performance of utilizing STKMS in outfitting design of a ship-building company. The first experiment shows that knowledge maps generated by STKMS are accepted by domain experts from the evaluation since precision and recall are high. The second experiment shows that STKMS-based group outperforms browse-based group in both learning score and satisfaction level, which are two measurements of performance of utilizing STKMS. The promising results confirm the feasibility of STKMS in helping engineers to find needed lesson-learned documents and reuse related knowledge easily and precisely. key words: knowledge management, topic knowledge map, lesson-learned documents, semantic | 7393011 |
4,506,983 | In vivo T lymphocyte origin of macrophage-tropic strains of HIV. Role of monocytes during in vitro isolation and in vivo infection. Previously published isolation techniques with T cell blasts and monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) were used to recover HIV from the PBMC of a group of 23 asymptomatic seropositive individuals. Viral isolation was more readily accomplished by MDM coculture resulting in 9 isolates being obtained exclusively by this method (macrophage tropic strains). To determine the in vivo cellular source of these isolates we separated PBMC from 5 of these 9 patients into T lymphocyte and monocyte fractions by flow microfluorometry. These fractions were then analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of HIV-1 proviral DNA. In 4 out of these 5 patients HIV-1 proviral DNA could be detected exclusively in T lymphocytes but not in monocytes, although the virus could be isolated only by MDM coculture. In the remaining patient HIV could be amplified in both T lymphocytes and monocytes. Further phenotypic analysis revealed that, among T lymphocytes, only the CD4+ subset was infected with HIV. We conclude that among PBMC the most common in vivo source of HIV strains which preferentially infect macrophages in vitro is the CD4+ T lymphocyte. These data also suggest that the macrophage tropism characteristic of some HIV strains reflects predominantly an in vitro phenomenon. | 21609311 |
4,506,984 | Photo-Induced Electron Emission Properties of N-Doped Carbon-Based Very Thin Films The carbon-based very thin films were deposited on silicon substrate and double side polished sapphire or quartz glass by RF reactive magnetron sputtering using a carbon target and gas mixtures Ar, N2 and H2. Concentration of elements in the films was determined by RBS and ERD method simultaneously. SEM was used to investigate the morphology of carbon thin films. Raman spectroscopy was used for intensity ratios determination I(D)/I(G) of D and G peaks of carbon films. Photo-induced electron emission method was used for the study of electron emission properties of carbon-based very thin films. An examination of the results highlights how the technology and the structure of carbon films on quartz or sapphire glass play a key role in enhancing efficient escape of generated photoelectrons. | 54441361 |
4,506,985 | Proteomic analysis of MCF‐7 breast cancer cell line exposed to mitogenic concentration of 17β‐estradiol Estrogens are powerful mitogens that play a critical role in the onset of breast cancer and its progression. About two‐thirds of all breast cancers are estrogen receptor (ER)+ at the time of diagnosis, and the ER expression is the determinant of a tumor phenotype associated with hormone responsiveness. The molecular basis of the relationship between ER expression, (anti)hormonal responsiveness, and breast cancer prognosis is still unknown. To identify the proteins affected by the presence of the hormone we used 2‐D‐PAGE‐based bottom‐up proteomics for the study of the proteome of MCF‐7 cells of estrogen‐responsive breast carcinoma exposed to a mitogenic concentration of 17β‐estradiol (E2) for 12, 18, 24, and 30 h. Differential expression analysis showed significant changes for 12 proteins. These include ezrin–radixin–moesin‐binding phosphoprotein of 50 kDa which was previously shown to be directly regulated by E2. Expression profiles of other proteins already implicated in the progression of breast cancer, such as stathmin, calreticulin, heat shock 71 kDa, alpha‐enolase are also described. Moreover, it is observed that different unexpected proteins, translation factors, and energetic metabolism enzymes are also influenced by the presence of the hormone. | 41684911 |
4,506,986 | Modeling Alzheimer's disease immune therapy mechanisms: Interactions of human postmortem microglia with antibody‐opsonized amyloid beta peptide The induction of an antibody response to amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide has become a strategy for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This has proven effective in reducing the plaque burden in transgenic mice that develop Aβ plaques similar to human AD patients. The mechanism for enhanced clearance of Aβ is partly due to the interaction of immunoglobulin Fcγ receptor‐expressing microglia and specific antibody‐opsonized Aβ deposits. This interaction can stimulate Fcγ receptor‐mediated phagocytosis, but also results in inflammatory activation of these cells. Consequently, interaction of microglia with antibody‐antigen complexes could exacerbate the existing inflammation in the brains of AD patients. In this study, we used substrate‐bound Aβ and cultured human microglia from AD and non‐demented cases to model interaction of microglia and antibody‐opsonized plaques in AD brains. Enhanced production of tumor necrosis factor‐α, macrophage colony stimulating factor, interleukin‐10, and superoxide ions was detected. We also demonstrated enhanced uptake of opsonized Aβ by microglia, which was reduced significantly in the presence of excess IgG, indicative of the involvement of Fcγ receptor‐mediated mechanisms. Human microglia were shown in this study to express mRNA for Fcγ receptors I, IIa, IIb, and III. The expression of Fcγ receptor II was augmented by proinflammatory stimulation. These results suggest that initial interactions of human microglia with antibody‐opsonized amyloid could result in increased inflammation. The consequence of this on inflammatory pathology in AD brains needs to be considered before immunization is used as a strategy for treating | 28745561 |
4,506,987 | AD. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. | 28745561 |
4,506,988 | Machine Learning to Predict the Incidence of Retinopathy of Prematurity Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is a disorder afflicting prematurely born infants. ROP can be positively diagnosed a few weeks after birth. The goal of this study is to build an automatic tool for prediction of the incidence of ROP from standard clinical factors recorded at birth for premature babies. The data presents various challenges including mixing of categorical and numeric attributes and noisy data. In this article we present an ensemble classifier—hierarchical committee of random trees—that uses risk factors recorded at birth in order to predict the risk of developing ROP. We empirically demonstrate that our classifier outperforms other state of the art classification approaches. | 97111 |
4,506,989 | Reactive Dubins traveling salesman problem for replanning of information gathering by UAVs We introduce a novel online replanning method for robotic information gathering by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) called Reactive Dubins Traveling Salesman Problem (RDTSP). The considered task is the following: a set of target locations are to be visited by the robot. From an initial information gathering plan, obtained as an offline solution of either the Dubins Traveling Salesman Problem (DTSP) or the Coverage Path Planning (CPP), the proposed RDTSP ensures robust information gathering in each given target location by replanning over possible missed target locations. Furthermore, a simple decision making is a part of the proposed RDTSP to determine which target locations are marked as missed and also to control the appropriate time instant at which the repair plan is inserted into the initial path. The proposed method for replanning is based on the Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic which ensures visiting of all possibly missed target locations by minimizing the length of the repair plan and by utilizing the preplanned offline solution of the particular information gathering task. The novel method is evaluated in a realistic outdoor robotic information gathering experiment with UAV for both the Dubins Traveling Salesman Problem and the Coverage Path Planning scenarios. | 3337411 |
4,506,990 | The electronic conductivity mechanism in Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O glass-ceramics Abstract The results of electrical conductivity measurements in Bi2O3-SrO-CaO-CuO glass-ceramics are reported. It is shown that a sharp increase in the conductivity observed at 460°C is attributed to the crystallization of the Bi2Sr2CuO6 (Bi-2201) superconducting phase in the glass matrix. The mechanism of electrical conductivity in this glass-ceramic can be explained as a result of discontinuous metallic structures of the Bi-2201 phase which appear in the glass matrix during annealing. The low-temperature conductivity obeys the law [sgrave](T) = [sgrave]0exp[(-T 0 /T)n] with n changing from 1/4 to 1/2 with decrease in the temperature. This cross-over is related to a granular structure in which a parabolic Coulomb gap exists in the density of states N(E) near E F. We also show that the superconductivity effect should be taken into account for T−1/2 conductivity behaviour. It is shown that the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O glass after a very short heat treatment at 820°C exhibits the superconducting transition. In the normal state the conductivity is typical for granular metals and the activation energy continuously decreases with decreasing temperature. | 97816811 |
4,506,991 | Load balancing in MapReduce on homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters: an in-depth review Numbers of various programming models have been proposed to process big data in recent years. However, MapReduce is the most famous programming model amongst cloud computing environments and includes many advantages, yet there are several challenges to deal with. Load balancing is considered as one of the most significant downsides of MapReduce which causes the increase in applications' runtime and accordingly results in less-efficiency, where there is no appropriate proposed mechanism. Although, data locality and data skew are known as two main key factors for determination of load balancing, yet it is remarkable that load balance highly depends on whether the computational clusters are homogeneous or heterogeneous. This paper examines the effectiveness of two main key factors. These are data locality and data skew on homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters. Besides, a review is conducted on a number of recent literature in the same context of load balancing improvements in Hadoop MapReduce. Finally, all investigated researches are compared with the purpose of highlighting the differences of various load balancing methods, the optimisation phase, type of clusters and the main challenges. | 207408061 |
4,506,992 | Photochemical Degradation of N-Substituted Polyethylenimines The degradation of N-substituted polyethylenimines (PEI) in the presence of benzophenone (BzPh) as photoinitiator has been studied in function of the branching of PEI and of the N-substitution by methoxycarbonylmethyl CH3OCOCH2- and by phenyl groups. The reaction kinetics were followed by viscometry of the polymer solutions in dimethylsulfoxide and expressed in terms of S, the number of main chain scission, and, in the cases of copolymers, in terms of L, number average of linkages. The rate constants of chain scissions of branched PEI are one-third higher than those of linear PEI. Copolymers of EI and N-methoxycarbonylmethylethylenimine prepared by substitution of 1-PEI with methyl chloroacetate have apparent rate constants kapp, which decrease with the degree of substitution x and can be expressed by kapp=(1−x)kd+xka where kd and ka are the rate constants of chain scission and chain addition respectively. In the case of copolymers of N-phenyl EI (M1) and N-methoxy-carbonylmethylpropylenimine (M2), kapp depend on the composition of the copolymers (r1=0.86; r2=0.53) and on the monomer dyad distribution. | 94413611 |
4,506,993 | Epigenetically Active Drugs Inhibiting DNA Methylation and Histone Deacetylation. Epigenetic mechanisms, which are involved in the regulation of gene expression, are tightly controlled. Loss of a proper epigenetic control can lead to global epigenetic alterations frequently observed in various diseases including cancer. Aberrant epigenetic changes induced in malignant cells lead to emergence of neoplastic properties, which inhibit cell differentiation and strict cell cycle control but greatly enhance stemness-related features. However, abnormal epigenetic patterns can be reversed by action of epigenetically active agents. Epigenetic machinery comprises a variety DNA/histone modifiers and chromatin remodelers. Chemical substances able to influence on the activity of epigenetic factors such as inhibitors of DNA methyltransferases or histone deacetylase inhibitors can be used as therapeutic agents for improving aberrant epigenetic signatures in cancer cells. Preclinical studies showed efficiency of such epigenetic drugs for the treatment of variety of cancers. So far, several epigenetically active compounds were approved for therapy of hematological malignancies. However, many challenges should be resolved for efficient use of epidrugs in the treatment of non-hematological solid tumors and advanced cancers associated with chemoresistance and higher risk of relapse. | 3558211 |
4,506,994 | Glutamate-like immunoreactivity in axon terminals from the olfactory bulb to the piriform cortex. A highly specific anti-glutamate monoclonal antibody, mAb2D7, was used together with light and electron microscopy to elucidate the role played by the amino acid glutamate in the projection from the olfactory bulb to the piriform cortex in the rat. By light microscopy, glutamate-like immunoreactivity was observed in neuronal cell bodies and in the neuropil of the piriform cortex. Double labelling experiments which involved injections of wheat germ agglutinin-horse--radish peroxidase into the olfactory bulb and a post-embedding immunogold method for electron microscopy revealed anterogradely labelled terminals making asymmetric synaptic contacts on dendrites in the piriform cortex which contained high levels of glutamate as assessed by quantification. These results further support a role for glutamate as a neurotransmitter in the efferent pathway of the rat olfactory bulb. | 10644661 |
4,506,995 | CORR Insights®: Is There an Association Between Prophylactic Femur Stabilization and Survival in Patients with Metastatic Bone Disease? Prophylactic stabilization is a topic of interest both to general orthopaedic surgeons and orthopaedic oncologists. The benefits of prophylactic stabilization compared to treatment after the pathologic fracture occurs remain poorly substantiated. Yet, it is widely assumed that “orthopaedic surgeons know it is best to stabilize lesions in the femoral neck prior to fracture.” Unfortunately, this presumption is largely unsupported by evidence. Indeed, few articles speak to this topic, and robust data supporting prophylactic fixation are sparse. According to the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), pathologic fractures have been associated with increased morbidity and mortality [2]. Decreasing that morbidity and mortality would obviously be desirable. As such, a comparison using the NIS database between patients treated with pathologic bone lesions before and after fracture suggests advantages for prophylactic stabilization in terms of blood transfusion, risk of urinary tract infection, and discharge to home. However, these advantages come at the expense of a higher likelihood of venous thromboembolic disease in the group that received prophylactic surgery [1]. According to the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, prophylactic stabilization is associated with a lower rate of blood transfusion compared to pathologic fracture treatment after controlling for patient differences [10]. Additionally, compared to pathologic fracture treatment, prophylactic stabilization resulted in less blood loss, shorter hospital stay, higher percentage discharge to home, higher resumption of supportfree ambulation, and greater ability to avoid endoprosthetic reconstruction [16]. One study showed reduced direct costs and length of stay | 199469511 |
4,506,996 | in those treated prophylactically compared to after fracture [4]. The current paper by Phillip and colleagues [17] may now be added to the knowledge base purporting a benefit to prophylactic stabilization. In this case, the purported benefit is survival. | 199469511 |
4,506,997 | The diagnostic value of different imaging modalities in evaluation of bowel obstruction. The aim of the study was analysing of the diagnostic value of different imaging modalities in evaluation patients with bowel obstruction. The material comprises a group of 47 patients with diagnosed acute abdomen. Erect radiography, and radiographs in supine and left lateral patients' positions, US and CT examination were performed in those patients. CT examination was performed in 5 mm--and 10-mm thick axial sections before and after administering the contrast agent. In 6 patients small barium enema was performed. In 5 cases water-soluble contrast was administered orally. In 6 cases on plane radiographs the presence of high small bowel obstruction was found. In 3 cases the level of small bowel obstruction was in the distal ileum. In 12 patients the obstruction of large bowel was seen on plain radiographs. In 3 patients intussusception of sigmoid bowel was found. The mesenteric ischemia was found to be a reason of bowel obstruction in 5 cases. On CT section soft tissue mass with irregular contrast enhancement was found, reflecting ischemic intestinal loops. In 2 patients the gall stone small bowel obstruction was found. In one of them the presence of gas in the biliary tree was seen on CT images. The determining of the level of the obstruction is facilitated on plain radiographs, erect and in supine and left lateral patients' position. In small bowel obstruction, normal or equivocal initial radiographs may result in a delayed diagnosis. As the bowel diameter cannot be assessed the plain radiographic | 36268361 |
4,506,998 | diagnosis is difficult or impossible. If there is persistent diagnostic difficulty, follow-up plain radiographs taken a few hours later will often resolve the problem and, if not, a barium study or CT may be performed. Orally administering of water-soluble contrast agent, diluted barium, barium enema are also helpful in differentiating the character and etiology of obstruction. | 36268361 |
4,506,999 | Scanning electron microscopy analysis of marginal adaptation of mineral trioxide aggregate, tricalcium silicate cement, and dental amalgam as a root end filling materials The aim of this research was to examine marginal adaptation of three root end filling materials mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), Biodentine and amalgam. Ninety single‐rooted extracted human teeth of the maxillary intercanine sector were used in the study. After the endodontic treatment and retrograde preparation, teeth were divided into three groups, depending on the root‐end filling material. Teeth were cut in longitudinal manner. Measurements of the total width of the marginal gap in micrometers were performed using scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that MTA and Biodentine have better marginal adaptation compared to amalgam expressed through the mean value of the measured edge crack, however without significant difference (p > .05). Mean value of the measured edge crack in Group 1 (MTA) was 8.17 μm, in Group 2 (Biodentine) 8.53 μm, and in Group 3 (amalgam) 9.13 μm. All tested materials show a satisfactory degree of marginal adaptation, but MTA and Biodentine proved to be superior to amalgam. | 232386961 |
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