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5164860

Microworms swallow the nanobait: the use of nanocoated microbial cells for the direct delivery of nanoparticles into Caenorhabditis elegans. The application of in vivo models in assessing the toxicity of nanomaterials is currently regarded as a promising way to investigate the effects of nanomaterials on living organisms. In this paper we introduce a novel method to deliver nanomaterials into Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes. Our approach is based on using nanoparticle-coated microbial cells as "nanobait", which are ingested by nematodes as a sole food source. We found that nematodes feed on the nanocoated bacteria (Escherichia coli) and microalgae (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) ingesting them via pharyngeal pumping, which results in localization of nanoparticles inside the digestive tract of the worms. Nanoparticles were detected exclusively inside the intestine, indicating the efficient delivery based on microbial cells. Delivery of iron oxide nanoparticles results in magnetic labelling of living nematodes, rendering them magnetically-responsive. The use of cell-mediated delivery of nanoparticles can be applied to investigate the toxicity of polymer-coated magnetic nanoparticles and citrate-capped silver nanoparticles in Caenorhabditis elegans in vivo.

2018-04-03T02:07:17.689Z

2013-11-08T00:00:00.000Z

152194960

The Case for a Zero Gift Policy Abstract Public administrators must respond to the loss of public confidence in government. In order to regain trust, the current standards must be raised. One such standard concerns the gift policy for administrators; the city of Houston has implemented a zero gift policy. It seeks to set the clear standard that officials should not receive goods or services for doing their job. With the implementation of a zero gift policy, citizens have evidence that administrators cannot be influenced in the course of their work.

2019-05-10T13:06:58.638Z

2002-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

159293060

Curating philanthropy and socialist governance: the Chinese Charity museum ABSTRACT This paper examines the growing political importance of philanthropy in the People’s Republic of China as presented in the Chinese Charity Museum, probably the only national-level museum in the world to feature permanent exhibits focused solely on the subject of philanthropy. The paper explains why charitable practices, which purportedly flourished in pre-communist China, “disappeared” during the Mao era (1949–1976), and why philanthropy is now a government-endorsed activity. It then examines the state-prescribed role of Chinese museology and the creation of a charity museum in Nantong City, before investigating the socio-political narrative that frames the Nantong collection. It concludes that the museum’s “story” simplifies and elides the significant change in forms of philanthropic institutions and practices in contemporary China, relative to their pre-1949 precursors, but yields new insight into how the Chinese Communist Party is recasting philanthropy as an integral part of socialist culture and state-led welfare provision.

2019-05-21T13:05:52.889Z

2018-07-03T00:00:00.000Z

21732970

sTLR4/MD-2 complex inhibits colorectal cancer migration and invasiveness in vitro and in vivo by lncRNA H19 down-regulation Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have multiple functions in gene regulation and during cellular processes. However, the functional roles of lncRNAs in colorectal cancer (CRC) have not yet been well understood. In our previous study, we demonstrated that sTLR4/MD-2 complex can inhibit CRC in vitro and in vivo by targeting LPS. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the expression of lncRNA H19 in CRC and to evaluate its effect on the inhibition of sTLR4/MD-2 complex. The expression of H19 is measured in 63 CRC tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The effects of H19 on migration and invasiveness are evaluated by wound healing assay, migration and invasion assays. Results showed that H19 is significantly overexpressed in cancerous tissues and CRC cell lines compared with adjacent normal tissues and a normal human intestinal epithelial cell line. Moreover, H19 overexpression is closely associated with CRC patients. Our in vitro data indicated that knockdown of H19 inhibits the migration and invasiveness of CRC cells. And in vivo sTLR4/MD-2 complex inhibits tumor growth in mice and the expression of H19 is down-regulated. These results suggest that sTLR4/MD-2 complex inhibits CRC migration and invasiveness in vitro and in vivo by lncRNA H19 down-regulation.

2018-04-03T00:42:47.206Z

2017-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

12356970

Characterization of the internal promoter of simian foamy viruses Simian and human foamy viruses (HFV and SFV), genetically related members of the spumavirus genus of retroviruses, have complex genome structures which encode the gag, pol, and env genes for virion proteins as well as additional open reading frames. One of these open reading frames is a viral transactivator, encoded by genes designated taf for SFV and bel-1 for HFV, which augments transcription directed by the long terminal repeat (LTR) through cis-acting targets in the U3 domain of the LTR. Recently, an internal transcriptional promoter has been identified in sequences within the 3' end of the HFV env gene (M. Lochelt, W. Muranyi, and R. M. Flugel, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 90:7317-7321, 1993). We have demonstrated by using transient expression assays in several tissue culture cell lines and by analyzing viral transcripts in infected cells that SFV-1 from a rhesus macaque and SFV-3 from an African green monkey also encode an internal promoter in the env gene. Transcription directed by the internal promoters of SFV-1 and SFV-3 is activated by the taf-1 and taf-3 gene products, respectively, in several cell types. The importance of a TATA box for the SFV-1 internal promoter was established by site-specific mutagenesis, and the 5' ends of transcripts initiating in the internal promoter have been determined. cis-acting sequences in the SFV-1 env gene required for the response to taf-1 are contained within a 121-bp element located 5' to the TATA box in the internal promoter. This taf-1-responsive element in the internal promoter functions in a position- and orientation-independent fashion in a heterologous promoter and thus has the properties of an enhancer which depends on taf-1 activity. Alignments reveal that the SFV-1 internal promoter and the SFV-1 LTR have little sequence relatedness. Cross-transactivation studies show that the transactivators of SFV-1 and HFV function on the internal promoter and LTR of the homologous virus but not on the heterologous virus. In summary, the genomes of simian and human foamy viruses direct viral transcription through both the promoter in the LTR and an internal promoter within the env gene, and each promoter contains unique enhancer-like elements regulated by the viral transactivator.

2018-04-03T00:30:50.053Z

1994-08-01T00:00:00.000Z

33548320

Incidence of cataract operations in Finnish male smokers una V ected by Æ tocopherol or (cid:226) carotene supplements Objective —To examine the e V ect of Æ tocopherol and (cid:226) carotene supplementa- tion on the incidence of age related cataract extraction. Setting —The Alpha-tocopherol Beta- carotene (ATBC) Study was a ran-domised, double blind, placebo controlled, 2 · 2 factorial trial conducted in south western Finland. The cataract sur- gery study population of 28 934 male smokers 50–69 years of age at the start. Intervention —Random assignment to one of four regimens: Æ tocopherol 50 mg per day, (cid:226) carotene 20 mg per day, both Æ toco- pherol and (cid:226) carotene, or placebo. Follow up continued for five to eight years (median 5.7 years) with a total of 159 199 person years. Outcome measure —Cataract extraction, ascertained from the National Hospital Discharge Registry.

2017-06-15T23:57:08.987Z

1998-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

23074560

Heart failure in patients with diabetes undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased risk after acute coronary syndromes. Primary percutaneous coronary intervention is the most effective method of reperfusion for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and can limit the ischaemic damage to the left ventricle. However, there are few data on the impact of diabetes mellitus on the risk of heart failure following primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Methods: We studied 958 ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention, of whom 263 (27.5%) had diabetes mellitus, with 67 (7.0%) treated with insulin. The primary end points of the study were re-admission for heart failure. Secondary end points were all-cause mortality and recurrent infarctions. The follow-up period was 5 years after hospital discharge. Results: The cumulative incidence of re-admission for heart failure was 8.4%, 15.2% and 26.7% in patients without diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-treated and insulin-treated diabetes mellitus, respectively. Compared with patients without diabetes mellitus, the adjusted hazard ratio for heart failure was 1.95 (95% confidence intervals 1.30–2.93) and 3.09 (95% confidence intervals 1.71–5.60) in non-insulin-treated and insulin-treated diabetes mellitus, respectively. The corresponding hazard ratios for mortality were 1.03 (95% confidence intervals 0.68–1.55) and 2.04 (95% confidence intervals 1.22–3.42), respectively. There was a J-shaped association between fasting glucose levels in the acute phase and risk of mortality (P=0.0001) and a direct association with heart failure (P=0.03). Conclusion: Despite modern treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction and high levels of guideline-based medical care, diabetes mellitus had an independent adverse effect on the risk of re-admissions for heart failure, which was particularly high among insulin-treated patients.

2018-04-03T04:20:12.622Z

2016-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

98655560

Efficiency of Superparamagnetic Nano Iron Oxide Loaded Poly(Acrylamide-co-Maleic acid) Hydrogel in Uptaking Cu2+ Ions from Water A novel superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles loaded poly(acrylamide-co-maleic acid) hydrogel (superparamagnetic PAM hydrogel) has been synthesized and cross-linked by methylene bisacrylamide for the investigation of its efficiency in uptaking copper ions from aqueous solution by batch method. The swelling behavior of the hydrogel was investigated. Metal ion uptake capacity of the adsorbent was evaluated in the light of varying pH, contact time, temperature, adsorbent dose, and different copper ion concentration. The synthesized superparamagnetic PAM was characterized by FTIR and XRD analysis. The structure and coating of the magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by XRD and FTIR analysis respectively. The adsorption data was fitted well in the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin models and various static parameters were calculated. It is stated that this hydrogel could be regenerated efficiently (>97%) and used repeatedly.

2019-04-06T13:10:45.713Z

2013-09-27T00:00:00.000Z

120811710

Designing organic molecules for terahertz radiation generation in robust crystals The research towards more efficient organic molecules for second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) applications has resulted in substantial improvements of the molecular nonlinear polarizabilities. Different strategies for increasing NLO responses at the molecular level in ionic chromophores are reviewed. However, only a small subset of the highly efficient non-centrosymmetric molecules also forms non-centrosymmetric crystals at the bulk level. Examples of success in achieving polar crystals of molecular salts are presented. Such crystals with a high number density of aligned dipolar chromophores are promising materials for efficient second-order NLO applications, such as terahertz generation via difference frequency mixing.

2019-04-18T13:07:14.850Z

2010-08-19T00:00:00.000Z

9270600

Colorization matrix construction with high compression efficiency for colorization-based coding using optimization In colorization-based coding, a chrominance component is reconstructed by applying a colorization matrix to a vector which contains a few color information. The conventional method formulated the colorization-based coding problem into an optimization problem. Since this approach obtains the optimal color information with respect to a given colorization matrix in the sense that it minimizes the reconstruction error, the compression efficiency depends on the colorization matrix. In this paper, we propose a colorization matrix construction with high compression efficiency for the colorization-based coding using optimization. To improve the ability to reconstruct the chrominance component, we construct our proposed colorization matrix based on a luminance-chrominance correlation in a local area. Furthermore, we embed an edge-preserving smoothing filtering process into the colorization matrix to reduce artifacts. The experimental results show that our method achieves better reconstruction of the chrominance component and higher compression efficiency compared with the conventional method.

2017-02-15T18:26:11.040Z

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

25260960

Overview of adverse reactions to nefopam: an analysis of the French Pharmacovigilance database Nefopam is widely used for the relief of moderate acute pain. Its safety profile remains to be specified. The objective of the study was to review adverse reactions to nefopam spontaneously reported to the French Pharmacovigilance system. All cases of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) associated with nefopam, registered in the French Pharmacovigilance database from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2004, were reviewed. For each reported ADR, information about patient (age, gender, medical history), drug exposure (suspected and concomitantly used drugs), characteristics of ADRs (imputability score, time of onset, seriousness, outcome) were collected. A total of 114 ADRs with an imputability rated from ‘plausible’ (I2) to ‘likely’ (I3) and ‘very likely’ (I4) was analysed. The most frequent ADRs included ‘expected’ ADRs such as sweating, nausea, tachycardia, malaise or vomiting; 61 ADRs were ‘unexpected. No overdose was reported; 26 ADRs (23%) were considered as ‘serious’. Most of them were ‘unexpected’, including neuropsychiatric (hallucinations, convulsions) or cutaneous (pruritus, erythema, urticaria) ADRs. Six cases of anaphylactic ADRs (two angioedema and four anaphylactic shocks) were reported, all occurring shortly after use of nefopam during the post‐operative period. Physicians should be aware of the possible occurrence of some serious ADRs when using nefopam such as convulsions and anaphylactic shocks, especially when the drug is used in special medical conditions, like post‐operative periods.

2018-04-03T03:00:11.230Z

2007-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

1148310

Association of Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Program Participation and Clinical Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries With Ischemic Stroke Background and Purpose— Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke is a national, hospital-based quality improvement program developed by the American Heart Association. Although studies have suggested improved processes of care in GWTG-Stroke–participating hospitals, it is not known whether this improved care translates into improved clinical outcomes compared with nonparticipating hospitals. Methods— From all acute care US hospitals caring for Medicare beneficiaries with acute stroke between April 2003 and December 2008, we matched hospitals that joined the GWTG-Stroke program with similar hospitals that did not. Using a difference-in-differences design, we analyzed whether hospital participation in GWTG-Stroke was associated with a greater improvement in clinical outcomes compared with the underlying secular change. Results— The matching algorithm identified 366 GWTG-Stroke–adopting hospitals that cared for 88 584 acute ischemic stroke admissions and 366 non–GWTG-Stroke hospitals that cared for 85 401 acute ischemic stroke admissions. Compared with the Pre period (18–6 months before program implementation), in the Early period (0–6 months after program implementation), GWTG-Stroke hospitals had accelerated increases in discharge to home and reduced mortality at 30 days and 1 year. In the Sustained period (6–18 months after program implementation), the accelerated reduction in mortality at 1 year was sustained, with a trend toward sustained accelerated increase in discharge home. Conclusions— Hospital adoption of the GWTG-Stroke program was associated with improved functional outcomes at discharge and reduced postdischarge mortality.

2017-05-15T20:53:11.843Z

2016-05-01T00:00:00.000Z

245553120

Documentation of the 2010 Midterm Conference of the European Sociological Association Research Network 20 Qualitative Methods: International Perspectives on the Future of Qualitative Research in Europe Documentation of the 2010 Midterm Conference of the European Sociological Association Research Network 20 Qualitative Methods “Innovating Qualitative Research: Challenges and Opportunities. New Directions in Religion, Technology, Migration and Beyond,” held at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), 20-22 September 2010. The following documentation includes the inaugural addresses and all statements and interventions from the two plenary sessions on “The Future of Qualitative Research” that took place during the mid-term conference in September 2010 at the University of Bayreuth. Speeches and discussions were entirely videotaped, transcribed and carefully edited in order to present a thorough and readable documentation. The text was revised by all intervening speakers and is published upon unanimous approval. We are grateful to Carolin Dix for valuable support with transcribing the video data. 

2021-12-30T16:05:03.061Z

2012-08-30T00:00:00.000Z

23474600

Cholesterol Crystal Embolism Syndrome in Dialysis Patients: An Emerging Clinical Diagnosis? Background: Cholesterol crystal embolism syndrome (CCE) is an increasing end-stage renal disease cause. Few cases have been described on dialysis, despite the high prevalence of the predisposing factors. Methods: The diagnostic criteria of the present study were: skin lesions, myalgia, fatigue, fever and acute inflammatory serologic signs, in the presence of severe vasculopathy. The precipitating factors were: anticoagulation, endovascular intervention and ulcerated atherosclerotic plaque. Results: Between October 2003 and September 2005, CCE was diagnosed in 6 dialysis patients (of 200–210 on chronic treatment): 5 males, 1 female, median age 59.5 years (47–70) and end-stage renal disease follow-up 11.5 years (3–25). All had severe vasculopathy, 5 cardiopathy, and 4 were failed graft recipients. The treatment included: peritoneal dialysis, daily dialysis, ‘conventional’ hemodialysis (2 cases) and hemodiafiltration. The diagnosis was based on the clinical-laboratory picture in 1 patient. In the 5 others clues were present (dicumarol therapy, angioplasty, femoral artery thrombosis, CCE predialysis and ulcerated aortic plaque). The therapeutic approach consisted of corticosteroids (5 cases), statins (4 cases) and prostaglandin analogues (4 cases). Conclusion: The differential diagnosis of CCE should also be considered in dialysis patients (necrotic lesions, limb pain and vasculitis-like signs).

2018-04-03T06:12:56.386Z

2006-12-01T00:00:00.000Z

31348070

Performance guaranteed human-robot collaboration through correct-by-design With the advances of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and autonomous robotics, robots are increasingly involved closely with human society, such as in manufacturing system, autonomous driving and intelligent service robots. While robots are good at handling repeated routine work, human are more adaptive and flexible to changing factors that may bring uncertainties and cost non-trivial efforts for robots to overcome. Thus efficient collaboration between human and robots can bring huge economic profits, but also require high standard for robot controller during task completion because the safety of human must be guaranteed. In this paper, we build a formal design theory enabling an automated human-robot collaboration with performance guarantees. Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) are used to model robots with uncertainties and Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) are used to model human with hidden intents. Within a supervisory control framework, we propose to use L* learning algorithm to learn a correct supervisor such that global collaboration task given as Probabilistic Computation Tree Logic (PCTL) can be satisfied. An example from manufacturing system is discussed to further illustrate the design method.

2017-02-18T20:53:14.885Z

2016-07-06T00:00:00.000Z

117312350

State DOT Implementation of Statistical Analysis and Percent Within Limits Verification testing, conducted by many state agencies, should serve an integral role in a quality assurance program. Many agencies seek a balance of physical and financial resources, as resources are routinely a limiting factor. For the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), it is datasets collected by both the contractor (quality control, QC) and department (quality verification, QV) at differing frequencies compared in a statistically valid method that provide balance. Statistical analyses, specifically F- and t-testing, have been chosen by WisDOT to accompany a Percent Within Limits (PWL) specification for hot mix asphalt (HMA). The analyses evaluate QC and QV data variances, means, standard deviations, and so forth, and determine whether it is reasonable to assume the test results of each dataset come from the same population, that is, are representative of the same material. If comparable, the more frequent QC data are considered verified and subsequently used in PWL calculations to approximate the percentage of material within specification limits. Anything less than comparable is subject to further investigation, for example, a dispute resolution process, to determine which test results most reliably represent the physical properties of the material, and are thus justifiably used in latter calculations. Such an approach has allowed WisDOT to adjust pay in accordance with material quality and consistency, ultimately connecting pay to anticipated long-term performance. This modified system of monitoring HMA materials has motivated multiple changes to industry processes and planning, and resulted in more consistent pavements, which should reduce the potential for isolated premature distresses.

2019-04-16T13:29:28.366Z

2019-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

170014350

Expansion and Layering of Labour Regulation Workers in developed economies have not been immune to the dynamics of global trade and economic liberalization that have stranded vulnerable workers in poorer countries. This chapter tracks the informalization of apparel production in Australia throughout the 1980s and 1990s, asking how national and international factors converged to leave a migrant group stranded, without the employment conditions and protections that Australia prided itself on providing to its working population. It then examines the subsequent attempts to re-formalize work by the creation of innovative legislation and ethical initiatives that add levers and regulatory agents. This study is important because Australia’s novel regulation combines market and non-market forms of regulation, with a successful ethical labelling system at the heart of the model.

2019-05-30T23:47:15.489Z

2019-01-24T00:00:00.000Z

181686000

The Rise of a Populist Zeitgeist? A Content Analysis of Populist Media Coverage in Newspapers Published between 1990 and 2017 ABSTRACT It has been assumed that populism has become mainstream in the Western world, and that the media have substantially contributed to populism’s success and omnipresence in politics and society. To investigate populist elements in media coverage, extant research has mainly focused on election periods, or media populism in specific types of coverage and outlets. In this paper, we investigate if the use of populist elements in general media coverage has increased over time. Focusing on a 28-year period in the Netherlands, we find clear evidence for an increasing presence of people-centric, anti-elitist and right- and left-exclusionist coverage in newspapers. This trend is general, with only limited evidence for cross-outlet differences. Since our analysis was not limited to specific periods, sample frames or topics, our research offers first evidence for an unconditional increase of different elements of populist communication in traditional news coverage. An important implication is that the rise of populist news coverage has made populism more visible to the electorate, potentially setting the agenda for political parties and populist attitudes in public opinion.

2019-06-07T23:03:26.808Z

2019-05-22T00:00:00.000Z

41922150

Antithrombotic treatment for atrial fibrillation Editor—The findings of Howitt and Armstrong’s study of antithrombotic treatment for atrial fibrillation in general practice—in particular that patients were unwilling to take warfarin—have uncertain clinical relevance.1 They are in contrast to those of Sudlow et al, who reported that most elderly patients with atrial fibrillation would accept treatment to prevent stroke.2 The precise information provided to patients is critically important in influencing their beliefs. Lack of detail on the information provided about the drugs mars Howitt and Anderson’s study. The authors emphasised the value of a patient centred approach in determining antithrombotic treatment in chronic atrial fibrillation and presented to patients, in pictorial fashion, the benefits (derived from clinical trials) of warfarin and aspirin. An equally important methodological issue, however, is the presentation of the risks of the treatment. The methods section states only that “detailed information about aspirin and warfarin treatment was given.” What exactly does this mean? If the material consisted of the typical prescribing information for warfarin or even the equally daunting consumer drug information developed by pharmaceutical companies, it is not surprising that many patients were frightened off treatment. Adopting a patient centred approach to therapeutic decision making requires that the potential risks of the treatment are presented in as patient friendly a manner as the possible benefits.

2018-04-03T05:13:47.557Z

1999-09-11T00:00:00.000Z

249812620

Optimization Approaches and Techniques for Automotive Alternators: Review Study Optimization and improvement of the electrical system are applied to cope with the increased demand for electrical power in the vehicular system; they must be carried out in many ways to ensure that the vehicles are provided with the necessary electricity for their performance work electrical equipment. This paper reviews the various optimization approaches for the alternator used in automotive applications and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The optimization is achieved to the field excitation current that influences the alternator output voltage, and the other techniques designed a controller to optimize the output power of the alternator using power electronic converters. The most suitable approaches are those approaches that use real-time optimization and self-optimization methods. Combining the above two methods can achieve the best results, higher efficiency, stable performance, and a large amount of power produced by the alternator.

2022-06-18T15:14:38.059Z

2022-06-15T00:00:00.000Z

6273920

[Prevalence of anti-Yersinia antibodies in European brown hares in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany]. Yersinia (Y.) pseudotuberculosis infections may lead to significant lethality in European brown hare (Lepus europaeus, Pallas) populations especially during the cold and wet seasons. In recent decades, also Y. enterocolitica was isolated from hares found dead. Consequently, a Western-blot technique proved to be valuable for the detection of antibodies against all pathogenic Yersinia isolates was applied to monitor the prevalence of antibodies in hare populations in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. A total of 89.6% of the 230 animals tested was seropositive. Further investigations should be performed to elucidate the role of subclinical yersiniosis in the decline of European brown hare populations in Germany.

2018-04-03T03:30:41.700Z

2004-06-01T00:00:00.000Z

14084460

Identification and Characterization of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in Culex theileri (Diptera: Culicidae) ABSTRACT Culex theileri Theobald (Diptera: Culicidae) is one of the most common mosquito species in northeastern Turkey and serves as a vector for various zoonotic diseases including West Nile virus. Although there have been some studies on the ecology of Cx. theileri, very little genetic data has been made available. We successfully sequenced 11 gene fragments from Cx. theileri specimens collected from the northeastern part of Turkey. On average, we found a Single nucleotide polymorphism every 45 bp. Transitions outnumbered transversions, at a ratio of 2:1. This is the first report of genetic polymorphisms in Cx. theileri and Single nucleotide polymorphism discovered from this study can be used to investigate population structure and gene-environmental interactions.

2017-03-31T13:14:02.794Z

2012-05-15T00:00:00.000Z

7822460

Direct identification and quantification of aspartyl succinimide in an IgG2 mAb by RapiGest assisted digestion. A special tryptic digestion method has been developed to facilitate rapid identification and accurate quantification of site-specific aspartyl succinimide (Asu) formation in complex protein molecules, such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). This method replaces chaotropic reagents, such as urea and guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl) with an acid labile surfactant RapiGest (RG), eliminates alkylation and desalting steps, and accomplishes the reduced tryptic digestion of an IgG2 mAb in a mildly acidic condition (pH 6.0) with half the time required by conventional methods. The new digestion condition preserves the labile Asu during sample preparation and solves the problem that conventional method has been facing in detecting and quantifying Asu in complex proteins. The validity of this method was confirmed by subjecting a mixture of peptides containing a predetermined amount of Asu to the same digestion conditions. An excellent correlation was also observed for the Asu results from cation-exchange chromatography (CEX) and tryptic peptide maps generated with the new digestion method. This method is also applicable to other enzymatic digestions and used to monitor site-specific deamidation, isomerization, and other chemical modifications in complex proteins by LC/MS.

2018-04-03T03:41:31.684Z

2009-01-15T00:00:00.000Z

6814820

Effective bandwidth in wireless ATM networks Wueless ATM aims at -tending ATM services to the wire 1= environment. In contrast to wirehne ATM, which is primarily based on refiable fiber optic, wirel= ATM will have to cope with an unreliable radio channel. ThB POS= a host of technical chdlengw related to the prov~loning of qurdity of service (QoS). Key imttw include incorporating the characteristics of the wirelm channel in the protiloning of cell-level QoS, and improving the perceived qurdity by using error control mechanisms. k this study, we propose a model for anrdyzing the cell IOS statistim due to btier overflow in a wireless ATM environment. This model incorporate the service disruption caused by the unreliable radio channel as well as the impact of error control schema, e.g., automatic repeat requwt (ARQ) and forward error correction (FEC) mechanisms. The main theme of this study is to invatigate the cdl loss behavior of a wireless ATM fink as a finction of the assigned bandwidth and error control schemw. Using fluid analysis, we pr=ent an approximate ar-ion for the cell loss rate (CLR). This ~r-ion is used to derive a closed-form ~ression for the wireless tiective bandwidth. It is *O used to investigate the optirnd FEC code rate that gttarante= a given CLR wtie m_lng the unitization of the wireless bandwidth. The Mldity of our andyticd re sttlts are tested by contrasting them to simulation r=ttlts. Our observations indicate that the proposed qrassion of CLR is quite accurate over a range of moderate bit error rat=.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

1998-10-25T00:00:00.000Z

26015720

How enzymes control the reactivity of adenosylcobalamin: effect on coenzyme binding and catalysis of mutations in the conserved histidine-aspartate pair of glutamate mutase. Glutamate mutase is one of a group of adenosylcobalamin-dependent enzymes that catalyze unusual isomerizations that proceed through the formation of radical intermediates. It shares a structurally similar cobalamin-binding domain with methylcobalamin-dependent methionine synthase. In particular, both proteins contain the "DXHXXG" cobalamin-binding motif, in which the histidine provides the axial ligand to cobalt. The effects of mutating the conserved histidine and aspartate residues in methionine synthase have recently been described [Jarrett, J. T., Amaratunga, M., Drennan, C. L., Scholten, J. D., Sands, R. H., Ludwig, M. L., & Matthews, R. G. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 2464-2475]. Here, we describe how similar mutations in the "DXHXXG" motif of glutamate mutase affect coenzyme binding and catalysis in an adenosylcobalamin-dependent reaction. The mutations made in the MutS subunit of glutamate mutase were His16Gly, His16Gln, Asp14Asn, Asp14Glu, and Asp14Ala. All the mutations affect, in varying degrees, the rate of catalysis, the affinity of the protein for the coenzyme, and the coordination of cobalt. Mutations of either Asp14 or His16 decrease k(cat) by 1000-fold, and whereas cob(II)alamin accumulates as an intermediate in the wild-type enzyme, it does not accumulate in the mutants, suggesting the rate-determining step is altered. The apparent Kd for adenosylcobalamin is raised by about 50-fold when His16 is mutated and by 5-10-fold when Asp16 is mutated. There are extensive differences between the UV-visible spectra of wild-type and mutant holoenzymes, indicating that the mutant enzymes coordinate cobalt less well. Overall, the properties of these mutants differ quite markedly from those observed when similar mutations were introduced into methionine synthase.

2018-04-03T05:26:47.499Z

1997-06-24T00:00:00.000Z

129734050

Interhemispheric differences in stratospheric water vapour during late winter, in version 4 MLS measurements Observations of stratospheric water vapour, made by the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) during the 1992 and 1993 Arctic and 1992 Antarctic late winters have now been produced using version 4 of the retrieval software. These improved measurements are analysed as equivalent latitude zonal means. Major interhemispheric differences are revealed in the water vapour content of the vortex in the lower stratosphere. This technique emphasises mixing ratio gradients at the edges of both polar vortices, and a local maximum at the edge of the Antarctic vortex. There are some small interhemispheric differences in mixing ratios in mid‐latitudes, but they are not strongly related to the dehydration of the Antarctic vortex. A mixing ratio gradient across the interior of the Antarctic vortex at 530K indicates it is not isentropically mixed. A strong local maximum in mixing ratio at the centre of the Antarctic vortex in the mid‐stratosphere indicates it is not well mixed in the mid‐stratosphere also. There is little evidence of significant structure inside the Arctic vortex.

2019-04-24T13:13:33.594Z

1998-01-15T00:00:00.000Z

38468600

Intelligent Decision Making: An AI-Based Approach intelligent decision making an ai based approach is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our books collection hosts in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the intelligent decision making an ai based approach is universally compatible with any devices to read.

2017-09-06T14:04:48.682Z

2008-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

246892150

Thermal properties of woven fabric as a function of its structural parameters: experimentation and modeling Purpose This paper aims to investigate the influence of picking sequence, weave design and weft yarn material on the thermal conductivity of the woven fabrics. Design/methodology/approach This work includes the development of 36 woven samples with two weave designs (1/1 plain and 3/1 twill), three picking sequences (single, double and three pick insertion) and six different weft yarn materials (cotton, polyester having 48 filaments, polyester with 144 filaments, spun coolmax having Lycra in core and coolmax in sheath, filament coolmax and polypropylene). The thermal conductivity was measured using ALAMBETA tester. Findings The results showed that weft yarn material, weave design and picking sequence have a meaningful impact on the thermal conductivity of woven fabric. The value of thermal conductivity was lowest for the fabrics with three pick insertion and 3/1 twill weave in all weft yarn materials. Research limitations/implications Plain woven fabric with single pick insertion is feasible for summer wear to enhance the comfort of wearer. By changing the warp yarn grouping and material, improved thermal conductivity/resistance can also be achieved. Originality/value The authors have studied the combined effect of different weft yarn materials with different picking sequences and different weave designs on thermal conductivity of the woven fabrics.

2022-02-17T16:09:21.613Z

2022-02-17T00:00:00.000Z

202089950

Exact distributions for bit error rate and channel capacity in free-space optical communication Bit error rate (BER) and channel capacity are two important metrics to assess the performance of free-space optical communication (FSOC) systems. Due to the fading of the optical signal owing to the atmospheric effects, these two quantities behave as random variables. Most of the studies in this direction have focused on the calculation of only the average of these quantities. However, since the complete information about a random variable is encoded in its distribution, it is more informative to examine the latter itself. In this work, the authors derive exact probability density function (PDF) expressions for the BER and the channel capacity for an arbitrary irradiance model. In particular, they investigate these exact results for log-normal, gamma-gamma, and K distributions. For the BER analysis, they focus on the binary phase shift keying and quadrature phase shift keying modulation schemes. The authors' analytical reults are found to be in conformity with Monte Carlo simulations. The exact PDFs of the BER and the channel capacity reveal that there are several instances when the average is unable to capture the actual behaviour of these quantities, and therefore one must be careful in drawing conclusions based on the first moment only.

2019-09-10T02:04:40.666Z

2019-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

225748910

Training in Improving The Quality of Communication Using the Communication Patterns of Adolescent Students of Al-Mu'awwanah Mosque This community service activity aims to provide Quality Communication Training by Using the Communication Pattern of Youth Groups of Almu'awwanah Mosque. This activity was held for one full day, starting at 8:00 to 16:00 WIB. The material provided was in the form of communication quality training using communication patterns of youth groups of the Al-Mu'awwanah mosque. The total number of participants as many as 50 youth. The majority of whom came from members of the Al-Muawwanah mosque, and by adolescents in the Yellow Bamboo Village. The service activities provided result in 1) Being able to improve the quality of communication, 2) Adding experience in group communication patterns to strengthen group communication relationships for youth and Youth Al-Mu'awwanah Mosque, 3) Having quality communication within and fellow group members, 4) Creating close friendships in groups, 5) Able to run the youth program well according to the purpose, 6) Able to realize the mosque management program and the most important of these community service activities is being able to reactivate mosque teenagers.

2020-10-28T18:49:58.086Z

2020-06-30T00:00:00.000Z

147192170

Book review: Chong Han, Metaphor and Entertainment: A Corpus-Based Approach to Language in Chinese Online News readers are introduced to several different approaches to CDA: Norman Fairclough on his dialectical-relational approach and Teun van Dijk on his sociocognitive approach, and illustrations of CDA in action by Jan Blommaert and Jef Verschueren on ‘othering’ of immigrants and Ruth Wodak on racist and anti-Semitic discourse. DR features several new chapters in this third edition that seek to provide an updated account of the field, with many of these commissioned specifically for the reader. In addition to the chapters by Norman Fairclough and Ron Scollon in Part 1, there are new extracts from Paul Baker and Tony McEnery, and Chrispin Thurlow that illustrate how corpus methodologies are being used to explore aspects of social power and ideology more broadly (Part 6), a chapter by Geoffrey Raymond and Jack Sidnell providing readers with an updated introduction to the modus operandi of a CA approach (Part 3), and new extracts from work by Barbara Johnstone and Gerlinde Mautner which illustrate how multimodal features can also be implicated in the exploration of identity construction and group belonging (Part 5). For some readers, one collection may be immediately more relevant to their research, study or teaching purposes. However, due to their different scopes, both collections would be valuable for any discourse studies student or researcher. Readers can expect to gain insight and exposure to theorists that will help in their overall development as a discourse analyst or theorist. These two collections have contributed to my own ongoing development in the field of discourse analysis in different ways. DR helped me consolidate my understanding of the analytical approaches to discourse and to distinguish between the different theoretical traditions and the way these traditions approach linguistic data. DSR, on the other hand, broadened my knowledge of the (interdisciplinary) theoretical roots and key questions that have influenced much of the work discourse researchers do today. It also provided a historical narrative on the development of the field and introduced work by French scholars that has not been previously available in English. With its focus on theoretical discussions, however, DSR was a more difficult read. In making their selections, the editors assume a lot more background knowledge on the part of the reader. Many of the extracts selected were incredibly dense, and at times it was also difficult to keep track of the reason why a particular text was included in a section. While this is not the fault of the editors (discourse theory like many fields of scientific inquiry is a theoretically dense area), it may suggest that DSR is better suited to those who have already built up background knowledge in the study of discourse and are interested in developing a broader, more interdisciplinary account of the field and its theoretical groundings.

2019-05-08T13:30:04.737Z

2016-04-01T00:00:00.000Z

15017620

A data mining approach for Jet Grouting Uniaxial Compressive Strength prediction Jet Grouting (JG) is a Geotechnical Engineering technique that is characterized by a great versatility, being the best solution for several soil treatment improvement problems. However, JG lacks design rules and quality control. As the result, the main JG works are planned from empirical rules that are often too conservative. The development of rational models to simulate the effect of the different parameters involved in the JG process is of primary importance in order to satisfy the binomial safety-economy that is required in any engineering project. In this work, three data mining models, i.e. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Functional Networks (FN), were adapted to predict the Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) of JG laboratory formulations. A comparative study was held, by using a dataset used that was obtained from several studies previously accomplished in University of Minho. We show that the novel data-driven models are able to learn with high accuracy the complex relationships between the UCS of JG laboratory formulations and its contributing factors.

2015-07-20T18:47:21.000Z

2009-12-01T00:00:00.000Z

220071320

Editorial Evaluation and Peer Review During a Pandemic: How Journals Maintain Standards. Concerns have been raised about how journals maintain their standards during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, given the rapid pace and unprecedented volume of research being conducted in such a short time, and the large number of reports submitted to journals. For example, at JAMA, from January 1 to June 1, 2020, more than 11 000 manuscripts were submitted, compared with approximately 4000 manuscripts submitted during the same period in 2019. Virtually the entire increase has been related to manuscripts focused on COVID-19, with about one-third representing original research (full-length manuscripts, brief reports, and research letters) and two-thirds representing opinion (Viewpoints, A Piece of My Mind) and reviews. Normally for research reports submitted to JAMA, initial evaluation is performed by an associate editor, by a member of the senior full-time editorial staff, or both, followed by external peer review for manuscripts of good quality that may be suitable for publication. For those manuscripts that, after external peer review, revision is requested for possible publication, full-time editorial staff conduct formal additional internal detailed review. During the pandemic, this process has been modified for COVID-19–related research submissions. From the time of submission virtually all of these manuscripts have been handled by full-time JAMA editorial staff. For manuscripts that have been judged to have sufficient publication potential and were essentially descriptive, representing simple and straightforward epidemiology, review has primarily been internal, including peer review by JAMA editors with relevant subject matter expertise, including infectious diseases, critical care, cardiology, and epidemiology. However, for research manuscripts in which the results are likely to influence clinical practice or public health policy, or are likely to be of substantial interest and possible concern to the public, external peer review (including review by 1 or more statisticians) has always been conducted. For some manuscripts, peer reviewers and editors have asked for additional data and analyses, or confirmation of data accuracy prior to publication. In these cases, publication was delayed until those data and analyses were received, rereviewed, and deemed satisfactory. Although rapid publication of clinically actionable information during a pandemic is important, publishing results that are not valid can do harm. Rushing publication, if there are mistakes, will ultimately undermine public trust in science.1 For the majority of medical journals, peer reviewers function as important consultants, with the final decision to publish a manuscript resting with the editor in chief, usually in consultation with senior editors. The final decision to publish a manuscript involves consideration of many factors, foremost of which is the validity of the results, as well as the importance and plausibility of the findings. Other factors include comments from peer reviewers (important concerns that must be addressed by the authors), relevance for journal readers, and consistency with the mission of that journal. It is reasonable to question how quickly important research reports that could influence practice can be rigorously evaluated and published. Normally, the editorial evaluation and peer-review process is deliberate, taking weeks to months. On very select occasions, JAMA has the capacity to publish a research report in 10 to 12 days after submission, including external peer review and internal editorial evaluation, thorough revision by authors, and manuscript editing to JAMA standards. An essential factor with these expedited manuscripts has been that external peer reviewers were willing to provide rigorous reviews within 2 to 3 days, but rapid publication can only be done if authors, scientific editors, and manuscript editors are available to review and revise the manuscript every day during that period. It also requires a skilled and experienced publishing team that can process and disseminate manuscripts quickly and accurately. JAMA has employed this approach for a limited number of manuscripts since the pandemic began. However, it is important to recognize that JAMA has more editorial resources (human and technical) than many other journals; the resource-intense procedures JAMA has been able to implement during the pandemic are therefore likely not available for all medical journals. Journals have many different approaches for addressing postpublication issues raised by readers. During the pandemic, JAMA has allowed rapid online commenting for all COVID-19–related articles. This allows readers to post comments in a matter of hours, rather than the more methodical process of submitting a letter to the editor and waiting for a response from authors prior to possible publication. Journals must also be responsive to concerns that might lead to clarifications, corrections, or possible retraction, and when these issues arise, especially for reports related to treatment of COVID-19, evaluation and corrective action must occur promptly.2 Journals always have a responsibility to ensure an accurate scientific record, and this is critically important during a pandemic. For instance, when an ambiguity was identified in a published research article, JAMA posted a clarification within 2 days after the article was published.3 Opinion

2020-06-27T13:06:12.373Z

2020-06-26T00:00:00.000Z

108619070

Space nuclear power integration studies for a surveillance satellite mission A summary is given of the status of reviews and studies that have recently been performed to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of various nuclear power systems for space mission applications in the 5 to 20 kWe range. The goal is to use these power systems for a generic surveillance satellite. The advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear and solar power are discussed. Conceptual 10 kWe designs for a SP-100 derivative, a STAR-C, and a SNAP-DYN(CBC) were used in this study. It is shown that these early-1988 concepts can successfully be integrated with a surveillance satellite spacecraft and its mission objectives.<<ETX>>

2019-04-12T13:55:00.807Z

1989-08-06T00:00:00.000Z

117197170

High Frequency Ultrasonic Measurements The use of high frequency ultrasonic Lamb waves to measure the thickness of thin plates and foils, is discussed and the feasibility of their application to the determination of the degree of cure of polymer coating on coated tin plated steel sheet (as used by the food can industry) is evaluated. The paper also discusses briefly the design features of the purpose built precision double probe ultrasonic goniometer used to carry out these measurements.

2019-04-16T13:22:51.747Z

1988-06-01T00:00:00.000Z

31126120

Forget the old days of medical officers of health EDITOR,—Stephen J Watkins advocates a return to public health paternalism, from which, thankfully, the specialty has begun to move in recent years.1 Despite his assertion that public health doctors cannot work with “arbitrarily defined populations” in the same way as they can with “communities,” the community that holds centre stage in the article is one based on the boundaries of local government—a clear example of boundaries that are not defined by the population within them. More careful analysis of the text shows that this reflects the fact that the community that has …

2018-04-03T01:50:02.287Z

1994-12-17T00:00:00.000Z

22961320

Ultrasound scanning of the acute abdomen by surgeons in training. Ultrasound is widely used in the investigation of abdominal symptoms. Its increasing popularity may lead to pressure on radiological services, diagnostic delay and prolonged hospital stay. Immediate imaging performed by radiologists can contribute useful information in acute emergencies. This study assessed the accuracy and value of abdominal ultrasonography when carried out by admitting surgeons. Three surgical registrars were first instructed for two half days by a consultant radiologist. Patients with acute symptoms were scanned at the time of initial presentation using an Aloka SSD-620 scanner with 3.5 and 5 MHz probes. A total of 205 scans was performed--124 of the upper and 81 of the lower abdomen. Immediate ultrasound provided information that contributed to the establishment or refutal of a diagnosis in 138 patients (67.3%), predominantly by confirming or excluding hepatobiliary disease, tubo-ovarian pathology or aortic aneurysms and in blunt abdominal trauma. The diagnosis was altered in a small proportion (7.8%). Scanning proved unhelpful in 62 patients and misleading in five. Findings concurred with those of a radiologist in 86% of the 139 patients subsequently scanned. Abdominal ultrasound is a useful tool in the hands of surgeons dealing with emergencies and may occasionally provide vital information. If access to radiological facilities is delayed, ultrasound by the admitting surgeon could lead to improved patient management and cost savings.

2018-04-03T01:33:43.113Z

1994-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

3313730

Lacunae and cribriform cavities of the brain. Correlations with pseudobulbar palsy and parkinsonism. Fifty-one brains showing lacunae and 30 with cribriform cavities have been identified out of 191 examined brains. A histologic and immunohistochemical study with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method for glial fibrillary acidic protein has been carried out in selected cases. The number, site, associated arterial lesions and the microscopic appearance of lacunae and cribriform cavities are reported. Lacunae are small cavities usually, but not always due to softenings; cribriform cavities are dilatations of the perivascular space. Two types of cribriform cavities have been identified, according to the histological appearance of the surrounding tissue: type 1 with normal and type 2 with rarefied and abnormally gliotic surrounding nervous tissue. Sixteen cases showing a cribriform state in the basal ganglia exhibited a pseudobulbar palsy or extrapyramidal rigidity. Pseudobulbar palsy of striate form or parkinsonism may be ascertained in some cases only by histological and immunohistochemical examination.

2018-04-03T04:42:52.493Z

1988-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

151933730

The Relationship between Occupational Stress and Burnout among Occupational Therapists Objective: A growing body of research has documented that occupational stress is associated with workers’ adverse health outcomes such as mental distress, depression and burnout. This study was performed to identify the relationship between occupational stress and burnout among occupational therapists in Korea. Methods: A total of 226 occupational therapists registered in the Korean Association of Occupational Therapist participated in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess demographics, subjective health status, work-related factors, occupational stress and burnout. Burnout was measured by Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Occupational stressors were assessed using 26-items of the Korean Occupational Stress Scale (KOSS-26). This scale consists of items targeting at physical environment, job demand, insufficient job control, interpersonal conflict, job insecurity, lack of reward, organizational system and occupational climate. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between 8 occupational stressors and burnout, separately. SAS 9.1 version was used for the analyses, and a P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results show that all occupational stressors were associated with burnout after adjustment for control variables. Occupational stressors accounted for from 14.39%(p<0.001, organizational system) to 33.21%(p<0.001, occupational climate) of the variance in burnout. Conclusion: These results suggest that occupational stress might play a significant role in increasing the risk of burnout among occupational therapists.

2019-05-10T13:08:58.414Z

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

244616320

Basic Principles, Most Common Computational Tools, and Capabilities for Building Energy and Urban Microclimate Simulations This paper presents basic principles of built-environment physics’ modelling, and it reviews common computational tools and capabilities in a scope of practical design approaches for retrofitting purposes. Well-established simulation models and methods, with applications found mainly in the international scientific literature, are described by means of strengths and weaknesses as regards related tools’ availability, easiness to use, and reliability towards the determination of the optimal blends of retrofit measures for building energy upgrading and Urban Heat Island (UHI) mitigation. The various characteristics of computational approaches are listed and collated by means of comparison among the principal modelling methods as well as among the respective computational tools that may be used for simulation and decision-making purposes. Insights of coupling between building energy and urban microclimate models are also presented. The main goal was to provide a comprehensive overview of available simulation methods that can be used at the early design stages for planning retrofitting strategies and guiding engineers and technical professionals through the simulation tools’ options oriented to the considered case study.

2021-10-20T15:14:34.894Z

2021-10-15T00:00:00.000Z

42871820

A homologue of a nuclear-coded iron-sulfur protein subunit of bovine mitochondrial complex I is encoded in chloroplast genomes. The chloroplast genomes of Marchantia polymorpha, Nicotiana tabacum, and Oryza sativa contain open reading frames (ORFs or potential genes) encoding homologues of some of the subunits of mitochondrial NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I). Seven of these subunits (ND1-ND4, ND4L, ND5, and ND6) are products of the mitochondrial genome, and two others (the 49- and 30-kDa components of the iron-sulfur protein fraction) are nuclear gene products. These findings have been taken to indicate the presence in chloroplasts of an enzyme related to complex I, possibly an NAD(P)H:plastoquinone oxidoreductase, participating in chlororespiration. This view is reinforced by the present work in which we have shown that chloroplast genomes encode a homologue of the 23-kDa subunit, another nuclear-encoded component of bovine complex I. The 23-kDa subunit is in the hydrophobic protein fraction of the enzyme, the residuum after removal of the flavoprotein and iron-sulfur protein fractions. The sequence motif CysXXCysXXCysXXXCysPro, which provides ligands for tetranuclear iron-sulfur centers in ferredoxins, occurs twice in its polypeptide chain and is evidence of two associated 4Fe-4S clusters. This is the only iron-sulfur protein identified so far in the hydrophobic protein fraction of complex I, and so it is possible that one of these centers is that known as N-2, the donor of electrons to ubiquinone. The sequence of the 23-kDa subunit is closely related to potential proteins, which also contain the cysteine-rich sequence motifs, encoded in the frxB ORFs in chloroplast genomes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

2018-04-03T05:28:04.035Z

1991-03-19T00:00:00.000Z

953570

MicroRNA-138 Modulates DNA Damage Response by Repressing Histone H2AX Expression Precise regulation of DNA damage response is crucial for cellular survival after DNA damage, and its abrogation often results in genomic instability in cancer. Phosphorylated histone H2AX (γH2AX) forms nuclear foci at sites of DNA damage and facilitates DNA damage response and repair. MicroRNAs (miRNA) are short, nonprotein-encoding RNA molecules, which posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression by repressing translation of and/or degrading mRNA. How miRNAs modulate DNA damage response is largely unknown. In this study, we developed a cell-based screening assay using ionizing radiation (IR)-induced γH2AX foci formation in a human osteosarcoma cell line, U2OS, as the readout. By screening a library of human miRNA mimics, we identified several miRNAs that inhibited γH2AX foci formation. Among them, miR-138 directly targeted the histone H2AX 3′-untranslated region, reduced histone H2AX expression, and induced chromosomal instability after DNA damage. Overexpression of miR-138 inhibited homologous recombination and enhanced cellular sensitivity to multiple DNA-damaging agents (cisplatin, camptothecin, and IR). Reintroduction of histone H2AX in miR-138 overexpressing cells attenuated miR-138–mediated sensitization to cisplatin and camptothecin. Our study suggests that miR-138 is an important regulator of genomic stability and a potential therapeutic agent to improve the efficacy of radiotherapy and chemotherapy with DNA-damaging agents. Mol Cancer Res; 9(8); 1100–11. ©2011 AACR.

2017-04-20T16:40:06.904Z

2011-06-21T00:00:00.000Z

2938270

A new Bayesian approach to textured image segmentation: Turbo segmentation We consider the problem of semi-supervised segmentation of textured images. In this paper, we propose a new Bayesian framework by modeling two-dimensional textured images as the concatenation of two one-dimensional hidden Markov autoregressive models for the lines and the columns, respectively. A new segmentation algorithm, which is similar to turbo decoding in the context of error-correcting codes, is obtained based on a factor graph approach. The proposed method estimates the unknown parameters using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

2009-08-01T00:00:00.000Z

165021050

World Literature, by Any Other Name? There is a “World” of Difference Between the Benign Descriptive Tautology of the Phrase World Literature When it is Used to indicate, with its phenomenological innocence, literature from a variety of sites and in various languages and the same phrase when it is used to indicate a unitary mode. I distinguish between these concepts by placing quotation marks around the phrase when the second sense is meant. “World literature” indeed results from an act of ideological and hegemonic production: it is a tendentious, normative category with all the magisterial and juridical authority of a taxonomic rubric. In a classic Althusserian sense, the phrase, in quotation marks, actively interpellates the world and the world responds to the ideological hail. In so doing the world constitutes itself epistemologically as certain and determinate. The hail privileges and exemplifies a particular configuration of the world, inevitably alienating and “othering” the possibility of infinite alternative configurations and constellations as various and protean as the world itself. The crucial difference is that until the moment of the hail, world literature just “was,” doing its thing expressively, speaking profusely and in polyglot chaos and richness without necessarily speaking for itself in a unitary, prescriptive, representational, and representative mode. To put it simply, every literature in the world was in the world, and this fact needed no reiteration, no self-conscious validation. Where else would anything or any literature be except in the world? Why not just let world literature be in its various sites, languages, and configurations?

2019-05-26T14:35:32.358Z

2016-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

15587460

Element shape of FSR backed dipole antenna suitable for obtaining sector radiation pattern Frequency selective reflector (FSR) is useful to actualize multi-band reflector backed dipole antennas. This paper investigates a suitable FSR element shape for the FSR backed dipole antenna forming sector radiation pattern, which is suitable for mobile base station antennas. Three element shapes, Gang Buster, Jerusalem Cross, and Square Loop are considered. Radiation patterns are calculated by the moment method. The calculation result is validated by measurement.

2017-02-16T18:46:24.791Z

2015-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

15996560

A NOVEL CORRELATION SUM METHOD FOR COGNITIVE RADIO SPECTRUM SENSING Cognitive radio is a promising concept for coping with the spectrum scarcity in future generation wireless communication networks. This idea, including software-defined radio (SDR) as the enabling technology, was suggested by Mitola [1] to realize flexible and efficient usage of spectrum. An important component of cognitive radio is spectrum sensing to detect the presence or absence of a primary (licensed) user in the spectrum for a given location. Some existing spectrum sensing techniques found in the cognitive radio literature are matched filtering, waveform-based sensing [2], cyclostationary-based sensing [3], [4], energy detection [5]-[8], and radio identification. In this paper we present a new correlation sum method, and compare its performance with energy detection, which is the most common way to detect the presence of generalized, unknown signals. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section II introduces the problem of spectrum sensing and discusses energy-based detection. Section III describes our correlation sum method for sensing. Section IV gives some simulation results with discussions. Conclusion and future extensions are discussed in Section V.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

2008-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

18943260

Modelling and quantifying the effect of heterogeneity in soil physical conditions on fungal growth Abstract. Despite the importance of fungi in soil ecosystem services, a theoretical framework that links soil management strategies with fungal ecology is still lacking. One of the key challenges is to understand how the complex geometrical shape of pores in soil affects fungal spread and species interaction. Progress in this area has long been hampered by a lack of experimental techniques for quantification. In this paper we use X-ray computed tomography to quantify and characterize the pore geometry at microscopic scales (30 μm) that are relevant for fungal spread in soil. We analysed the pore geometry for replicated samples with bulk-densities ranging from 1.2–1.6 g/cm3. The bulk-density of soils significantly affected the total volume, mean pore diameter and connectivity of the pore volume. A previously described fungal growth model comprising a minimal set of physiological processes required to produce a range of phenotypic responses was used to analyse the effect of these geometric descriptors on fungal invasion, and we showed that the degree and rate of fungal invasion was affected mainly by pore volume and pore connectivity. The presented experimental and theoretical framework is a significant first step towards understanding how environmental change and soil management impact on fungal diversity in soils.

2015-03-27T18:11:09.000Z

2010-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

26415020

Wireless power transfer system using a Helmholtz coil for electromagnetic suspension carrier system An electromagnetic suspension carrier system has carriers with on-board batteries. The carrier stops to charge the batteries when the battery energy runs out. In order to omit the charging stop, we have developed a power transmission system using wireless power transfer (WPT) system with the magnetic resonance coupling. To design the suitable arrangement of feeding and receiving antennas for feeding to the carrier of the electromagnetic suspension carrier system, power transmission efficiency was measured with resonance antennas arranged parallel and vertical to the carrying direction. Experimental results shew that resonance antennas arranged parallel to the carrying direction realizes high and stable power transmission efficiency. Also, the Helmholtz-coil-type loop antenna coupled with the feeding and receiving antennas gave robustness against variations in the height of the receiving antenna to the WPT system.

2017-03-27T18:45:56.192Z

2016-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

251683970

Takayasu arteritis: In a middle-aged Sri Lankan male - A case report Takayasu arteritis is a vasculitic condition which affects large and medium sized vessels primarily aorta and its main branches. It is a rare condition affecting females more than males between 10 and 40 years of age with spectrum of clinical presentation. Here we present a case of 58 year old man who presented to us with non-specific gastrointestinal symptoms who was eventually diagnosed with Takayasu arteritis.

2022-08-20T15:19:32.975Z

2022-08-18T00:00:00.000Z

615270

Secure and resilient proximity-based access control The ubiquity of mobile devices has increased the convenience of communication but it has also introduced personal privacy concerns. In the domain of portable medical records, it is vital to provide authentication which protects personal information from unauthorized users who are located out of legitimate regions. To support such location-based authentication, one possible approach in medical systems is exploiting distance-bounding protocols which allow detecting a user's current location to determine whether the user is in trusted physical locations such as a doctor's office. However, sensors that enable distance-bounding protocols are expensive and not widely deployed yet since the required protocols typically need special devices such as devices utilizing ultrasound. To overcome the lack of device deployment, we propose a secure proximity-based access control scheme based on the use of multiple location based service (LBS) devices utilizing Bluetooth which is cheap and already widely used. Furthermore, we provide several ways to prevent various attacks. We report experimental performance results which indicate that access control is executed within 100 ms on Intel i7 processor and in about two seconds on the Android platform. Furthermore, our proposed system achieves communication overhead in O(1) as opposed to digital signatures which grow in O(n).

2016-04-07T00:00:00.000Z

2013-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

250284780

RF03: Risk factors for paradoxical eczema in patients with psoriasis on biologics: a nested case–control study treatments A second regression analysis explored the effects of systemic treatments used in combination vs. single-agent nonsteroidal immunomodulatory therapies. Regression models were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity and comorbidities. cases and periosteum in 222 (73.5%). A significantly greater proportion of lesions excised to galea had involved or close ( < 1 mm) deep margins [27 (33.8%) galea vs. 50 (22.5%) periosteum (odds ratio 2.74, 95% confidence interval 1.38 – 5.45); P = 0.004]. Local recurrence rates were also significantly higher for lesions excised to galea compared with periosteum [13 (16.3%) vs. 18 (8.1%); P = 0.039], although this trend was lost after adjusting for deep-margin status. To our knowledge, this study is the first to compare local recurrence rates and margin involvement for cSCC of the scalp excised to different depths. Our findings demonstrate a higher incidence of involved/close deep margins for lesions excised to galea, imposing a higher treatment burden and risk of recurrence for these patients. We therefore advocate including galea in surgical excision. Checkpoint inhibitor therapy (CPI) has significantly improved overall survival in several cancers, including metastatic melanoma (MM), and in the adjuvant setting. Cutaneous immune-related adverse events (irAEs) secondary to CPI are commonly observed; however, autoimmune

2022-07-06T13:05:41.448Z

2022-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

37578980

How to design an anemia management protocol. An anemia management protocol ensures consistent treatment of anemia in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients by basing a treatment plan on the evaluation of hematocrit values and iron stores, the provision of safe and effective iron supplementation the systematic dosing of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO), and careful monitoring of patient' outcomes. The protocol must be designed specifically for the institution in which it will be implemented. This article outlines the steps an institution can take to develop and implement an anemia management protocol and includes a case study on how. The Centers for Dialysis Care in Cleveland. OH designed and implemented a protocol in their seven facilities.

2018-04-03T04:04:06.015Z

1998-04-01T00:00:00.000Z

17929360

Computer Aided Lighting Requirement Analysis and Design for a Health Care Facility The healthcare sector of today has very precise requirement with regard to interior lighting. To fulfill these needs, international standards which specify the strict requirement for each health care facility have come up. Hospital lighting is in particular complex because of the sensitive nature of various patients as well as requirement of high performance from its employees. Hence this makes for a challenging task for designing a lighting scheme for a hospital. Hospital lighting standards have been well documented by IESNA and its Indian counterpart-National Lighting Code 2010. This work aims at providing healthcare lighting of an international standard in a new health care facility namely of a super specialty hospital. Widespread usage of computer simulation as well as International standards like ANSI RP-29-06, have been rigorously followed and implemented. Thus the aim of this work is creating an optimum system where not only the lighting is optimum but the energy consumption of the said facility is also optimized.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

2013-09-18T00:00:00.000Z

198373660

Sex differences in the outcomes of mild traumatic brain injury in children presenting to the emergency department. Sex differences after concussion have been studied largely in high school and college athletes, often without reference to comparison groups without concussion. This study sought to evaluate sex differences in outcomes among all children and adolescents presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) for either mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) or orthopedic injury (OI), regardless of mechanism of injury. The study involved a concurrent cohort, prospective study design with longitudinal follow-up. Participants were 8- to 16-year-olds with mild TBI (n = 143) or OI (n = 73). They were recruited and completed an initial assessment at EDs at two children's hospitals. They returned for a post-acute assessment within 2 weeks of injury, and for follow-up assessments at 3 and 6 months. Outcomes included child and parent proxy ratings of somatic and cognitive symptoms, and standardized tests of cognitive functioning and balance. Sex did not moderate group differences in balance, fluid or crystallized cognitive ability, or child or parent proxy ratings of somatic or cognitive symptoms. Both parents and children reported more somatic symptoms in girls than boys, but in both groups. Compared to the OI group, the mild TBI group showed significantly lower fluid cognitive ability at the post-acute assessment, and significantly higher somatic and cognitive symptoms according to both child and parent proxy ratings across the first 2 weeks post-injury. The results suggest that sex does not moderate the outcomes of mild TBI in a pediatric ED population. Previous research pointing to sex differences after concussion may reflect the lack of comparison groups, as well as a focus on adolescents and young adults and sport-related concussion. Future research should investigate whether sex moderates the outcomes of pediatric mild TBI in adolescents but not in pre-adolescent children.

2019-07-26T07:23:44.549Z

2021-03-07T00:00:00.000Z

231760000

Tailoring P2/P3 Biphases of Layered Nax MnO2 by Co Substitution for High-Performance Sodium-Ion Battery. P-type layered oxide is a promising cathode candidate for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), but faces the challenge of simultaneously realizing high rate capability and long cycle life. Herein, Co-substituted Nax MnO2 nanosheets with tunable P2/P3 biphase structures are synthesized by a novel dealloying-annealing strategy. The optimized P2/P3-Na0.67 Mn0.64 Co0.30 Al0.06 O2 cathode delivers an excellent rate capability of 83 mA h g-1 at a high current density of 1700 mA g-1 (10 C), and an outstanding cycling stability over 500 cycles at 1000 mA g-1 . This excellent performance is attributed to the unique P2/P3 biphases with stable crystal structures and fast Na+ diffusion between open prismatic Na sites. Moreover, operando X-ray diffraction is applied to explore the structural evolution of Na0.67 Mn0.64 Co0.30 Al0.06 O2 during the Na+ extraction/insertion processes, and the P2-P2' phase transition is effectively suppressed. Operando Raman technique is utilized to explore the structural superiority of P2/P3 biphase cathode compared with pure P2 or P3 phase. This work highlights precisely tailoring the phase composition as an effective strategy to design advanced cathode materials for SIBs.

2021-02-03T06:16:50.695Z

2021-01-27T00:00:00.000Z

8943420

NF-kappaB pathway inhibitors preferentially inhibit breast cancer stem-like cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that breast cancer is caused by cancer stem cells and cure of breast cancer requires eradication of breast cancer stem cells. Previous studies with leukemia stem cells have shown that NF-kappaB pathway is important for leukemia stem cell survival. In this study, by using MCF7 sphere cells as model of breast cancer stem-like cells, we evaluated the effect of NF-kappaB pathway specific inhibitors on human breast cancer MCF7 sphere cells. Three inhibitors including parthenolide (PTL), pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) and its analog diethyldithiocarbamate (DETC) were found to preferentially inhibit MCF7 sphere cell proliferation. These compounds also showed preferential inhibition in term of proliferation and colony formation on MCF7 side population (SP) cells, a small fraction of MCF7 cells known to enrich in breast cancer stem-like cells. The preferential inhibition effect of these compounds was due to inhibition of the NF-kappaB activity in both MCF7 sphere and MCF7 cells, with higher inhibition effect on MCF7 sphere cells than on MCF7 cells. PDTC was further evaluated in vivo and showed significant tumor growth inhibition alone but had better tumor growth inhibition in combination with paclitaxel in the mouse xenograft model than either PDTC or paclitaxel alone. This study suggests that breast cancer stem-like cells could be selectively inhibited by targeting signaling pathways important for breast cancer stem-like cells.

2018-04-03T00:05:47.114Z

2008-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

243264770

The Communications Revolution and Evangelical Internationalism This chapter explains the practical mechanisms by which evangelical organizations expanded their reach. It talks about many scholars of Christianity that have attributed the global expansion of evangelicalism to “new technology” without adequately demonstrating how technological innovations made evangelical Christianity appealing to its new adherents throughout the world. The chapter also illuminates the strategic approach of U.S. evangelical organizations in using electronic communications to spread the gospel. It shows how individuals and local communities abroad interacted with Christian media and details how evangelicals throughout the world came to view themselves as members of a transnational community of believers by the early 1980s. It examines the interplay of religious and political beliefs that underpinned the push for overseas evangelism, the technological mechanisms that fostered evangelical internationalism, and the scriptural interpretations that informed evangelical notions about human rights and the role that the United States should play in the world.

2021-09-14T16:40:40.526Z

2020-05-15T00:00:00.000Z

32320660

Prostacyclin, thromboxane A2, and hypertension. Prostacyclin and thromboxane A2, products of separate branches of the arachidonic acid cascade, can have opposing effects on kidney function and on the vascular musculature. Prostacyclin acts as a vasodilator while thromboxane A2 has a vasoconstrictor effect and the balance between these two compounds appears to contribute to the homeostatic regulation of normal blood pressure. In the hypertensive state, this balance is disrupted and, at least in animal models of hypertension, there is excessive production of both. The increase in prostacyclin formation may be a reaction to the elevated blood pressure, possibly due to mechanical stimulation of the vascular smooth muscle cells in the blood vessel wall. However, the increase in thromboxane A2 may be more directly involved in the development and maintenance of hypertension. Not only is thromboxane A2 a vasoconstrictor but it can also stimulate the growth and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells which may account for the vascular hypertrophy seen in hypertension. Both of these actions would increase total peripheral resistance and contribute to hypertension. Whether prostacyclin and thromboxane A2 are in fact involved as causative agents in essential hypertension must await future research.

2018-04-03T02:10:33.659Z

1990-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

135901360

Size-dependent amplitude and phase distribution under a high NA objective The interactions between light and sub-wavelength sized dielectric particles have been paid more attentions especially in biotechnology and photonics. Base on Mie scattering method, we calculate the electrical field distribution scattered by a single dielectric particle which is focused by a high numerical aperture (NA) objective. The theoretical result indicates a size dependent amplitude and phase distribution, which agrees well with the experimental measurement. This method provides a way to evaluate the particles size down to the range of less than diffraction limitation.

2019-04-28T13:13:57.854Z

2014-11-18T00:00:00.000Z

33570950

Sequence diversity in 36 candidate genes for cardiovascular disorders. Two strategies involving whole-genome association studies have been proposed for the identification of genes involved in complex diseases. The first one seeks to characterize all common variants of human genes and to test their association with disease. The second one seeks to develop dense maps of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and to detect susceptibility genes through linkage disequilibrium. We performed a molecular screening of the coding and/or flanking regions of 36 candidate genes for cardiovascular diseases. All polymorphisms identified by this screening were further genotyped in 750 subjects of European descent. In the whole set of genes, the lengths explored spanned 53.8 kb in the 5' regions, 68.4 kb in exonic regions, and 13 kb in the 3' regions. The strength of linkage disequilibrium within candidate regions suggests that genomewide maps of SNPs might be efficient ways to identify new disease-susceptibility genes, provided that the maps are sufficiently dense. However, the relatively large number of polymorphisms within coding and regulatory regions of candidate genes raises the possibility that several of them might be functional and that the pattern of genotype-phenotype association might be more complex than initially envisaged, as actually has been observed in some well-characterized genes. These results argue in favor of both genomewide association studies and detailed studies of the overall sequence variation of candidate genes, as complementary approaches.

2018-04-03T02:26:27.798Z

1999-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

32111680

Structural and optical properties of CuIn1−xGaxS2 absorber layer for solar cells synthesized by spray pyrolysis In this study, we investigated the effect of the chemical ratios (x=Ga/In+Ga) on the structural and optical properties of the chalcopyrite Cu(In<inf>x−1</inf>, Ga<inf>x</inf>)S<inf>2</inf> thin films made by spray pyrolysis. Structural analysis by X-ray diffraction revealed that the CIGS crystallizes in a polycrystalline structure with chalcopyrite phase and a preferential growth orientation [112]. The best crystallinity was observed for the film prepared with the chemical ratio x = 0.9. The grain size of the films of CIGS decreases with chemical ratio (Ga+In)/Ga increases. The Optical properties was calculate from the measured spectral transmittance T<inf>λ</inf> and reflectance R<inf>λ</inf> allow us to determine the direct band gap energy value which increases by increasing the x ratios and it is in the range 1.64–1.70 eV, indicating that Cu(In<inf>1−x</inf>Ga<inf>x</inf>)S<inf>2</inf> compound has an absorbing property favorable for photovoltaic applications.

2017-07-21T17:11:37.510Z

2016-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

13775080

Biomechanical podiatric evaluation in an Italian cohort of patients with systemic sclerosis: A pilot study. OBJECTIVE Foot problems are often present in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) patients, however studies regarding podiatric problems related to SSc are lacking and there are no data evaluating the foot biomechanical changes. The aim of the present pilot study was to evaluate podiatric problems in an Italian cohort of SSc patients by assessing received podiatric services, foot pain and disability and biomechanical foot deformity. MATERIAL AND METHODS 25 consecutive SSc patients were enrolled from the Division of Rheumatology, University of Florence. All SSc patients were assessed by: Standards of Care for People with Foot Musculoskeletal Health problems: Audit Tool, Foot Function Index (FFI), Weight and non-weight bearing foot joint assessment, (Foot Posture Index (FPI) and Gait Cycle), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and Medical Outcomes Survey Short Form 36 (SF-36). RESULTS Audit Tool - Only 7 (28%) out of the 25 patients with SSc had a specific podiatric assessment and treatment: no patient received a foot health assessment within the first 6 months of disease diagnosis and no patient received information about foot involvement. 1 patient (4%) received foot assessment every year; 1 patient (4%) received specific information about the disease and 5 patients (20%) received information about the benefits of using adapted footwear and insoles. FFI - Values of pain, disability and activity limitations, reported in FFI, are 4.7±5.1, 5.1±3.2 and 3.2±3.1 (M±DS), respectively. Non-weight bearing foot joint assessment shows a rearfoot varus deformity in 64% of patients, forefoot varus deformity in 42% and 6% forefoot valgus deformity. Weight bearing foot joint assessment, through FPI shows a pronated foot 20% of patients with and 34% with highly pronated overall foot posture. Gait analysis shows that 64% of patients has a contact of the calcaneus in invertion while 36% in eversion. In the midstance, 78% have the foot in pronation and 22% in supination, while in propulsion 12% presents a takeoff of the foot in supination and 88% in the pronation. HAQ result is 1.13±0.80, SFI and SMI scales of SF-36 have scores of 32.38±10.65 and 38.67±11.40, respectively. CONCLUSION Our results shows that podiatric problems in SSc patients are common, serious but foot assessment and health care are inadequate. Thus, foot health information should be improved in order to better empower patients to self-manage low risk problems and help identify high-risk problems, which require specialist care.

2018-04-03T02:31:29.442Z

2017-01-11T00:00:00.000Z

19127980

Energy-Aware Signal Integrity Analysis for High-Speed PCB Links This paper proposes a novel approach to evaluate design alternatives for high-speed links on printed circuit boards. The approach combines evaluations of signal integrity and link input power. For a comprehensive analysis, different link designs are made comparable through the application of identical constraints, with the link input power as the single figure of merit for a systematic, quantitative comparison of design alternatives. The analysis relies upon a combination of efficient physics-based via and trace models, statistical time-domain simulation, and an analytical input power evaluation, which allows it to handle links consisting of a large number of channels while fully taking into account interchannel crosstalk. The proposed approach is applied to study two fundamental design decisions at the PCB level-single-ended versus differential signaling and signal-to-ground via ratios of 1:1 versus 2:1-for a link consisting of 2048 vias and up to 175 striplines with an aggregate data rate of 1 Tb/s. It is found that both design decisions have a considerable impact on the required input power of the link.

2017-02-21T20:18:35.183Z

2015-05-21T00:00:00.000Z

233310970

[Efficacy of endovascular treatment of distal aortic dissection involving abdominal visceral segment with bare-metal stents related technique]. Objective: To investigate the effect of bare-metal stent related technique on distal aortic dissection involving abdominal visceral segment. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on clinical data of 33 patients with distal aortic dissection involved abdominal visceral segment, who hospitalized in the Vascular Surgery Department of Shanghai Changhai Hospital from July 2012 to September 2019. The effect of the treatment was evaluated according to the clinical and preoperative, intraoperative and follow-up imaging data derived from (aorta computed tomography angiography (CTA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA)) as well as the changes of the maximal diameter of the aorta and the thrombosis of the false lumen of the dissection. The criteria were as follows: the maximum diameter change of aortic dissection<5 mm was defined as stable; the maximum diameter decrease of aortic dissection≥5 mm was defined as effective reduction; the maximum diameter increase of aortic dissection≥5 mm was defined as expansion; the definition of diameter change of false lumen was the same as above. The hospital complications, clinical symptoms and survival were recorded. Results: There were 28 male patients in this cohort, the mean age was (57.6±4.9) years old. Twenty-one patients were treated with bare-metal stent and coils technique, of which 8 patients were jointly treated with stent grafts. Twelve patients were treated with multi-layer bare-metal stent technique, of which 4 patients were jointly treated with stent grafts. Intraoperative DSA image results showed that the visceral arteries were patent during the treatment, and the blood flow velocity of the false lumen was reduced in all 33 patients. There were no adverse events such as distal outflow tract embolism and coil displacement during the operation. During the period of hospitalization, one patient developed intimal rupture of subrenal abdominal aortic dissection on the fourth day after operation and emergency endovascular graft exclusion was performed for abdominal aortic dissection, and the patient recovered well from the emergency operation. The follow-up time was (16.7±14.0) months. One patient died 1 year after surgery due to non-disease-related factors. Follow-up CTA imaging results showed that the maximum diameter of the aorta in abdominal visceral segment tended to be smaller ((39.1±13.4) mm vs. (41.3±11.9) mm, P=0.469), and the maximum diameter of the false lumen was significantly reduced ((16.2±12.9) mm vs. (23.5±10.7) mm, P=0.014). The maximum diameter of the aortic dissection was reduced in 12 cases, stable in 19 cases, expanded in 2 cases. The maximum diameter of the false lumen was effectively reduced in 22 cases, stable in 10 cases, and expanded in 1 case. Four patients developed small endoleak in the false lumen, one of them was nearby the renal artery stent, and the remaining patients experienced complete thrombosis of the false lumen. Conclusions: Endovascular treatment of distal aortic dissection involving abdominal visceral segment with bare-metal stents related technique could promote the shrink and the thrombosis of the false lumen, and slow down the blood flow from the tear into the false lumen in the setting of patency of visceral arteries.

2021-04-21T06:16:50.956Z

2021-04-24T00:00:00.000Z

29839230

Approximate AR modeling: a Schur approach Based on a new Schur type algorithm for factorization and inversion of Toeplitz and quasi-Toeplitz matrices with arbitrary rank profile, a new approach towards approximate autoregressive modeling has been developed. This technique provides an alternative to the well known regularization scheme for covariance matrices with one or more nearly zero minors.<<ETX>>

2017-02-09T23:33:12.443Z

1990-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

234993970

Fully Distributed Containment Control for Second-Order Nonlinear Multi-Agent Systems With External Disturbances This brief investigates the containment control for a class of second-order nonlinear multi-agent systems, where all agents are subject to external disturbance and leaders contain bounded inputs. To derive a protocol which is implemented without any global information, including the Lipschitz constants and eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix, the adaptive control strategy is used. Sufficient conditions on containment control independent of global information and bounds of disturbances are established. To ensure that the followers can reach the convex hull spanned by leaders under the influence of disturbances, the non-smooth control strategy is introduced. The developed protocol is applied to a specific multi-agent system to show its effectiveness.

2020-12-31T09:02:18.165Z

2022-04-01T00:00:00.000Z

1060720

Perfluoroalkyl phosphonic and phosphinic acids as proton conductors for anhydrous proton-exchange membranes. A study of proton-transport rates and mechanisms under anhydrous conditions using a series of acid model compounds, analogous to comb-branch perfluorinated ionomers functionalized with phosphonic, phosphinic, sulfonic, and carboxylic acid protogenic groups, is reported. Model compounds are characterized with respect to proton conductivity, viscosity, proton, and anion (conjugate base) self-diffusion coefficients, and Hammett acidity. The highest conductivities, and also the highest viscosities, are observed for the phosphonic and phosphinic acid model compounds. Arrhenius analysis of conductivity and viscosity for these two acids reveals much lower activation energies for ion transport than for viscous flow. Additionally, the proton self-diffusion coefficients are much higher than the conjugate-base self-diffusion coefficients for these two acids. Taken together, these data suggest that anhydrous proton transport in the phosphonic and phosphinic acid model compounds occurs primarily by a structure-diffusion, hopping-based mechanism rather than a vehicle mechanism. Further analysis of ionic conductivity and ion self-diffusion rates by using the Nernst-Einstein equation reveals that the phosphonic and phosphinic acid model compounds are relatively highly dissociated even under anhydrous conditions. In contrast, sulfonic and carboxylic acid-based systems exhibit relatively low degrees of dissociation under anhydrous conditions. These findings suggest that fluoroalkyl phosphonic and phosphinic acids are good candidates for further development as anhydrous, high-temperature proton conductors.

2018-04-03T03:10:37.239Z

2010-09-10T00:00:00.000Z

250715960

High Data Rate Flat Flexible Cable (FFC) - Shielding EMC Performances Flat Flexible Cables have many advantages and among them, a very constant geometry and robust assembly. Thanks to that it appears it would be interesting to take advantage of this technology to make very high speed connections through a very low SKEW of the electric signals using this media. Moreover FFCs must be shielded to guarantee the characteristic impedance of the transmission lines and also to offer an EMC protection of the link. In this paper, Axon’ reviews signal integrity and EMC results from the ongoing evaluation testing of a link using a new MicroMach® flat shape connector variant dedicated to shielded FFC. This connector is based on the design of the MicroMach® SpaceWire connector ESCC3409/002.

2022-07-21T15:12:01.658Z

2022-05-23T00:00:00.000Z

126376250

Wave equations in conformal gravity We study the wave equation governing massless fields of all spins (s = 0, [Formula: see text], 1, [Formula: see text] and 2) in the most general spherical symmetric metric of conformal gravity. The equation is separable, the solution of the angular part is a spin-weighted spherical harmonic, and the radial wave function may be expressed in terms of solutions of the Heun equation which has four regular singular points. We also consider various special cases of the metric and find that the angular wave functions are the same for all cases, the actual shape of the metric functions affects only the radial wave function. It is interesting to note that each radial equation can be transformed into a known ordinary differential equation (i.e. Heun equation, or confluent Heun equation, or hypergeometric equation). The results show that there are analytic solutions for all the wave equations of massless spin fields in the spacetimes of conformal gravity. This is amazing because exact solutions are few and far between for other spacetimes.

2019-04-22T13:11:43.228Z

2018-05-28T00:00:00.000Z

249748150

Glucocorticoids enhance chemotherapy-driven stress granule assembly and impair granule dynamics, leading to cell death ABSTRACT Stress granules (SGs) can assemble in cancer cells upon chemotoxic stress. Glucocorticoids function during stress responses and are administered with chemotherapies. The roles of glucocorticoids in SG assembly and disassembly pathways are unknown. We examined whether combining glucocorticoids such as cortisone with chemotherapies from the vinca alkaloid family, which dismantle the microtubule network, affects SG assembly and disassembly pathways and influences cell viability in cancer cells and human-derived organoids. Cortisone augmented SG formation when combined with vinorelbine (VRB). Live-cell imaging showed that cortisone increased SG assembly rates but reduced SG clearance rates after stress, by increasing protein residence times within the SGs. Mechanistically, VRB and cortisone signaled through the integrated stress response mediated by eIF2α (also known as EIF2S1), yet induced different kinases, with cortisone activating the GCN2 kinase (also known as EIF2AK4). Cortisone increased VRB-induced cell death and reduced the population of cells trapped in mitotic catastrophe. These effects were mediated by the core SG proteins G3BP1 and G3BP2. In conclusion, glucocorticoids induce SG assembly and cell death when administered with chemotherapies, suggesting that combining glucocorticoids with chemotherapies can enhance cancer cell chemosensitivity.

2022-06-18T06:17:52.413Z

2022-06-17T00:00:00.000Z

7211560

New families in the homotopy of the motivic sphere spectrum In [1] Adams constructed a non-nilpotent map v 1 : Σ S/2 −→ S/2. Using iterates of this map one constructs infinite families of elements in the stable homotopy groups of spheres, the v1-periodic elements of order 2. In this paper we work motivically over C and construct a nonnilpotent self map w 1 : Σ S/η −→ S/η. We then construct some infinite families of elements in the homotopy of the motivic sphere spectrum, w1-periodic elements killed by η.

2015-03-20T15:25:33.000Z

2017-12-19T00:00:00.000Z

248025560

An Evidence-based Practical Guide to Vaccination for Hepatitis B Virus The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is highly infectious, with over 292 million chronically infected people worldwide and up to 2.4 million in the United States. Following infection, clinically silent liver damage can ensue, but symptoms or signs of advanced disease, including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, can take decades to emerge. HBV has the heaviest public health burden of all hepatitis viruses and has now surpassed other major communicable diseases (eg, HIV, diarrheal disease, malaria, tuberculosis) as a leading cause of death globally. Preventing transmission is essential, and efforts are in place to reinforce screening, vaccination, and routine follow-up. Three safe and effective vaccines are available in the United States and other countries for HBV prevention, and the benefits of vaccination in preventing infection and its sequelae have been substantiated. For the first time in over 25 years, a new Food and Drug Administration-approved vaccine is available that offers a high degree of immunogenicity after 2, rather than 3, injections. Persistent challenges include the underutilization of vaccination, choice of vaccine, incomplete vaccinations, varying needs in different populations, management of nonresponders or those with undocumented or incompletely documented vaccination courses, and questions about whether and when booster injections may be needed. A panel of US academic hepatologists with expertise and experience in preventing and managing HBV infection have collaborated to write this practical clinical paper intended to guide clinicians in vaccinating for HBV and address questions that regularly arise in the clinic.

2022-04-09T06:17:34.775Z

2022-04-07T00:00:00.000Z

128997470

Arkose sandstone - a forgotten treasure of Kwaczała In the surroundings of Krakow, there are few places where coarse carbonless rocks called the Kwaczala Arkose crop out. One of them is located near the Kwaczala countryside next to Alwernia. These deposits are unique in the scale of our country and Europe. They include silicifi ed fragments of tree-trunks Dadoxylon. The cur- rent condition of gorges is presented in this paper. Many of them are uncared for, despite their signifi cant scientifi c and educational value. An evaluation of the current outcropsstate was made. The authors also proposed how to develop the Kwaczala countryside. In the 60's of last century, there already have been devel- oped plans to preserve this area including the Grodek Gorge. Not only deposits and the modern fl ora (mosses, ferns), but also the morphology of the terrain (gorges) were the subject of protection. Unfortunately, works got stuck - there is still no agreement between the owners of sites including the gorges (current information from the Alwernia's Municipal Offi ce) (Alexandrowicz, Bogacz, 1971). An inventory carried out by the authors show how the number of outcrops was signifi cantly reduced since the 60's of XX century. Buildings were located on many of them, others are overgrown. This causes blurring of sedimentary structures, while deposits are becoming less ex- posed. It's a great loss, because the area has signifi cant tourist potential. Properly planned tourist routes, infrastructure and promotion of the region would benefi t the local economy, and eventually start the entrepreneurship. This paper presents propositions of the land development. Especially tourism ad- dressed to a particular recipient - in this case geologic, which becomes more popular not only in Poland but also in the world.

2018-12-15T02:56:01.845Z

2013-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

32200620

Role of Interleukin-18 in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Infected with Human Herpes Virus Type 6 Objective: Interleukin 18 (IL-18) production represents a critical step in the polarization of the Th1 immune response. Human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) possesses a peculiar tropism for immunocompetent cells. To understand the relationships among immunocompetent cells, HHV-6 and cytokines, the role of IL-18 during infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with HHV-6 was evaluated. Methods: PBMC were obtained from healthy HHV-6-seronegative donors, after centrifugation of heparinized venous blood over a Ficoll-Hypaque gradient. Supernatants from PBMC were analyzed for the presence of cytokines. To study the effects of exogenous recombinant human (rh) IL-18 on HHV-6 replication, the number of cells expressing viral antigens and the amount of extracellular virus were analysed. Results: No basal production of IL-18 was found in supernatants of unstimulated PBMC. Appreciable amounts of the cytokine were produced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated PBMC. HHV-6 infection of LPS-treated PBMC downregulated IL-18 production. It was found that the addition of rhIL-18 to HHV-6-infected PBMC downregulated the percentage of antigen-positive cells and the release of extracellular virus. Conclusion: Impairment of IL-18 release, which is involved in the induction of antiviral cytokines, such as interferon-γ, could represent a strategy of the virus to evade the immune response of the host.

2018-04-03T02:06:32.377Z

2001-08-01T00:00:00.000Z

70590170

Is BSE in Sheep a No-Brainer? INFECTIOUS DISEASESLast week, a team from the U.K.'s Institute for Animal Health was on the verge of publishing experiments indicating that samples of sheep brain might be harboring bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow disease." But the paper was pulled at the last minute when the institute, doing a last check on the source of the samples, was told by an independent laboratory that the material it thought was sheep brain actually came from cattle.

2019-03-07T14:03:49.545Z

2001-10-26T00:00:00.000Z

167009820

MALTHUSIAN MOMENTS IN THE WORK OF JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES ABSTRACT This article tracks the shifting contours of John Maynard Keynes's invocation of certain ideas associated with Thomas Robert Malthus, between 1914 and 1937 especially. These ‘Malthusian moments’ in Keynes's work form a triptych. In pre-war thinking about global population dynamics as a Malthusian ‘devil’ threatening national political and economic stability, Keynes found optimism in the thought that modern political economy could be repurposed to avoid the horns of such a dilemma. In the 1920s, he moved to consider the international, and particularly European, responses to both population and to the developing Malthusian ‘devil’ of unemployment. Finally, in the 1930s, Keynes's view became increasingly domestic, focusing on ways that these devilish twin problems could be managed by nation-states organized for prosperity and self-sufficiency. Across these moments, Keynes sought to assert the power of past political and economic ideas to aid in the formulation of present policy, by continuously (if rather loosely) invoking the Malthusian trope of ‘effective demand’.

2019-05-28T13:10:16.972Z

2019-04-29T00:00:00.000Z

24605160

Feature extraction and classification of the Indonesian syllables using Discrete Wavelet Transform and statistical features The major problem of most speech recognition systems is their unsatisfactory effectiveness (impact to recognition rate), efficiency (feature vector dimension), shift variance, and robustness in noisy condition. Feature extraction plays a very important role in the speech recognition process, because a better feature is good for improving the recognition rate. This paper presents a speech feature extraction by combining Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and statistical method for recognizing the syllables sound in the Indonesian language. Three different mother wavelet transforms combined with statistical method (DWT-Statistical) are used as a feature extraction method. Multi-layer perceptron is used as a classifier after feature extraction process. This research aims to find the best properties in effectiveness and efficiency on performing feature extraction of each syllable sound to be applied in the speech recognition method on the intelligent systems. Experiments, in this study, show that the proposed method which uses 29 features set is applicable for feature extraction and classification of the Indonesian syllable. The results show that the average of recognition rate for the DWT-Statistical at the 7th level decomposition by using mother wavelet of Haar, Daubechies 2, and Coiflet 2 are 57.77%, 71.11%, and 67.77%, respectively.

2017-03-27T16:19:56.455Z

2016-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

22733160

[Effect of the resection margin and the extrarectal spread on the recurrence following 2 types of surgical procedures in rectal cancer]. A prospective unrandomized clinical study was conducted to determine the incidence of local recurrences after radical surgery and to ascertain whether the anterior resection could be an effective approach in cases of the tumours of the rectum, also in presence of the unsatisfied distal clearance and the extraparietal spread. For this purpose the length of the rectum below the tumor, mesorectum included, was cut in little cubes of 1 square cm and 10 microslices/cm at random were histologically examined to locate the intramural diffusion and extraparietal spread. Sixty-one patients undergoing curative surgery for rectal cancer entered the trial. Thirty-seven of them have been operated on by anterior resections (AR) and twenty-four by abdominal-perineal amputation. Thirteen local recurrences (21.3%) have been recorded during a five-year follow-up: 9 after AR and 4 after Miles operation. Nine relapses were among the cases with distal clearance less than 3 cm an eight of these have undergone anterior resections. No recurrence was seen in cases with distal clearance greater than 5 cm. Spread was found in 11 (18%) patients. Five recurrences were recorded all belonging to the group with anterior resection. No statistical difference exists between conservative surgical procedure and abdominal-perineal operation. We have been able to demonstrate only the direct relationship between relapse and Dukes C stage after curative rectal surgery.

2018-04-03T02:37:30.851Z

1991-07-01T00:00:00.000Z

4393120

Neurokinin A increases duodenal mucosal permeability, bicarbonate secretion, and fluid output in the rat. The aim of this study was to examine the integrative response to neurokinin A (NKA) on duodenal mucosal permeability, bicarbonate secretion, fluid flux, and motility in an in situ perfusion model in anesthetized rats. Intravenous infusion of NKA (100, 200, and 400 pmol ⋅ kg-1 ⋅ min-1) induced duodenal motility. Furthermore, duodenal mucosal bicarbonate secretion, fluid output, and mucosal permeability increased in response to NKA. Pretreatment with the nicotinic antagonist hexamethonium did not change the response in any of the parameters investigated, whereas the NK2-receptor antagonist MEN 10,627 effectively inhibited all responses to NKA. Indomethacin induced duodenal motility and stimulated bicarbonate secretion. In indomethacin-treated rats, NKA further increased motility but decreased indomethacin-stimulated bicarbonate secretion by 70%. The NKA-induced increase in mucosal permeability was unaltered by indomethacin. It is concluded that NKA not only induces motility but also increases mucosal permeability and fluid output. Furthermore, the neuropeptide may have both stimulative and inhibitory effects on bicarbonate secretion. All responses to NKA are dependent on NK-2 receptor activation but are not mediated through nicotinic receptors.

2018-03-29T13:03:53.786Z

1997-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

37627260

A case of unresectable gallbladder cancer responding to gemcitabine after metallic biliary stent implantation. A 69-year-old woman with a chief complaint of jaundice was referred to our hospital. She underwent exploratory laparotomy under a diagnosis of advanced biliary tract cancer. Histological examination of a biopsy specimen of the gallbladder revealed adenocarcinoma. The tumor was unresectable because of invasion into a wide area of the hepatoduodenal ligament and liver bed. Retrograde transhepatic bile drainage tubes were inserted through the common bile duct into the right and left branches of the intrahepatic bile ducts. After metallic biliary stent implantation, gemcitabine (1,000 mg) was administered intravenously once a week for 2 weeks, followed by 1 week of rest. After 2 courses of chemotherapy, computed tomography showed significant reductions in the size of target tumors and serum CA19-9 levels had normalized. Tumor size was stable for more than 6 months. The patient has been able to maintain a good quality of life without any severe adverse effects of chemotherapy. Gemcitabine therapy after metallic biliary stent implantation might be safe and effective in patients with unresectable gallbladder cancer.

2018-04-03T04:06:24.551Z

2009-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

8806260

Coxiella burnetii Inhibits Activation of Host Cell Apoptosis through a Mechanism That Involves Preventing Cytochrome c Release from Mitochondria ABSTRACT Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular pathogen and the etiological agent of the human disease Q fever. C. burnetii infects mammalian cells and then remodels the membrane-bound compartment in which it resides into a unique lysosome-derived organelle that supports bacterial multiplication. To gain insight into the mechanisms by which C. burnetii is able to multiply intracellularly, we examined the ability of host cells to respond to signals that normally induce apoptosis. Our data show that mammalian cells infected with C. burnetii are resistant to apoptosis induced by staurosporine and UV light. C. burnetii infection prevented caspase 3/7 activation and limited fragmentation of the host cell nucleus in response to agonists that induce apoptosis. Inhibition of bacterial protein synthesis reduced the antiapoptotic effect that C. burnetii exerted on infected host cells. Inhibition of apoptosis in C. burnetii-infected cells did not correlate with the degradation of proapoptotic BH3-only proteins involved in activation of the intrinsic cell death pathway; however, cytochrome c release from mitochondria was diminished in cells infected with C. burnetii upon induction of apoptosis. These data indicate that C. burnetii can interfere with the intrinsic cell death pathway during infection by producing proteins that either directly or indirectly prevent release of cytochrome c from mitochondria. It is likely that inhibition of apoptosis by C. burnetii represents an important virulence property that allows this obligate intracellular pathogen to maintain host cell viability despite inducing stress that would normally activate the intrinsic death pathway.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

2007-08-20T00:00:00.000Z

96833810

Plant‐cell structures in vitrinite chars This paper describes the occurrence of plant‐cell structures retained in particles of the principal coke‐forming constituent (vitrinite) of a coking coal, which has passed through its decomposition point during carbonization using several rates of heating. The benefits of wider application of the study of organic constituents with high optical absorptions under crossed polars in reflected light are emphasized. Relief‐polished surfaces of certain of the vitrinite‐char particles, which appear virtually structureless in plane‐polarized light under oil immersion, when viewed under crossed polars not only possess well‐preserved plant‐cell structures, but also show development of a mosaic structure from a mesophase in situ with virtually no disturbance of even the cell walls. Retention of the original cell structure is almost certainly governed by a reduced reactivity of this vitrinite induced by oxidation of the original plant tissues at the time of their deposition in the coal‐forming swamp.

2019-04-06T13:04:16.462Z

1976-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

86116580

THE MAINTENANCE OF SPECIES‐RICHNESS IN PLANT COMMUNITIES: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE REGENERATION NICHE 1 According to ‘Gause's hypothesis’ a corollary of the process of evolution by natural selection is that in a community at equilibrium every species must occupy a different niche. Many botanists have found this idea improbable because they have ignored the processes of regeneration in plant communities. 2 Most plant communities are longer‐lived than their constituent individual plants. When an individual dies, it may or may not be replaced by an individual of the same species. It is this replacement stage which is all‐important to the argument presented. 3 Several mechanisms not involving regeneration also contribute to the maintenance of species‐richness:

2019-01-26T01:37:20.137Z

1977-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

85753630

Managing the Conflict Between Evolution & Religion creation versus evolution conflict smolderson. Courts and curriculum committees haveclosed the issue repeatedly at national, stateand community levels, but the embers still glow.Occasionally, the controversy re-erupts into full flame.Parents band together and file suit against theirschool board claiming that the teaching of evolutionundermines their children’s worldview. State legisla-tures argue laws designed to de-emphasize the roleof evolution in the curriculum. University scientistsgather to champion the need for an uncompromisedapproach to the teaching of evolution in secondaryschools. Often, though, the controversy remains juston the brink of flare-up, a tension that biology teach-ers feel more than any other players in the conflict.Biology teachers face the demanding challenge ofcrafting a learning environment that mediates collid-ing agendas. They want students to deepen theirunderstanding of biological evolution in order tobecome scientifically literate citizens. At the sametime, they also want to support, rather than under-mine, the values of students, parents and communitieswhose worldviews can oppose the teaching of evolu-tion. On a private, and often unspoken level, manybiology teachers themselves must face their ownunresolved conflicts between biological evolution andtheir personal worldviews. Teachers from variousreligious and philosophical backgrounds face conflictsbetween their beliefs and biological evolution thatrange from simply thought-provoking to deeply dis-turbing. Is it possible for teachers to actually resolvethese conflicting ideas?

2019-03-30T13:11:33.204Z

2000-02-01T00:00:00.000Z

202145330

Approximate analysis of DF ambiguity probabilities for an interferometer direction‐finding system using gamma distributions To obtain high direction-finding (DF) accuracy in electronic warfare applications, it is necessary to maximise the number of effective data points with a small angle-of-arrival error. Thus, a method to obtain the DF ambiguity probability for the selected set of array spacing is required. In this Letter, a novel method to obtain DF ambiguity probabilities for four- and five-element arrays by using gamma distributions is presented. The DF ambiguity probability obtained by the proposed method for the five-element array was in good agreement with the results of simulations. For the four-element array, the proposed method produced data that showed approximate agreement with the results of simulations. Thus, the proposed method should be useful for future applications.

2019-09-10T09:09:44.001Z

2019-10-24T00:00:00.000Z

170781900

Suez Modernism: Transportation, History, and Ibsen's Stylistic Shift In the fall of 1869, Henrik Ibsen represented Norway at the ceremonies marking the inauguration of the Suez Canal. As a seafaring nation with a robust shipping economy, Norway had strong interests in the success of this unprecedented engineering feat whereby 98 miles of inland desert was cut away, creating an unbroken passageway between European ports with access to the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern ports beyond the Red Sea. Ibsen, ever flattered by official forms of recognition, was happy to attend, finding himself in the company of other cultural luminaries, such as Théophile Gautier and Émile Zola among the 1600 guests in attendance (Farnie 1969, 83–87). Aside from his diary and a few poems, Ibsen wrote very little that explicitly addressed the Canal and his experiences in Egypt. Shortly thereafter, however, he completed his monumental Emperor and Galilean (1873) and sketched out notes for Pillars of Society (1877), plays that would mark a stylistic break with the poetic dramas of his early career and set the template for the realistic prose plays that announced the arrival of modern drama. Although critics have traditionally understood Ibsen’s stylistic shift to have been prompted by his intense intellectual exchange with the Danish critic Georg Brandes (see, e.g., Styan 1981, 19), I argue that it was also prompted by his experiences in Egypt. After all, Brandes’s Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature (1871), with its imperative to address the social problems of the day, explains only the shift in subject matter that distinguishes Ibsen’s late from his early plays. It does not account for the development of his modernist dramatic form. Recent critics have attributed Ibsen’s stylistic shift to his break with idealist esthetics, finding both narrative and formal evidence to Ibsen Studies, 2014 Vol. 14, No. 2, 136–166, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15021866.2015.1005904

2019-05-31T13:09:40.120Z

2014-07-03T00:00:00.000Z

149553220

Preparation of a Kind of Non-Woven Viscose Colour Absorbing Material and Research of its Colour Absorption Properties A non-woven viscose material was modified with self-made cationic gelatin protein auxiliary by the padding process. The material prepared was then used as an environmentally friendly colour absorbent for the decolourisation of dye wastewater. The effects of the sodium hydroxide swelling pretreatment process and cationic padding modification process on the colour absorption and decolourisation rate were discussed. Moreover an optimal preparation process for the colour-absorbing material was determined. This was as follows: In order to make the non-woven viscose material swell and improve the subsequent modification effect, first the non-woven viscose material was pretreated with an aqueous solution containing 50 g/l of sodium hydroxide, at room temperature, for 5 min. Then the material was padded in a mixed aqueous solution containing 80 g/l of cationic gelatin and 18 g/l of sodium hydroxide by means of a laboratory padder with two dips and two nips. After treatment, the material was dried and steamed for 4 min. Lastly the material was washed with water and dried. The results show that the colour-absorbing material prepared by this process has the advantages of a high colour absorption rate and high decolourisation percentage. And it could be applied to the decolourisation of printing and dyeing wastewater, or to prevent washed off dyestuff staining on light colour clothes in the process of laundry.

2019-05-12T14:14:49.410Z

2019-06-30T00:00:00.000Z

15727470

Digiteyes: Vision-based Human Hand Tracking Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 the Articulated Mechanism Tracking Problem 2 3 State Model for Articulated Mechanisms 4 Passive sensing of human hand and limbmotion is important for a wide range of applications from human-computer interaction to athletic performance measurement. High degree of freedom articulated mechanisms like the human hand are di cult to track because of their large state space and complex image appearance. This article describes a model-based hand tracking system, called DigitEyes, that can recover the state of a 27 DOF hand model from gray scale images at speeds of up to 10 Hz. We employ kinematic and geometric hand models, along with a high temporal sampling rate, to decompose global image patterns into incremental, local motions of simple shapes. Hand pose and joint angles are estimated from line and point features extracted from images of unmarked, unadorned hands, taken from one or more viewpoints. We present some preliminary results on a 3D mouse interface based on the DigitEyes sensor.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

1993-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

189818420

InvisiPage: Oblivious Demand Paging for Secure Enclaves State-of-art secure processors like Intel SGX remain susceptible to leaking page-level address trace of an application via the page fault channel in which a malicious OS induces spurious page faults and deduces application's secrets from it. Prior works which fix this vulnerability do not provision for OS demand paging to be oblivious. In this work, we present InvisiPage which obfuscates page fault channel while simultaneously making OS demand paging oblivious. To do so, InvisiPage first carefully distributes page management actions between the application and the OS. Second, InvisiPage secures application's page management interactions with the OS using a novel construct which is derived from Oblivious RAM (ORAM) but is customized for page management. Finally, we lower overheads of our approach by reducing page management interactions with the OS via a novel memory partition. For a suite of cloud applications which process sensitive data we show that page fault channel can be tackled while enabling oblivious demand paging at low overheads.

2019-06-15T13:08:04.527Z

2019-06-01T00:00:00.000Z

20534850

Studies on the influence of combustion exhaust gases and the products of their reaction with ammonia on the living organism. II. The influence on aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT) and alanine aminotransferase (AiAt) activities in the liver of guinea pig. The behaviour of aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT) an alanine aminotransferase (AIAT) in the whole homogenate and subcellular liver fractions of guinea pigs exposed to combustion exhaust gases and the neutralization products of these gases is presented in this paper. In the liver of animals exposed to the chronic action of combustion exhaust gases a decrease of both enzyme activities in the whole homogenate as well as in the subcellular fractions could be noted. Statistically significant changes are shown by AspAT. In the group of animals subjected to the action of neutralization products an increase of AIAT activity was observed. The activity of AspAT still shows a decrease, but less distinct in comparison with group I. An exception here is the mitochondrial fraction in which the AspAT activity is distinctly increased.

2018-04-03T04:12:09.163Z

1981-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

12193450

Cluster Headache: The Possible Significance of Midline Structures The pathogenesis of cluster headache is unknown (see, for example, Ref. 1). With regard to the main component of cluster headache, the pain itself, little information exists both as to the origin and as to the nature of the pain. Existing theories concerning cluster headache pathogenesis have been rather unproductive. In the following, evidence from seemingly totally unrelated fields that, nevertheless, possibly has a bearing on cluster headache pathogenesis will be reviewed.

2016-11-05T07:37:12.269Z

1988-12-01T00:00:00.000Z

86453500

Flowering phenology and female reproductive success in the mass-flowering tree Sorbus aucuparia (Rosaceae) ABSTRACT Flowering phenology can strongly affect reproductive success. In mass-flowering species, synchronous individuals may have a reproductive advantage because of the increased number of pollinators and decreased probability of predispersal seed predation. We investigated flowering phenology in relation to female reproductive success, and the responses of pollinators and predispersal seed predators to flowering variation, in 4 populations of Sorbus aucuparia in the northwest Iberian Peninsula, 2 of them over a 3-y period. Flowering lasted about 2 weeks at the end of spring, during which most individuals in the populations flowered synchronously (i.e., exhibited mass-flowering). Variation among individuals and populations in flowering dates and flowering duration was significant, and the differences remained consistent between years, especially between those with greater production of flowers and fruits. Pollinator visit frequency was independent of flowering phenology. The relationship between flowering phenology and predispersal seed predation was not significant as well. Contrary to the general hypothesis for mass-flowering, plants flowering earlier showed lower seed predation rates and higher female reproductive success (i.e., greater total dispersed fruits). The selective pressure exerted on flowering phenology by predispersal seed predators may be limited by the effect of plant size on flowering phenology. Plant size and local conditions are important factors affecting phenology and female reproductive success, and they may explain the observed variation in flowering phenology.

2019-03-28T13:42:24.035Z

2007-06-01T00:00:00.000Z

137817860

SIMULATION ON LOCAL FLUX CREEP IN NON-IDEAL TYPE-II SUPERCONDUCTORS:THE EFFECT O F NON-UNIFORM PINNING POTENTIAL AND SURFACE POTENTIAL Based on the thermally activated model,the flux creep process in the case of non-uniform pinning potential and surface pinning potential in nonideal type Ⅱ sup erconductors is studied through computer simulation.Global and local magnetizati on curves are calculated and the logarithmic time dependence of local magnetic i nduction under a constant external field is examined.The results show that the m otion of the flux is much restrained in the non-uniform case and the flux line i s easy to be captured by the strong pinning center.The surface potential has mar ked effect in preventing the flux from going into and leaving the sample.Compare d with the global behavior,the local magnetization is much more sensitive to the non-uniform pinning potential and the magnetic field sweep rate.

2019-04-29T13:10:08.571Z

2000-09-20T00:00:00.000Z

36486510

Recognition of Musical Instruments In this paper an automated method to recognize the musical instruments playing the musical signals is presented. Various features of the musical instruments and musical signals are investigated. The features can broadly be grouped into three categories: temporal, spectral, and cepstral features. A composite neural network structure is proposed as the classifier. The performance of the composite neural network using a set of carefully chosen features is compared with that of the traditional neural network. Experimental results show that the accuracy achieved using composite structure (94%) is significantly higher than that using the traditional structure (88%) when more than four musical instruments are to be distinguished

2017-02-11T03:32:47.846Z

2006-12-01T00:00:00.000Z

248325810

Design and Optical Studies for Nanostructure Intermediate Reflector based Perovskite Silicon Tandem solar cell In Perovskite-silicon tandem (PST) solar cells, the final current density of cell is decided by the smallest current generated by the perovskite sub cells, as the two cells are in series. Commonly, processing defects occur in thick perovskite layers, which limits the thickness of top perovskite layer. Due to the limited thickness of top perovskite cell (PerC), the cell cannot absorb the photons as it could be, limits the final current density of PST cell. To increase the top cell current, this paper presents the design and discusses the role of nanostructured intermediate reflector (IR). The bottom C-Si cell is optimized to match with the top cell current density. The numerical analysis of the proposed design shows that there is only slight increase in the top cell current density with the presented nanostructured IR. The theoretical analysis is done to understand, the reason behind getting only a slight increase in top cell absorption with patterned IR using effective medium theory. It has been observed that the low index contrast of the materials involved in the IR design are the main reason for low absorption enhancement. The methods that can be used as an alternate to the proposed design to further improve the top cell current density are also discussed.

2022-04-23T13:08:32.778Z

2022-03-04T00:00:00.000Z

14344210

Changes in actin and actin-binding proteins during the differentiation of HL-60 leukemia cells. Actin and actin-binding proteins form a peripheral network on the cytosolic side of the plasma membrane. These cytoskeleton proteins are involved in functions that require cellular movement and may also have a role in modulating signal transduction during cellular proliferation and differentiation. To measure changes in F-actin and actin-binding proteins during HL-60 differentiation, cells were induced to mature along the granulocytic pathway by exposure to 1 microM retinoic acid (RA) for 5 days and were analyzed for F-actin and actin-binding proteins by flow cytometry. The amounts of F-actin and spectrin in untreated HL-60 cells and in those undergoing differentiation by treatment with the retinoid did not differ. N-(7-Nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)-phallacidin was used to measure F-actin content and a monoclonal antibody followed by fluorescence isothiocyanate-conjugated goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin antibody was used to measure the content of spectrin; cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. In contrast, cells exposed to RA contained larger amounts of alpha-actinin, vinculin, talin, lipocortin I, and lipocortin II, as determined with their respective antibodies followed by flow cytometric analysis as described above. An RA-supersensitive clone of HL-60, designated HL-60/S4, exhibited lower constitutive levels of alpha-actinin, vinculin, and talin but a higher constitutive level of lipocortin II than parental cells. Treatment of HL-60/S4 with RA led to increases in vinculin, talin, lipocortin I, and lipocortin II. An RA-resistant clone, designated HL-60/R3, constitutively expressed larger amounts of alpha-actinin, vinculin, lipocortin I, and lipocortin II than parental HL-60 cells. Treatment of HL-60/R3 with RA resulted in decreases in the amounts of these actin-binding proteins. Changes in actin-binding proteins that occur during the differentiation of HL-60 cells suggest that these proteins may be of importance to the expression of the mature phenotype.

2017-04-19T20:55:01.178Z

1992-06-01T00:00:00.000Z

122681550

Using numerical methods to find the least favorable configuration when comparing k test treatments with both positive and negative controls Traditionally, comparisons to control problems dealt with comparing k test treatments to either a positive control or a negative control. However, in certain situations, it is necessary to include both types of control in the study. When comparing k test treatments to both positive and negative controls, the null hypothesis is composite and finding the least favorable configuration (LFC) under the null analytically is difficult. We propose a numerical solution for this problem. Using our method, we show that the LFC under the null is when half of the test treatment means are equal to the mean of the negative control and the other half of the test treatment means are equal to the mean of the positive control. We calculate critical points at the LFC for k=2–6. This work was motivated by real life problems that we discuss and illustrate with an example.

2019-04-20T13:14:07.685Z

2006-03-01T00:00:00.000Z

26037820

Balance and Gait of Adults With Very Mild Alzheimer Disease Background and Purpose:Studies have shown that adults with Alzheimer disease (AD) have gait and balance deficits; however, the focus has been on those with mild to severe disease. The purpose of this study was to determine whether balance and gait deficits are present in those with very mild AD. Methods:Thirteen adults (72.9 ± 4.7 years old) with very mild AD and 13 age-matched (72.6 ± 4.6 years old) and sex-matched (10 males and 3 females) participants in a control group without AD performed balance and gait tests. All participants were living in the community and independent in community ambulation. Results:Participants with very mild AD had shorter times in tandem stance with eyes open (P < 0.001) and with eyes closed (P = 0.007) compared with participants in the control group. Those with AD also took longer to complete the Timed “Up & Go” Test (P < 0.001). Gait deficits were found for those with AD as demonstrated by slower velocities in the 10-m walk at a comfortable pace (P = 0.029) and on an instrumented walkway (P < 0.001). Stance times were longer for those with AD (P < 0.001) and step length was shorter (P = 0.001). There were no group differences in the 10-m walk at a fast pace. The gait velocity of participants in the control group was faster on the instrumented walkway than in the 10-m walk at a comfortable pace (P = 0.031). In contrast, the gait velocity of those with AD was significantly slower on the instrumented walkway than in the 10-m walk at a comfortable pace (P = 0.024). Discussion:Balance and gait deficits may be present in those in the very early stages of AD. Novel surfaces may affect gait speed in those with very mild AD. Identifying mobility deficits early in the progression of AD may provide an opportunity for early physical therapy intervention, thus promoting continued functional independence. Conclusions:Adults in the very early stages of AD may show signs of balance and gait deficits. Recognition of these problems early with subsequent physical therapy may slow the progression of further balance and gait dysfunction.

2018-04-03T05:50:34.068Z

2015-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

81015150

BIOCHEMICAL SYSTEMS TOOLBOX To Mom, Dad & my brother Anshul, thank you for letting me be To Harjit & Harbhajan Sahi, my guardians, I am grateful for your unconditional support To Amit S. Dhadwal, my inspiration and my mentor, I couldn't have made it without you believing in me Thank you all iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge Dr. Eberhard O Voit, my advisor and mentor, for his invaluable guidance in my research. It would have been impossible for me to come this far without his willingness to give me a chance. If it were not for his support, my dream to pursue research in Computational & Systems Biology might have, forever, remained a dream. I cannot thank Peter Henning enough, for his wonderful friendship and help whenever I have needed it most. His critique, on all my whimsical ideas and naïve enquiries, is best matched by his patience with me, for which I will be always grateful. I would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Robert Butera for his support since the early days, when I first began to learn the ropes of biological systems modeling, and for his excitement with my current research ideas. I would like to also thank my fellow researcher I-Chun Chou, whose presence makes the lab livelier, and whose research pictures inspire awe and ideas. Lastly, but not the least, I am grateful for the support from all my family members and friends who continue to stand by me in spite of all my idiosyncrasies.

2014-10-01T00:00:00.000Z

2006-04-13T00:00:00.000Z

1684060

No place to go. What do you do to start reading no place to go? Searching the book that you love to read first or find an interesting book that will make you want to read? Everybody has difference with their reason of reading a book. Actuary, reading habit must be from earlier. Many people may be love to read, but not a book. It's not fault. Someone will be bored to open the thick book with small words to read. In more, this is the real condition. So do happen probably with this no place to go.

2017-10-16T23:35:20.490Z

1992-01-08T00:00:00.000Z