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Seroprevalence estimation and management factors associated with high herd seropositivity for Babesia bovis in commercial dairy farms of Puerto Rico. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine individual cow seroprevalence of Babesia bovis in adult lactating dairy cattle of Puerto Rico (PR), to assess the associations of farm management factors on herd seroprevalence, and to document the species of ticks infesting cattle within these farms. Antibody activity against B. bovis was determined using an indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). Serum samples were obtained from 2,414 adult lactating dairy cattle from 76 randomly selected commercial dairy farms. Herd seroprevalence ranged from 0 to 51% with an overall individual cow seroprevalence for B. bovis of 26%. Ticks were collected from animals on 7 (9%) of the 76 participating commercial dairy farms. All collected ticks (n = 87) were Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus. Factors associated with high herd seropositivity were dairy farms with calf but not heifer raising facilities (OR = 16, 95% CI = 3.0-86), having more than 4 neighbors with cattle (OR = 17, 95% CI = 1.6-178), same producer owning more than one farm (OR = 7.2, 95% CI = 1.6-32), and use of government services to apply amitraz on cattle (OR = 5.5, 95% CI = 1.5-20). | [
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Elevated plasma levels of fibrin degradation products by granulocyte-derived elastase in patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation. Plasma levels of granulocyte-derived elastase (GE-XDP), D-dimer, and soluble fibrin (SF) were examined in 177 patients with disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) of various etiologies. Plasma levels of GE-XDP and D-dimer, but not SF, were significantly high in patients with sepsis and solid cancer. The ratio of GE-XDP/D-dimer was significantly high in patients with trauma, burn, and sepsis, suggesting that fibrinolysis due to GE-XDP may be dominant in DIC. Plasma levels of GE-XDP and D-dimer, but not SF, were significantly high in patients with overt DIC and correlated with DIC score. Plasma levels of GE-XDP, but not SF, correlated significantly with D-dimer. Plasma levels of D-dimer, but not SF, correlated significantly with plasmin plasmin inhibitor complex (PPIC). Plasma levels of GE-XDP and D-dimer, but not SF, were significantly high in nonsurvivors. Plasma levels of GE-XDP, but not SF, correlated significantly with sepsis-related organ failure assessment (SOFA) score. These results suggest that GE-XDP is a potentially useful marker for the diagnosis of overt-DIC and as a predictor of organ failure-related outcome. | [
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Host-microbiome coevolution can promote cooperation in a rock-paper-scissors dynamics. Cooperation is a fundamental behaviour observed in all forms of life. The evolution of cooperation has been widely studied, but almost all theories focused on the cooperating individual and its genes. We suggest a different approach, taking into account the microbes carried by the interacting individuals. Accumulating evidence reveals that microbes can affect their host's well-being and behaviour, yet hosts can evolve mechanisms to resist the manipulations of their microbes. We thus propose that coevolution of microbes with their hosts may favour microbes that induce their host to cooperate. Using computational modelling, we show that microbe-induced cooperation can evolve and be maintained in a wide range of conditions, including when facing hosts' resistance to the microbial effect. We find that host-microbe coevolution leads the population to a rock-paper-scissors dynamics that enables maintenance of cooperation in a polymorphic state. Our results suggest a mechanism for the evolution and maintenance of cooperation that may be relevant to a wide variety of organisms, including cases that are difficult to explain by current theories. This study provides a new perspective on the coevolution of hosts and their microbiome, emphasizing the potential role of microbes in shaping their host's behaviour. | [
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Mechanical deformation and electrical breakdown of PEN at high electric. In this work, samples of amorphous and semicrystalline PEN (polyethylene-2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate) were subjected to DC electric fields for different durations up to their dielectric breakdown, with or without depolarization. The field-induced mechanical strains in the samples were studied by means of a nondestructive optical technique without resorting to any physical contact. The results showed that amorphous samples were more vulnerable to the field-induced mechanical deformation when compared with similar semicrystalline samples. However, both morphologies showed in some samples contradictory behavior at prebreakdown field strength, some caused yielding of the polymer while the others seemed to have the opposite effect. In the latter category, yet some showed the maximum yield point at a particular critical field starting from vhich the deformation began to diminish significantly to reach a total cancellation at the breakdown field. This critical field quantified at 260 kV/mm is probably a pronouncement of critical ageing and breakdown in PEN. The deformation seems to be an evolution very similar to the evolution of DC current at high fields. Furthermore, the varying response of the samples implies further work to be undertaken to validate a clear mechanism. (c) 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | [
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Conformational changes in the Escherichia coli ATP synthase (ECF(1)F(0)) monitored by nucleotide-dependent differences in the reactivity of Cys-87 of the gamma subunit in the mutant beta Glu-381->Ala. Cys-87, one of two intrinsic cysteines of the gamma subunit of the Escherichia coli ATP synthase (ECF(1)F(0)), is in a short segment of this subunit that binds to the bottom domain of a beta subunit close to a glutamate (Glu-381), Cys-87 was unreactive to maleimides under all conditions in wild-type ECF(1) and ECF(1)F(0) but became reactive when Glu-381 of beta was replaced by a cysteine or alanine, The reactivity of Cys-87 with maleimides was nucleotide-dependent, occurring with ATP or ADP + EDTA in catalytic sites, in the presence of AMP PNP + Mg2+ but not with ADP + Mg2+ bound, whether P-i was present or not, and not when nucleotide binding sites were empty, Binding of N-ethylmaleimide had no effect, whereas 7 diethyl-amino 3-(4'-maleimidylphenyl)-4-methylcoumarin increased the ATPase activity of ECF, more than 2-fold by reaction with Cys-87, In ECF(1)F(0), these reagents inhibited activity, The nucleotide dependence of the reaction of Cys-87 of the gamma subunit depended on the presence of the epsilon subunit, In epsilon subunit-free ECF(1), maleimides reacted with Cys-87 under all nucleotide conditions, including when catalytic sites were empty, These results are discussed in terms of nucleotide-dependent movements of the gamma subunit during functioning of the F1F0-type ATPase. | [
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A two-photon near-infrared fluorescent probe for imaging endogenous hypochlorite in cells, tissue and living mouse. Hypochlorite (HClO/ClO-) plays an important role in the body's immune function system and helps destroy invading bacteria and pathogens. Therefore, real-time and visual detection of hypochlorous acid in the living body is necessary. Here, we describe the first example of a two-photon excitation near-infrared light-emitting fluorescent probe (Nil-ClO) for HClO/ClO- based on Nile Red derivatives. Nil-ClO offers a large fluorescence response near 650 nm and good selectivity to HClO/ClO- in solution. The probe showed an approximately 8-fold increase in fluorescence within 1 min when it was detected at 650 nm in the presence of 30 equivalents of HClO/ClO-. The probe was further used for the fluorescence-based detection of HClO/ClO- in cells, tissues, and mice in a liver injury model. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) experiments showed that the probe had almost no cytotoxicity at the concentrations needed for imaging. The Nil-ClO can response to HClO/ClO- in both HeLa cells and RAW cells quickly. In tissue imaging experiments, Nil-ClO was used to detect HClO/ClO- with a significant near-infrared fluorescence response down to 100 pm of depth. Finally, the obvious fluorescence enhancement in liver injury mouse model indicated a burst of endogenously generated HClO/ClO- in mouse during in vivo imaging experiments. | [
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Wide geographic distribution of Cryptosporidium bovis and the deer-like genotype in bovines. Recent studies in the United States reported that similar to 85% of pre-weaned dairy calves were infected with zoonotic Cryptosporidium parvum, whereas only 1-2% of post-weaned calves and 1-2-year-old heifers were infected with this species. Cryptosporidium bovis and Cryptosporidium deer-like genotype were much more prevalent in the post-weaned animals. It is not clear whether the same infection pattern also occurs in other geographic areas. In this study, to determine whether the same Cryptosporidium infection pattern was present in other geographic areas, we genotyped Cryptosporidium specimens collected from two farms in China and India, using specimens from farms in Georgia, USA for comparison. C. bovis was the most common species found in pre- and post-weaned calves in all three areas. In Georgia, the deer-like genotype was found frequently in pre- and post-weaned calves and Cryptosporidium andersoni was found in one post-weaned calf. Both C. bovis and the deer-like genotype were found in the few milking cows examined in Georgia. There were no differences in the small subunit rRNA gene sequences obtained from C. bovis or deer-like genotype among the three areas. One adult yak in China, however, was infected with a species similar to C. bovis, with only three nucleotide mutations in the target gene. All four common bovine Cryptosporidium spp. were differentiated from each other by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of PCR products with enzymes SspI and MboII. Thus, both C. bovis and the deer-like genotype are found in all age groups of cattle in diverse geographic areas and host adaptation of C. bovis might have occurred in yaks. Published by Elsevier B.V. | [
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Factors influencing the time-intensity curve analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in kidney transplanted patients: Toward a standardized contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination. BackgroundTime-intensity curve analysis (TIC analysis) based on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) provides quantifiable information about the microcirculation of different tissues. TIC analysis of kidney transplantations is still a field of research, and standardized study protocols are missing though being mandatory for the interpretation of TIC parameters in the clinical context. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different sizes and forms of regions of interest (ROIs) on the variance of different TIC parameters and the level of interoperator variance between the different ROI methods in kidney transplantations. MethodsIn 25 renal transplanted patients, 33 CEUS of the transplanted kidney were performed, and TIC analysis with ROIs sized 5 mm(2) (ROI5), 10 mm(2) (ROI10), and ROIs circumscribing the outlines of anatomical regions (ROIAnat) were analyzed based on CEUS examination. The TIC analysis was repeated by a second independent operator for ROI5 and ROIAnat. ResultsStatistical analysis revealed significant differences between TIC parameters of different ROI methods, and overall, the interoperator variance was low. But a greater ROI surface (ROI10) led to higher values of the intensity parameters A and AUC compared with ROI5 (p < 0.05). The difference in the ROI form led to high variation of certain TIC parameters between ROI5 and ROIAnat in the myelon [intraclass correlation coefficient (A, ICC = 0.578 (0.139-0.793); TIC parameter (TTP); and ICC = 0.679 (0.344-0.842) (p < 0.05)]. A mean variation of 1 cm of the depth of ROI5 in the cortex did not show significant differences in the TIC parameters, though there was an impact of depth of ROIAnat on the values of TIC parameters. The interoperator variance in the cortex was low and equal for ROI5 and ROIAnat, but increased in the myelon, especially for ROIAnat. Furthermore, the analysis revealed a strong correlation between the parameter AUC and the time interval applied for the TIC analysis in the cortex and myelon (r = 0.710, 0.674, p < 0.000). ConclusionOur findings suggest the application of multiple ROIs of 5 mm(2) in the cortex and medulla to perform TIC analysis of kidney transplants. For clinical interpretation of AUC, a standardized time interval for TIC analysis should be developed. After the standardization of the TIC analysis, the clinical predictive value could be investigated in further studies. | [
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Dynamic reversed accumulator. Anonymous credential schemes have been widely employed to prove the authenticity of a member by revealing specific member attributes while concealing the real identity from the verifier. Furthermore, an accumulator is used to demonstrate the validity of the credential by providing a corresponding witness. In existing accumulator schemes, all credential holders must update their witnesses when a member joins or is revoked from the system, causing the schemes to become impractical. This paper examines the security of several recent accumulator schemes and proposes a novel approach, the dynamic reversed accumulator, which is more efficient than existing schemes because a corresponding witness can be updated when several members have been revoked. | [
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Design and comprehensive analysis of a novel pressure-swing batch distillation process for the separation of a binary azeotrope with various boiling behaviors. Batch distillation is widely employed in the fine chemical industry because of its operational flexibility. The mixture of n-heptane and isobutanol exhibits a special azeotropic phenomenon by which it changes from a minimum-boiling azeotrope to a maximum-boiling one with increasing pressure. However, the traditional double column batch rectifier and double column batch stripper processes cannot separate the mixture efficiently. Therefore, the double-column batch stripper-rectifier (DCBS-R) process was designed to obtain high purity products, based on the azeotropic phenomenon. Further, control structures are explored to achieve stability, and the final purities of the separated products are over 99.9%. Each batch of raw materials is 100 kmol, and the expected annual production capacity is 800 batches. Additionally, a precooler of the low-pressure column (LPC) is introduced to reduce the exergy destruction by exergy analysis. The equipment cost and CO2 emissions are analyzed afterward to optimize the process, based on the multi-objective optimization method. Further, the number of stages and the pressure of the columns are optimized. The optimal obtained total annual cost (TAC) and CO2 emissions of the DCBS-R process are 2.26 x 10(5) $/y and 4.92 x 10(5) kg/y, respectively. The partial heat integration is studied to further improve the process performance, thus obtaining TAC and CO2 emissions of 2.22 x 10(5) $/y and 3.80 x 10(5) kg/y, which are 7.1% and 22.76% lower than the values obtained from the optimal process, respectively. | [
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Application-Driven Reliability Research of Next Generation for Automotive Electronics: Challenges and Approaches. The revolutionary changes in automotive industry toward fully connected automated electrical vehicles necessitate developments in automotive electronics at unprecedented speed. Signal, control, and power electronics will heterogeneously be integrated at minimum space with sensors and actuators to form highly compact and ultra-smart systems for functions like traction, lighting, energy management, computation, and communication. Most of these systems will be highly safety relevant with the requirements in system availability exceeding today's already high automotive standards. Unlike the human drivers of today, passengers in the automated car do not pay constant attention to the driving actions of the vehicle. Hence, reliability research is massively challenged by the new automotive applications. Guaranteeing the specified lifetime at statistical average is no longer sufficient. Assuring that no failure of an individual safety relevant part occurs unexpectedly becomes most important. The paper surveys the priority actions underway to cope with the tremendous challenges. It highlights practical examples in all three directions of reliability research: (i) Experimental reliability tests and physical analyses: New and highly efficient accelerated stress tests are able to cover the complex and multifold loading situation in the field. New analytics techniques can identify the typical failure modes and their physical root causes; (ii) Virtual techniques: Schemes of validated simulations allow capturing the physics of failure (PoF) proactively in the design for reliability (DfR) process; and (iii) Prognostics health management (PHM). A new concept is introduced for adding a minimum of PHM features at various levels of automotive electronics to provide functional safety as required for autonomous vehicles. This way, the new generation of reliability methods will continuously provide estimates of the remaining useful life (RUL) for each relevant part under the actual use conditions to allow triggering maintenance in time | [
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A High-Performance and Well-Manageable Distributed Measurement Laboratory With an Object-Oriented Approach. The distributed measurement laboratory (DML) can provide users with the capability of performing and practicing their experiments in a transparent manner on remote instruments located in different geographic areas and connected with a wide area network. In this article, we propose a high-performance and well-manageable DML, named HPWM, which is characterized by three main novel features: (1) using .NET Remoting to provide better network performance and having scalable and extendable architecture; (2) using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) to provide an efficient and lightweight Graphic User Interface (GUI) without browser plug-ins; and (3) offering adequate management functionalities to well manage users and instruments and establishing their relationships. The software structure used for developing HPWM is also described. Finally, HPWM has been tested in the academic and industrial education and has shown its correctness and effectiveness. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals. Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 18: 344-355, 2010: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com): DOI 10.1002/cae.20265 | [
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Dynamics of QT interval in a patient with long QT syndrome and a normal QT interval. A case report of a 15-year-old girl who experienced syncope and torsades de pointes is presented. The girl had a normal QT interval (QTc=0.37 sec) on the resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Infusion of isoproterenol induced QT prolongation (QTc=0.62 sec) and frequent occurrence of multiform ventricular premature beats. Her Holter ECG showed a prolongation of the QTc interval with a shortening of the RR interval. Low-frequency power (LF) and high-frequency power (HF) of heart rate variability were evaluated from the Holter ECG. The patient showed a statistically significant negative QTc/HF and a significant positive QTc/(LF/HF) relationship, whereas none of the age- and sex-matched healthy subjects showed these relationships. The slope of the QT/RR relationship for the patient was below the lower limit of the normal range. This report describes the unusual relationship of QT interval to RR interval and heart rate variability in a long QT syndrome patient with a normal QT interval on resting ECG. | [
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Perceived fatigue during physical work: an experimental evaluation of a fatigue inventory. The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of the SOFI (Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory). Twenty male and 20 female subjects exercised on a cycle ergometer, on three different work loads relative to their maximal capacity. Furthermore, they held one arm straight in 90 degrees forward flexion, on three different times relative to their maximal endurance time. After each occasion, perceived fatigue was rated on the SOFI and on Borg's CR-10 scale. The trials were conducted during two days. As expected, for dynamic work the highest ratings were obtained on Physical exertion, while static work mostly influenced the ratings on Physical discomfort. High ratings were also found on Lack of energy, and on the CR-10 scale after both work tasks. Men and women did not differ significantly with respect to their ratings. The content validity of the physical dimensions of the SOFI has been demonstrated. Further studies, with other types of activities, will be carried out to validate the two remaining factors, Lack of motivation and Sleepiness. | [
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Optimal delineation of single C-tactile and C-nociceptive afferents in humans by latency slowing. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Human skin encodes a plethora of touch interactions, and affective tactile information is primarily signaled by slowly conducting C-mechanoreceptive afferents. We show that electrical stimulation of low-threshold C-tactile afferents produces markedly different patterns of activity compared with high-threshold C-mechanoreceptive nociceptors, although the populations overlap in their responses to mechanical stimulation. This fundamental distinction demonstrates a divergence in affective touch signaling from the first stage of sensory processing, having implications for the processing of interpersonal touch.C-mechanoreceptors in humans comprise a population of unmyelinated afferents exhibiting a wide range of mechanical sensitivities. C-mechanoreceptors are putatively divided into those signaling gentle touch (C-tactile afferents, CTs) and nociception (C-mechanosensitive nociceptors, CMs), giving rise to positive and negative affect, respectively. We sought to distinguish, compare, and contrast the properties of a population of human C-mechanoreceptors to see how fundamental the divisions between these putative subpopulations are. We used microneurography to record from individual afferents in humans and applied electrical and mechanical stimulation to their receptive fields. We show that C-mechanoreceptors can be distinguished unequivocally into two putative populations, comprising CTs and CMs, by electrically evoked spike latency changes (slowing). After both natural mechanical stimulation and repetitive electrical stimulation there was markedly less latency slowing in CTs compared with CMs. Electrical receptive field stimulation, which bypasses the receptor end organ, was most effective in classifying C-mechanoreceptors, as responses to mechanical receptive field stimulation overlapped somewhat, which may lead to misclassification. Furthermore, we report a subclass of low-threshold CM responding to gentle mechanical stimulation and a potential subclass of CT afferent displaying burst firing. We show that substantial differences exist in the mechanisms governing axonal conduction between CTs and CMs. We provide clear electrophysiological \\'signatures\\' (extent of latency slowing) that can be used in unequivocally identifying populations of C-mechanoreceptors in single-unit and multiunit microneurography studies and in translational animal research into affective touch. Additionally, these differential mechanisms may be pharmacologically targetable for separate modulation of positive and negative affective touch information. | [
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New Technique of Decompressive Skinplasty With Artificial Dermis for Severe Brain Swelling-Technical Note-. In cases of severe uncontrollable brain swelling, simple skin closure often increases intracranial pressure. This study examined the efficacy of a new technique of decompressive skinplasty to decrease intracranial pressure following decompressive craniectomy in cases of severe traumatic brain injury with uncontrollable brain swelling. In our technique, we use artificial dermis to avoid elevation of intracranial pressure. After performing decompressive craniectomy and duraplasty with artificial dura, decompressive skinplasty with artificial dermis was performed in 5 patients for whom simple skin closure caused the intracranial pressure to elevate under intracranial pressure monitoring. Artificial dermis was grafted onto the region to cover the skin defect and sutured to the skin with 4-0 nylon sutures. Two weeks after surgery, the silicone layer of the artificial dermis was removed and ointment treatment was continued until complete epithelialization was achieved. In all cases, decompressive skinplasty contributed dramatically to decreasing the intracranial pressure in patients with uncontrollable brain swelling. The technique of decompressive skinplasty with artificial dermis contributed to dramatically decreasing the intracranial pressure. More cases are required to investigate the indications for this technique. | [
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Determination of selenium in meat products by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Wet digestion using a mixture of nitric, sulfuric, and perchloric acids and an aluminum block digester effectively and rapidly decomposed meat samples for selenium determination by hydride generation atomic; absorption spectrophotometry, Digestion did not require constant attention by an operator Selenium recoveries (range, 94-105%) from National Institute of Standards and Technology standard reference materials and spiked samples were used to validate method accuracy. coefficients of variation (CVs) of repeatability of in-house reference materials used for precision study were 6.4 and 5.6%, respectively fbr seafood mix and mutton liver. Selenium levels in meat products from Brisbane markets varied widely: 0.042-0.142, 0.081-0.42, and 0.050-0.198 mu g/g (wet weight) respectively, for beef, chicken, and pork. Overall, selenium levels in manufactured meat ranged from 0.041 to 0.189 mu g/g. The levels of selenium found in this study were generally lower than those reported in Finland but comparable with those reported in some parts of the United States. | [
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Method for Estimating the Optimal Coefficient of L1C/B1C Signal Correlator Joint Receiving. The design of a modern Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) has been exceptionally valued by the military and civilians of various countries. The inclusion of the pilot channel in addition to the navigation data channel is considered one of the major changes in GNSS modernization. Schemes of an equal weight combination (1:1 combination) and power ratio combination for data and pilot are primarily adopted by traditional receivers. With the emergence of the new data and pilot modulation signals with unequal power, such as L1C at Global Positioning System (GPS) L1 frequency and B1C at BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) B1 frequency, the traditional combination coefficient cannot achieve optimal reception performance. Considering the influence of the combination coefficient on the reception performance, the optimal coefficient of the correlator joint is estimated in this paper. The entire architecture of the data/pilot correlator joint tracking and positioning with unequal power is given. Based on the equivalence principle of the correlator joint and the discriminator joint, the optimal coefficient of the carrier loop is determined. A mathematical model of joint code tracking accuracy is established, and the optimal coefficient of the code loop is determined. The real-life satellite signal and simulation results show that the amplitude-ratio combined scheme is the best for receiving of correlator joints, followed by the power-ratio combination scheme and, finally, the 1:1 combination scheme. It is worth mentioning that the positioning accuracy of the amplitude-ratio combination is improved by 2% compared to the 1:1 combination, and by 1.3% compared to the power-ratio combination for B1C signal. The positioning accuracy of the amplitude-ratio combination is improved by 2.37% compared to the 1:1 combination, and by 1.6% compared to the power-ratio combination for L1C signal. The conclusions of this paper are validated for the traditional data/pilot with an equal power allocation. The techniques and test results provide technical support for GNSS high-precision-user receivers. | [
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The disputed senses of the place. The sport in the configuration of the rural space. The rural is a concept continually being redefined. In recent decades what some have referred to as rural restructuring has contributed to this. This restructuring is a comprehensive process which consists in a series of dynamics transforming the material uses and the symbolic meanings attributed to rural space and is based on fostering the diversification of economic activities and the introduction of new regional planning strategies in rural areas. In this article we will analyze some of the elements that are a part of the process of rural restructuring taking place in Andalusia. To do this we have focused on a single area of activity, nature sports and active tourism, of relative social significance today, and of importance in understanding the existing conflicts between different groups for the symbolic and material appropriation of rural space, as well as other broader problems related to regional planning. | [
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Nanomodified rejuvenators and protective materials for asphalt concrete. One of the effective methods to prevent the destruction of asphalt concrete pavement is to treat it with protective and rejuvenator materials. This study is aimed at developing an effective composition of the protective material. The proposed method for studying the effect of modification according to the results of rheological tests allows us to determine the conditional elastic modulus of the structured liquids. The influence of the degree of modification on the content of oil-polymer resins in the bitumen binder was evaluated using the developed quality criterion considering the modifier content contribution. We selected a solvent that provides effective dispersion and stability of the resulting suspension. The studied nanomodifier in the composition rejuvenator material had an impact on the properties of asphalt concrete increasing its crack resistance by 49 %, water resistance by 11 %, and shear adhesion by 6.1 %. | [
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Influence of threading dislocation density on early degradation in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors. Early stage degradation of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with different threading dislocation densities (TDDs) submitted to off-state voltage bias stress was studied. It was found that, for the stress conditions used, HEMTs with TDD similar to 10(10) cm(-2) show pronounced degradation in terms of maximum drain current, gate-lag, and trap generation measured by drain current trapping characteristics, a slight degradation in gate leakage was observed also for HEMTs with TDD of similar to 10(8) cm(-2), and no significant degradation for devices with TDD in the similar to 10(7) cm(-2) range. The results illustrate the importance of TDD for degradation and reliability of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3663573] | [
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Rapid and efficient synthesis of 2-[3-cyano-4-(2-aryliden)-5, 5-dimethyl-5H-furan-2-ylidene]malononitrile under focused microwave irradiation. New biological potential furan-2-ylidenemalononitriles (IIIa-j) were synthetised efficiently by one-pot condensation under focused microwave from starting and easy available compounds. | [
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Measurements of secondary electrons emitted from conductive substrates under high-current metal ion bombardment. The yield of secondary electrons induced by primary ion impact is measured for conditions relevant to metal plasma immersion ion implantation. A vacuum are ion source provided metal ions in the energy range 5-175 keV. The target materials were placed in a Faraday cup, and the secondary electron yields were determined by measuring the current of the Faraday cup with and without electron-suppressing magnetic field. By using a time of flight method, yields for individual ion charge states could be determined. The yields found depend on the ion species, their energy, and the target material. They are in the range 1-10 electrons per ion for the conditions investigated. It was found that the yields are almost independent of the ion charge state and increase with increasing ion energy. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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Optical remote sensing small satellite project. Optical Remote Sensing Small Satellite is for high-tech flight demonstration's test and three dimensions mapping. Its system overview is presented in the paper, and it includes such items as mission objective and mission requirements, satellite system scheme, reliability, cost budget project schedule and management and operation. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd. | [
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Molecular markers help characterize neuroendocrine lung tumors. Background. The terms large cell and mixed small-large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNC, MNC) have been proposed to describe distinct types of high-grade neuroendocrine lung tumors. However, cytologic appearance and neuroendocrine immunohistochemical stains cannot uniformly distinguish these from other neuroendocrine tumors, such as typical and atypical carcinoids or small cell carcinoma, or nonendocrine lung cancers such as large cell undifferentiated carcinoma. This study sought to determine the patterns of expression in LCNC and MNC of several molecular markers often abnormally expressed in lung cancers.Conclusions. (1) Ki67, p53, and Rb help distinguish LCNC and MNC from TC and AC. (2) Small numbers of patients preclude comparison of survival rates, but LCNC/MNC have a median survival similar to comparable early stage SCLC, and clearly worse than TC/AC. These results justify a sharp separation of high-grade neuroendocrine tumors from carcinoids, and suggest a close relationship between LCNC, MNC, and SCLC.Results. Ninety-two tumors were examined: 25 TC, 7 AC, 24 LCNC, 18 MNC, 18 SCLC. The LCNC and MNC presented more frequently as stage II or III tumors (n = 28, 66%) than TC and AC (n = 5, 15%). Median survival for LCNC and MNC was 18.7 months, for SCLC 14.3 months, and has not been reached for TC and AC tumors. TC and AC tumors were uniformly characterized by low proliferative rate, absent p53, and normal Rb staining. LCNC, MNC, and SCLC showed a high proliferative rate, abnormal p5, and absent Rb staining. Overexpression of EGFR was frequent in all five tumor types.Methods. Primary lung tumors with neuroendocrine features operated on between 1984 and 1994 were reviewed and classified as typical carcinoid (TC), atypical carcinoid (AC), LCNC, MNC, and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) based on mitotic rate, extent of necrosis, and cytoarchitectural features. Immunohistochemistry was performed using antibodies MIB-1 for Ki67, pAb1801 for p53, OP-66 for Rb, 31G7 for EGFR. Staining was scored as 0 to 4+ (0 = less than 5%, I+ = 5% to 20%, 2+ = 20% to 50%, 3+ = 50% to 80%, 4+ = more than 80%) for p53, Ki67, and EGFR; and negative, focal, or positive for Rb. Overall survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and prognostic factors compared by log rank test. | [
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Electrochemical study of iodide and bromide in the presence of acetylacetone - Application to the catalytic determination of acetylacetone. Electrochemical oxidation of iodide and bromide has been studied in the presence of acetylacetone using cyclic voltammetry and controlled potential coulometry. The results indicate that acetylacetone participating in halogenation reaction convert to halo derivatives of parent compound. Moreover, the results are indication of the suitability of iodide and bromide as mediator for determination of acetylacetone in aqueous solutions. The quasi-reversible catalytic peak currents are linearly dependent on the acetylacetone concentration. The linear range obtained in the presence of iodide and bromide was 1 x 10(-5)-3 x 10(-4) M and 1 x 10(-5)-1 x 10(-3) M respectively. | [
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Core-shell SiO2@LDHs with tuneable size, composition and morphology. We present here a simple method for the synthesis of core-shell SiO2@LDH (LDH: layered double hydroxide) particles using an in situ co-precipitation method without any pretreatment. The LDH composition, the overall particle size and morphology can be tuned giving new opportunities for the development of novel sorbents and catalyst systems. | [
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A decidable class of planar linear hybrid systems. In this paper, we show the decidability of a new subclass of linear hybrid automata. These automata are planar, that is, consist of two state variables, monotonic along some direction in the plane and have identity resets, that is, the values of the continuous variables are not reset to a different value on a discrete transition. Our proof uses a combination of a tree construction capturing the edge-to-edge reachability and a finite bisimulation construction. Our class strictly contains the class of two dimensional piecewise constant derivative systems for which decidability of the reachability problem is known. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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COLLISION SPECTROSCOPY OF AR(8+) + HE AT LOW VELOCITIES (UPSILON LESS-THAN 1 AU). Single- (SC) and double-electron capture (DC) have been studied for collisions of Ar8+ with He using x-ray and vacuum ultraviolet (vuv) spectroscopy at a collision energy of 80 keV as well as translational-energy spectroscopy (TES) at lower collision energies (8 keV). It is shown that both processes involving the ground-state ion terminate in vuv photon emission, i.e., nonautoionizing levels are populated. The SC, by the long-lived metastable species Ar8+* (2p(5)3s)P-3(0,2), populates mostly the Na-like core-excited levels with n = 4: Ar7+* (2p(5)3S P-3 41)2,4L(j). With the use of calculated decay and autoionization rates, the measured vuv spectra are analyzed and compared with the TES results and the Auger spectra measured by other authors. It is shown that the stabilization of these core-excited states is both radiative and autoionizing. The DC by the metastable projectile is not yet fully understood. | [
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Vocational interventions to help adults with long-term health conditions or disabilities gain and maintain paid work: an overview of systematic reviews. Objective To conduct an overview of systematic reviews to examine the effectiveness of vocational interventions to help adults with long-term health conditions or disability gain and maintain new paid work and to analyse the spread and quality of evidence in this area. Methods We pre-published our protocol in PROSPERO (CRD42019132448). We searched Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, AMED, CINAHL, Proquest Dissertations and Theses database, NICE and Business Source Complete from inception to 21 August 2020. We included any systematic reviews of clinical trials on vocational interventions for adults with long-term health conditions or disability who were not in work or had recently gained work. We excluded reviews of vocational interventions for employed people on sick leave. Two researchers identified, critically appraised,using A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) 2, and extracted data from included reviews. We used Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation to evaluate strength of evidence underpinning overview findings. Results We identified 26 reviews (5 high-quality and 21 critically low to moderate quality) that focused on vocational interventions for acquired brain injury, autism, intellectual disability, multiple sclerosis, mental health conditions, spinal cord injury and general disability populations. We identified moderate quality evidence that people with moderate to severe mental health conditions who participate in supported employment, particularly individual placement and support, are more likely to gain competitive employment compared with people who receive traditional vocational services (risk ratio 2.07; 95% CI 1.82 to 2.35; 27 studies, 6651 participants). We found only very low-quality to low-quality evidence on vocational intervention for people with any other health condition. We found little to no data on employer or employee satisfaction with work outcomes or the cost effectiveness of interventions. Conclusion Given the importance placed on work opportunities for people with long-term health conditions or disability, there is urgent need for more high-quality research on vocational interventions for this population. Prospero registration number CRD42019132448. | [
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ARE KANT'S CONCEPTS AND METHODOLOGY INCONSISTENT WITH SCIENTIFIC CHANGE? CONSTITUTIVITY AND THE SYNTHETIC METHOD IN KANT. Sympathetic commentators on Kant's account of physical knowledge agree that while philosophy of science has much to gain from Kant's notion of constitutive a priori principles, Kant's conceptual and methodological resources are inconsistent with the possibility of scientific change. In this article, I argue that this received view is lacking since Kant's claim that a unique set of a priori principles structures our knowledge for all time is not central to his account of the constitutive a priori. Two underemphasized points of Kant's theory bear this out. First, Kant applies ` a priori' widely to include non-truth-evaluable elements of knowledge. As such, Kant primarily understands the necessity that attaches to these elements in light of the constitutive role they play in knowledge rather than in terms of truth for all time. Second, Kant uses two methods to establish the existence of constitutive a priori principles: the analytic and the synthetic. On my interpretation, while scientific change has discredited the analytic method, the synthetic method remains viable. In this way, I offer a new perspective on the ways in which Kant's theory of the constitutive a priori can ground Neo-Kantian philosophies of science like those of Hans Reichenbach and Michael Friedman. | [
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How does the label 'epileptic' influence attitudes toward epilepsy?. Purpose: The purpose of our research was to study the possible differences in attitudes toward epilepsy based on the label used: \\'person\\'/\\'child with epilepsy\\' vs. \\'epileptic\\'/\\'epileptic child\\'.Results: There were 425 subjects in total, 208 in group A and 217 in group B. The results on the Social distance scale indicated significantly more negative attitudes in group B (p = 0.008). Subjects in group B also expressed more negative attitudes than those in group A when asked about sharing a room with a person with epilepsy (p = 0.005) and marrying a person with epilepsy, either themselves (p = 0.033) or when the person getting married is someone close to them (p = 0.024).Conclusion: In conclusion, using term \\'epileptic\\' can evoke more negative attitudes toward a person with epilepsy and this seems to be especially true for more intimate life domains (cohabitation or marriage), while in more impersonal domains (such as communicating and working with a person with epilepsy), no significant influence of the label on attitudes was proven. (C) 2015 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Methods: Two randomly assigned groups of college-preparatory high school students were questioned using anonymous questionnaires about their demographics, knowledge on epilepsy and attitudes toward epilepsy. Attitudes were measured using three general attitude questions and a six item modified version of the Bogardus social distance scale. Two versions of the questionnaire were identical except for the term \\'person\\'/\\'child with epilepsy\\' in first group (group A) being replaced with the term \\'epileptic\\'/\\'epileptic child\\' in the second one (group B). Mann-Whitney test was used to compare attitude scores between groups. | [
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Jews and Romans - Was there Roman anti-Judaism? (Regarding the perception of Jewishness as portrayed in classical Latin texts by Cicero, Horace, Juvenal, etc.). This paper attempts to clarify the image of the Jews which appears in the Latin classical texts. It begins by replacing the Judaism at Rome in its historical context: introduction of foreign cults, provision made against the Jews, Jews and Christians. In the second part, the most important Latin texts connected with the Jews are investigated: Cicero, Horace, Petronius, Juvenal, Seneca, Tacitus. This examination shows that the adverse feelings towards the Jews at Rome are limited to definite aspects belonging to the religious field and never gave rise to exterior manifestations of violence. The negative image of the Jew at Rome - which was at its height at the end of the first and the beginning of the second century A.D. - arose from the denial of integration in the Roman society. | [
0,
17
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Gross Morphology and Localization of Adenohypophyseal Cells in Camel (Camelus dromedarius) Using A New Combination of Stains. Thirty normal camels (Camelus dromedarius) were selected for gross morphological and modified staining of anterior pituitary. Camels were divided in three age groups viz 2-4, 5-10 and above 10 years. Pituitary weight, length, width and circumference were recorded before preservation and at midsegittal cutting. Pituitary weight increased significantly as these animals grew older. Male had heavier pituitary as compared to female. Higher pituitary weight was observed in old as compared to young camel. Sections (4 mu m) of camel pituitary gland were stained with \\'Phosphotungstic acid haematoxylin-Orange G-Acid fuchsin-Light green\\' combination of dyes. This combination of acidic and basic dyes showed affinity to their respective adenohypophyseal cells and proved a suitable combination for differentiation of adenohypophyseal cells and architectural pattern of pituitary gland. Use of Lugol's Iodine and sodium thiosulphate solution caused mercury fixation which ultimately enhanced the staining of camel adenohypophysis. The whole pituitary presented a brilliant appearance of clarity, enabling cell counts to be performed easily, purely with reference to the colors of adenohypophyseal cell types. This method can be applied for differential staining of adenohypophysis and with good cytology results to the hypophysis of many mammals. The method also provides a sharp contrast between cellular and connective tissue components. With this staining technique, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of different adenohypophyseal cell types at various functional and hormonal stages, under certain physiological and pathological conditions can also be studied. (C)2011 PVJ. All rights reserved | [
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Sensitivity and Specificity Analysis: Use of Emoticon for Screening of Depression in Elderly in Singapore. BACKGROUND: The current screening tools for depression can be tedious to administer, especially in the elderly population with hearing impairment and/or limited proficiency in English language. OBJECTIVES: To look at the feasibility of using emoticon as a screening and assessment tool for depression in the elderly. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHOD: A total of 77 elderly patients completed the study from June 2014 to August 2015 in a general geriatric outpatient clinic of an acute care hospital in Singapore. Patients rated their mood using an emoticon scale, which ranges from 1 (most happy face) to 7 (most sad face). Depression was assessed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) criteria as the gold standard. Sensitivity and specificity for depression were calculated for the cutoff scores from 1 to 7 on the emoticon scale. RESULTS: The sensitivity percentages were low across all cutoff scores. The specificity was more than 90% for the cutoff score of 5 and above on the emoticon scale. However, all the patients who had depression diagnosed using the DSM-IV criteria did not have emoticon scores of 5 and above. CONCLUSIONS: The emoticon scale was easy to use, but its effectiveness in the screening of depression in the elderly needs to be explored further. The inability to use the emoticon scale as a tool may be the lack of measurements in the other domains of the DSM-IV criteria (sleep, energy, appetite, etc.), rather than failure of the emoticon scale to assess mood. | [
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258
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Erosion of Lizard Diversity by Climate Change and Altered Thermal Niches. It is predicted that climate change will cause species extinctions and distributional shifts in coming decades, but data to validate these predictions are relatively scarce. Here, we compare recent and historical surveys for 48 Mexican lizard species at 200 sites. Since 1975, 12% of local populations have gone extinct. We verified physiological models of extinction risk with observed local extinctions and extended projections worldwide. Since 1975, we estimate that 4% of local populations have gone extinct worldwide, but by 2080 local extinctions are projected to reach 39% worldwide, and species extinctions may reach 20%. Global extinction projections were validated with local extinctions observed from 1975 to 2009 for regional biotas on four other continents, suggesting that lizards have already crossed a threshold for extinctions caused by climate change. | [
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Twofold 2-perfect bowtie systems with an extra property. A bowtie is a closed trail whose graph consists of two 3-cycles with exactly one vertex in common. A 2-fold bowtie system of order n is an edge-disjoint decomposition of 2K(n) into bowties. A 2-fold bowtie system is said to be 2-perfect provided that every pair of distinct vertices is joined by two paths of length 2. It is said to be extra provided these two paths always have distinct midpoints. The extra property guarantees that the two paths x, a, y and x, b, y between every pair of vertices form a 4-cycle (x, a, y, b), and that the collection of all such 4-cycles is a four-fold 4-cycle system. We show that the spectrum for extra 2-perfect 2-fold bowtie systems is precisely the set of all n equivalent to 0 or 1 (mod 3), n >= 6. Additionally, with an obvious definition, we show that the spectrum for extra 2-perfect 2-fold maximum packings of 2K(n) with bowties is precisely the set of all n equivalent to 2 (mod 3), n >= 8. | [
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Investigation of surface defects of electroless Ni plating by solder resist dissolution on the ENIG process. Defects, such as a black pads and pinholes, are generated on the Ni/Au interface after the electroless nickel immersion gold (ENIG) process. The contamination of plating solutions, including dissolution of the solder resist (SR), side reaction products, and impurities (Cu, Ni, drag-in), can be a cause of the black pad phenomenon. In this study, electroless Ni plating was investigated to determine the correlation between SR dissolution and black pad generation. Three different SR components, monomer, hardener, and photoinitiator were used to examine the effects of the properties of the coating layer. The surface morphology, plating rate, and phosphorus (P) content of the electroless Ni layer with SR additives were analyzed. The black pad mechanism by SR dissolution was examined by electrochemical analysis including the open circuit voltage (OCV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a three-electrode cell. When a few ppm of SR was added, the OCV increased compared to the pure solution. CV revealed a change in hysteresis loop in the oxidation region upon the addition of SR. The contamination in the solution promotes the oxidation reaction rather than the reduction reaction. Therefore, the content of P in the contaminated solution was higher than that of the pure solution, and defects, such as black pad and pinholes, were observed. | [
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96
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Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation of Fe-Cu-Pb Alloy and Its Application in Metal Separation and Recycling of Waste Printed Circuit Boards. The pyrolysis processing was carried out on the waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) of mobile phones to dissociate metals from non-metals and obtain mixed metals with Fe, Cu and Pb as main components. Based on the main compositions of Fe, Cu and Pb, the liquid-liquid phase separation behavior of (Fe0.4Cu0.6)(100-x)Pb-x ternary alloy has been studied experimentally. The results show that the liquid-liquid phase separation of L -> L(Fe)+L(Cu, Pb) may occur during the ternary Fe-Cu-Pb alloy melt cooling in the miscibility gap. After the liquid L(Fe) solidified, the secondary liquid-liquid phase separation L(Cu, Pb)-> L(Cu)+L(Pb) takes place in the residual L(Cu, Pb) liquid phase, finally resulting in a three-zone separation structure. On the basis of the behavior of the liquid-liquid phase separation, a self-organized hierarchical separation system has been designed to separate and recycle these mixed metals from WPCBs. The enrichment behavior of the minor components like Cr, Au and Cd in the separation system was explored. The effect of super-gravity level on the metal separation and recycling rates has been discussed. As a result, a new harmless route has been established to recycle metal resources in WPCBs. | [
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Influence of temperature on the (liquid plus liquid) equilibria of {3-methyl pentane plus cyclopentane plus methanol} ternary system at T = (293.15, 297.15, and 299.15) K. In order to show the influence of temperature on the (liquid + liquid) equilibria (LLE) of the {3-methyl pentane (1) + cyclopentane (2) + methanol (3)} ternary system, equilibrium results at T = (293.15, 297.15, and 299.15) K are reported. The effect of the temperature on the (liquid + liquid) equilibrium is determined and discussed. Experimental results show that this ternary system is completely homogeneous beyond T = 300 K. All chemicals were quantified by gas chromatography using a thermal conductivity detector. The tie line results were satisfactorily correlated by the Othmer and Tobias method. and the plait point coordinates for the three temperatures were estimated. Experimental values for the ternary system are compared with values calculated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC equations, and predicted by means of the UNIFAC group contribution method. It is found that the UNIQUAC and NRTL models provide similar good correlations of the solubility curve at these three temperatures. Finally, the UNIFAC model predicts binodal band type curves in the range of temperatures studied here, similar to those observed for systems classified by Treybal as type 2, instead of type I as experimentally observed. Distribution coefficients were also analysed through distribution curves. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | [
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Substrate Topological Routing for High-Density Packages. Off-chip substrate routing for high-density packages is on the critical path for time to market. Compared with on-chip routers, existing commercial tools for off-chip routing have lower routability and often result in a large number of unrouted nets for manual routing. In this paper, we explain why planar routing is still required with multiple routing layers for substrate routing and then propose a flexible via-staggering technique to improve routability. In addition, we develop an efficient yet effective substrate routing algorithm, applying dynamic pushing to tackle the net ordering problem and reordering and rerouting to further reduce wire length and congestion. Compared with an industrial design tool that leaves 936 nets unrouted for nine industrial designs with a total of 6100 nets, our algorithm reduces the unrouted nets to 212, a 4.5-times net number reduction, which translates to design time reduction. | [
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182
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Returns and costs in sugar beet production and crop enterprise before and after recent CAP reforms. Within the framework of the \\'Joint Project oil environmental effects in sugarbeet cultivation\\' Cost structures Of sugarbeet cultivation are analysed. Future prospects on the effects of the sugar market reform are given by a comparative static comparison if no adaptation strategies will be introduced. Simultaneously, costs and returns of the whole crop enterprise are examined. Ill sugarbeet production, declining sugarbeet prices lead to strong losses in returns. In combination with increased input prices, those losses reduce returns to management. Cost differences between successful and less successful farms are primarily due to differences in direct and operating costs. Within these Cost groups, expenses for fertiliser as well as for labour and machinery show meaningful differences between successful and less Successful farms. At the whole crop enterprise level, rising prices for other agricultural products compensate for declined sugarbeet prices and increased input prices. Meaningful cost differences between Successful and less successful farms are found with operating costs. | [
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171
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The importance of genetic susceptibility in Dupuytren's disease. Dupuytren's disease (DD) is a progressive fibromatosis that causes the formation of nodules and cords in the palmar aponeurosis leading to flexion contracture of affected fingers. The etiopathogenesis is multifactorial with a strong genetic predisposition. It is the most frequent genetic disorder of connective tissues. We have collected clinical data from 736 unrelated individuals with DD who underwent surgical treatment from Germany and Switzerland. We evaluated a standardised questionnaire, assessed the importance of different risk factors and compared subgroups with and without positive family history. We found that family history clearly had the strongest influence on the age at first surgery compared to environmental factors, followed by male sex. Participants with a positive family history were on average 55.9years of age at the first surgical intervention, 5.2years younger than probands without known family history (p=6.7x10(-8)). The percentage of familial cases decreased with age of onset from 55% in the 40-49 years old to 17% at age 80years or older. Further risk factors analysed were cigarettes, alcohol, diabetes, hypertension, and epilepsy. Our data pinpoint the importance of genetic susceptibility for DD, which has long been underestimated. | [
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Strange bedfellows: Federal systems and performance management. This paper offers the first link between models of the measurement and management of performance and the dimensions of governance arrangements in federal systems. Four ideal type approaches to governance in federal systems are correlated against four ideal types of measuring and managing performance. The paper develops a model that will support empirical research examining reform trajectories where evolving systems of federalism require evolving systems to manage performance in joint arrangements between levels of government. | [
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252
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Large-Scale Diffusion of Entangled Polymers along Nanochannels. Changes in large-scale polymer diffusivity along interfaces, arising from transient surface contacts at the nanometer scale, are not well understood. Using proton pulsed-gradient NMR, we here study the equilibrium micrometer-scale self-diffusion of poly(butadiene) chains along 100 pm long, 20 and 60 nm wide channels in alumina, which is a system without confinement-related changes in segmental relaxation time. Unlike previous reports on nonequilibrium start-up diffusion normal to an interface or into particulate nanocomposites, we find a reduction of the diffusivity that appears to depend only upon the pore diameter but not on the molecular weight in a range between 2 and 24 kg/mol. We rationalize this by a simple volume-average model for the monomeric friction coefficient, which suggests a 10-fold surface-enhanced friction on the scale of a single molecular layer. Further support is provided by applying our model to the analysis of published data on large-scale diffusion in thin films. | [
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253
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Short Communication: Observations on false positive reactions in the rapid NOW (R) Filariasis card test. The NOW(R) Filariasis card test is a useful tool for rapid field diagnosis of Wuchereria bancrofti infection, based on detection of specific circulating filarial antigen (CFA) in the patients' blood. Concern has been raised that a high proportion of infection negative individuals develop false positive reactions in these tests when the test cards are left for a prolonged period before being examined. We carried out a survey in an endemic Tanzanian village to investigate this phenomenon. Individuals who were positive in the NOW(R) Filariasis test at 10 min after specimen application were also positive in the TropBio ELISA for CFA, and thus appeared to be truly positive. Many of the test cards that were negative at 10 min developed a positive line later, but these lines appeared to be falsely positive when the TropBio test was used as the gold standard. Close examination revealed that true and false positivity lines could be distinguished on their shape and colour. The study thus reaffirmed that test cards should be read after 10 min to avoid false positives, but it also indicated that experienced test card users should be able to make a correct diagnosis even at a later time. | [
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Three-dimensional narrow woven fabric with in-plane auxetic behavior. Different auxetic structures and auxetic phenomena are continuously explored by researchers in the field of textiles with enhanced properties for broader application areas. However, developing three-dimensional (3D) auxetic structures by using weaving technology is a real challenge compared to knitting and non-weaving techniques. This research work reports a novel approach to develop 3D woven structures with in-plane auxetic behavior. A conventional 3D multilayer orthogonal through-the-thickness structure was converted into a 3D auxetic woven structure. The structure was designed with three different yarn components to incorporate auxetic geometry. One type of yarn was used in the warp direction, while the other two-yarn systems, comprised of fine elastic yarn and coarse binding yarn, were used in the weft direction. The auxetic geometry achieved resembles the reentrant hexagon by the unusual arrangement of warp yarns. For an in-depth study of the structure, nine fabric samples were fabricated by using a conventional semi-automatic weaving machine with four different influencing parameters. The developed samples were then tested on a tensile testing machine to evaluate their mechanical and auxetic behavior. The results show that the 3D fabrics have a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) even at higher tensile strain and that the appropriate binding to the warp yarn diameter can produce a higher NPR. In addition, the repeat size of the elastic weft yarn, bending stiffness of the binding yarn, and stretch percentage of the elastic weft yarn can highly affect the NPR of the fabric. Furthermore, among all the 3D woven fabrics developed with different structural parameters, the maximum NPR achieved was -1.61. | [
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Meta-analysis identifies 29 additional ulcerative colitis risk loci, increasing the number of confirmed associations to 47. Genome-wide association studies and candidate gene studies in ulcerative colitis have identified 18 susceptibility loci. We conducted a meta-analysis of six ulcerative colitis genome-wide association study datasets, comprising 6,687 cases and 19,718 controls, and followed up the top association signals in 9,628 cases and 12,917 controls. We identified 29 additional risk loci (P < 5 x 10(-8)), increasing the number of ulcerative colitis-associated loci to 47. After annotating associated regions using GRAIL, expression quantitative trait loci data and correlations with non-synonymous SNPs, we identified many candidate genes that provide potentially important insights into disease pathogenesis, including IL1R2, IL8RA-IL8RB, IL7R, IL12B, DAP, PRDM1, JAK2, IRF5, GNA12 and LSP1. The total number of confirmed inflammatory bowel disease risk loci is now 99, including a minimum of 28 shared association signals between Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. | [
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Reproductive success of Piping Plovers at Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan. Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, is an important breeding area for Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus); the area hosts up to 8% of the continental breeding population, yet little is known about how the site contributes to the overall survival of this species. We studied the reproductive success of Piping Plovers at Big Quill Lake from 1993 to 1995. We located 208 nests and captured and banded 456 young. Nest initiation occurred from mid-May to mid-July, and median nest-initiation dates were 14, 13, and 13 May in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively. Mean clutch size for presumed first nests was 3.92 eggs. Nesting success was consistently high from 1993 to 1995, with Mayfield estimates of nest success ranging from 75 to 88%; nests initiated later in the season were less successful than earlier nests. The wide beach (200-1,000 m) at Big Quill Lake may have contributed to high nesting success by reducing efficiency of predators. Use of Big Quill Lake beaches by humans and cattle was also minimal. Fledging success varied dramatically, with 0.02, 1.35, and 1.78 young fledged per breeding pair in 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively. Low productivity of Piping Plovers in 1993 was a result of low chick survival during a week of rain, cold temperatures, and high winds, rather than low nesting success. Fledging success in 1994 and 1995 was higher than the 1.24 chicks per pair required for population stability on alkaline lakes in the Northern Great Plains. This high productivity suggests that Big Quill Lake is an important Piping Plover breeding site and measures should be taken to ensure its continued protection. | [
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Dialogical Communication and Empowering Social Work Practice. How to succeed in facilitating for empowering processes within social work practice is a central topic in both theoretical discussions and regarding its principles in practice. With a particular focus on how dialogical communication can play a part in order to practice empowering social work, through this text the author frames HUSK as a project facilitating the underpinning humanistic approaches in social work. Dialogical communication and its philosophical base is presented and recognized as a means to achieve empowering social work as well as highlighting the importance of the humanistic approach. The author also underscores how HUSK projects in themselves were enabled because of the required collaboration between service users, professionals, and researchers that signified HUSK. This is pinpointed as having potential for a future research agenda as well as pointing at how the outcomes of the projects may impact future social work practice when the goal is to conduct empowering social work. | [
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How Do alpha-Cyclodextrins Self-Organize on a Polymer Chain?. The relative conformation of the mobile cyclic molecules of a polyrotaxane has been analyzed quantitatively by means of both molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. Here, the polyrotaxane is formed by several alpha-cyclodextrins (alpha-CDs) threaded onto a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain. The dimerization free energies for three possible spatial arrangements of two consecutive alpha-CDs, viz., head to head (HH), head to tail (HT), and tail to tail (TT), were determined. The computed dimerization free energies were then introduced into the theoretical framework of a lattice model to predict the percentage of HH and TT motifs in all possible arrangements, employing Monte Carlo simulations. Our results show that this percentage fluctuates when the number of CDs is less than eight and rapidly tends toward 73% when the latter is greater than eight. This theoretical estimate, which is dominated by the dimerization free energy, agrees well with experiments. Deconvolution of the free energy profiles indicates that dimerization is controlled primarily by the formation of hydrogen bonds between two consecutive alpha-CDs, hence rationalizing why HH is more favorable than the other two spatial arrangements. The proposed method combining free energy calculations with a lattice chain model is envisioned to be applied to other ID chemical or biological self assembly phenomena to help dissect the mechanisms that underlie the formation of the supramolecular assembly and control the relative conformation of its constituent cyclic compounds | [
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Impact of simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with type 1 diabetes Mellitus. We retrospectively investigated the impact of pancreas transplantation on cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with type 1 diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Two cohorts of patients, 44 simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant patients (SPK) and 30 kidney transplant-alone patients (KTA), were included. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. Compared with KTA patients, SPK patients had significantly lower mean arterial pressure (88.5 +/- 12.7 vs. 98.2 +/- 13.0 mmHg, P=0.002), lower pulse pressure (51.6 +/- 15.1 vs. 61.4 +/- 15.6 mmHg, P=0.008), lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (83.5 +/- 20.6 vs. 99.2 +/- 32.5 mg/dl, P=0.02), and required fewer lipid-lowering medications (31.8% vs. 60.0%, P=0.02). Compared with pretransplant values, only SPK patients showed significant improvement in both blood pressure and total cholesterol. We conclude that SPK significantly improves blood pressure and dyslipidemia compared with KTA in type I diabetic ESRD patients. | [
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82
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The Effects of a Spiritual Learning Program on Improving Spiritual Health and Clinical Practice Stress Among Nursing Students. Background: Numerous studies have indicated an association between spirituality and health outcomes. However, little information is available about interventions that have been shown to enhance spiritual health and decrease stress.Method: A convenience sample of nursing students currently enrolled at a nursing school in northern Taiwan were recruited to participate in this quasiexperimental study as participants to experimental and control groups via simple random sampling. Results from a spiritual health scale and a perceived clinical practice stress scale, together with the score for clinical nursing practice, were compared between the groups. Baseline data were collected from all participants. The experimental group participated in 8 weeks of 50-minute per week SLP, which included lectures, discussion, reflection, and spiritual practices. A second data set was collected from all participants after the intervention. A third data set was collected after all participants had performed 4 weeks of nursing clinical practice.Purpose: This study examined the effects of a spiritual learning program (SLP) on nursing student-perceived spiritual health and clinical practice stress.Conclusion: The SLP may encourage participants to see stressors as meaningful events that are connected to individual life purposes. The program developed in this study may be used to improve spiritual health and reduce stress in nursing students' clinical practice. This SLP may be referenced when designing similar spirituality-related courses and applied to nursing student counseling.Results: Participants were all women. Average age was 19.4 years (SD = 1.3 years). Generalized estimating equation analysis showed SLP to have a significant short-term effect on improving the total score for spiritual health (p < .01). Significantly greater improvement in clinical practice stress scores was also seen in the experimental group as compared with the control group (all p < .05). The experimental group obtained a higher score of the final clinical practice than the control group (t = 3.771, p < .001). | [
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Neutronic Analysis of the Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion-Fission Energy (LIFE) Engine Using Various Thorium Molten Salts. In this study, a neutronic performance of the Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion Fission Energy (LIFE) molten salt blanket is investigated. Neutronic calculations are performed by using XSDRNPM/SCALE5 codes in S-8-P-3 approximation. The thorium molten salt composition considered in this calculation is 75 % LiF-25 % ThF4, 75 % LiF-24 % ThF4-1 % (UF4)-U-233, 75 % LiF-23 % ThF4-2 % (UF4)-U-233. Also, effects of the Li-6 enrichment in molten salt are performed for all heavy metal salt. The radiation damage behaviors of SS-304 structural material with respect to higher fissionable fuel content and Li-6 enrichment are computed. By higher fissionable fuel content in molten salt and with Li-6 enrichment (20 and 50 %) in the coolant in form of 75 % LiF-23 % ThF4-2 % (UF4)-U-233, an initial TBR > 1.05 can be realized. On the other hand, the 75 % LiF-25 % ThF4 or 75 % LiF-24 % ThF4-1 % (UF4)-U-233 molten salt fuel as regards maintained tritium self-sufficiency is not suitable as regards improving neutronic performance of LIFE engine. A high quality fissile fuel with a rate of similar to 2,850 kg/year of U-233 can be produced with 75 % LiF-23 % ThF4-2 % (UF4)-U-233. The energy multiplication factor is increased with high rate fission reactions of U-233 occurring in the molten salt zone. Major damage mechanisms in SS-304 first wall stell have been computed as DPA = 48 and He = 132 appm per year with 75 % LiF-23 % ThF4-2 % (UF4)-U-233. This implies a replacement of the SS-304 first wall stell of every between 3 and 4 years. | [
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Cost-effectiveness of a pragmatic structured education intervention for the prevention of type 2 diabetes: economic evaluation of data from the Let's Prevent Diabetes cluster-randomised controlled trial. Participants: 880 participants with prediabetes randomised to receive either standard care or a 6-hour group structured education programme with follow-up sessions in a primary care setting.Conclusions: The education programme had higher costs and higher quality of life compared with the standard care group. The Let's Prevent programme is very likely to be cost-effective at a willingness to pay threshold of 20000 pound/QALY gained.Results: After accounting for clustering and missing data, the intervention group was found to have a net gain of 0.046 (95% CI -0.0171 to 0.109) QALYs over 3years, adjusted for baseline utility, at an additional cost of 168 (95% CI -395 to 732) per patient compared with the standard care group. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is 3643/QALY with an 86% probability of being cost-effective at a willingness to pay threshold of 20000 pound/QALY.Main outcome measure: Incremental cost utility from the UK National Health Service (NHS) perspective. Quality of life and resource use measured from baseline and during the 36months follow-up using the EuroQoL EQ-5D and 15D instruments and an economic questionnaire. Outcomes measured using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and healthcare costs calculated in 2012-2013 prices.Objectives: Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus (TD2M) is a priority for healthcare systems. We estimated the cost-effectiveness compared with standard care of a structured education programme (Let's Prevent) targeting lifestyle and behaviour change to prevent progression to T2DM in people with prediabetes.Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis alongside randomised controlled trial.Setting: 44 general practices in Leicestershire, England. | [
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Coffee and tea consumption, genotype- based CYP1A2 and NAT2 activity and colorectal cancer risk- Results from the EPIC cohort study. What's new? Coffee and tea contain numerous compounds that may protect against colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study of more than 475,000 participants over more than a decade, the authors investigated whether coffee or tea consumption is associated with an altered risk of developing CRC. They also asked whether genetic variations in two enzymes involved in caffeine metabolism (CYP1A2 and NAT2) might affect this risk. They conclude that neither consumption patterns, nor genetic differences in caffeine metabolism, appear to have a significant impact on CRC risk.Coffee and tea contain numerous antimutagenic and antioxidant components and high levels of caffeine that may protect against colorectal cancer (CRC). We investigated the association between coffee and tea consumption and CRC risk and studied potential effect modification by CYP1A2 and NAT2 genotypes, enzymes involved in the metabolization of caffeine. Data from 477,071 participants (70.2% female) of the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort study were analyzed. At baseline (1992-2000) habitual (total, caffeinated and decaffeinated) coffee and tea consumption was assessed with dietary questionnaires. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratio's (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Potential effect modification by genotype-based CYP1A2 and NAT2 activity was studied in a nested case-control set of 1,252 cases and 2,175 controls. After a median follow-up of 11.6 years, 4,234 participants developed CRC (mean age 64.78.3 years). Total coffee consumption (high vs. non/low) was not associated with CRC risk (HR 1.06, 95% CI 0.95-1.18) or subsite cancers, and no significant associations were found for caffeinated (HR 1.10, 95% CI 0.97-1.26) and decaffeinated coffee (HR 0.96, 95% CI 0.84-1.11) and tea (HR 0.97, 95% CI 0.86-1.09). High coffee and tea consuming subjects with slow CYP1A2 or NAT2 activity had a similar CRC risk compared to non/low coffee and tea consuming subjects with a fast CYP1A2 or NAT2 activity, which suggests that caffeine metabolism does not affect the link between coffee and tea consumption and CRC risk. This study shows that coffee and tea consumption is not likely to be associated with overall CRC. | [
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A HYBRID MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS APPROACH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION: AN EXAMPLE OF THE TFT-LCD MANUFACTURERS IN TAIWAN. The study developed a quantitative evaluation model of environmental performance, using a hybrid multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach by key environmental indicators based on the ISO14031 environmental performance evaluation (EPE) dimensions. The causal relationships and influence intensity among the EPE dimensions were explored to construct the network evaluation structure. Three well-known thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturers in Taiwan were used as an illustrative example. The top three key environmental indicators were found to be factory sewage discharge, Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the ratio of green product designs in reducing CO2. The model could be further adapted to other industries. | [
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26
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Trichinella spiralis infection and transplacental passage in human pregnancy. Patients presented similar clinical symptoms. Mother's sera showed differences in the presence and titres of Igs, IgE, IgG1 and IgG4 against NBL surface. All of them showed helminthocytotoxic activity against NBL, four in progesterone dependent manner and the other two by antibodies. Igs anti ESP-ML were present in mother's sera, with differences in the isotypes detected. Anti-ESP-ML IgE, IgA and/or IgM in newborn sera were observed. Three out of four infants showed specific Igs; one even at 8 years-old.Parasitological and immunoserological parameters, clinical background and transplacental passage of Trichinella spiralis of six pregnant women, from different outbreaks, were studied.Infection by Trichinella spp. during pregnancy still arises many questions. Worldwide an important number of trichinellosis outbreaks have occurred over time where pregnant women were or might have been involved.The distinct immune response between mothers at pregnancy evidenced by sera helminthocytotoxic activity and immunoserological parameters may be associated with a different parasite burden exposition. Specific Igs observed in newborns would be a suggestion of transplacental passage of this Igs and/or their production by the fetus. Specific Igs found in infants sera suggests that newborn larvae transplacental passage is possible. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Serum samples were collected from patients and their children: at pregnancy, at delivery, newborn and/or infant (>= 1 year-old). Total immunoglobulins (Igs) and isotypes against excretion-secretion products from muscle larvae (ESP-ML) and newborn larvae (NBL) of T. spiralis were detected by immunoserological techniques. Sera helminthocytotoxic activity against NBL was evaluated by antibodies dependent cell cytotoxicity assay. | [
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Water Activated by a Microwave Plasma Argon Jet as a Factor Stimulating the Germination of Plant Seeds. Using the new electrodeless microwave technology for generating plasma in an open atmosphere, solutions of hydrogen peroxide and nitrogen compounds are obtained from distilled water. The method is based on the activation of distilled water by a jet of thermal argon plasma of an electrodeless microwave discharge in air at atmospheric pressure. Plasma-activated water has a stimulating effect on seed germination and plant growth, which is much more effective than the effect of industrial hydrogen peroxide solutions with stabilizing additives. | [
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History of gas chromatography. Modern gas chromatography (GC) was invented by Martin and James in 1952 [1], and has become one of the most important and widely applied analytical techniques in modern chemistry. Major milestones in the development of GC, especially in column technology, detection and sample introduction are described in this historical review. Many trends in current progress can be seen to originate in the first two decades of the history of GC, but the invention of fused-silica capillary columns greatly increased the application of high-resolution GC across the field of organic analysis; the development of low-cost, bench-top mass spectrometers led to further advances. Progress continues to be rapid in comprehensive 2D GC, fast analysis, detection by atomic emission and time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and in applications to process analysis. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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The GA-binding protein can serve as both an activator and repressor of ribosomal protein gene transcription. The GA-binding protein (GABP), a heterodimeric transcription factor with widespread tissue distribution, has been found to be a strong positive regulator of several ribosomal protein (rp)-encoding genes. In such genes, e.g. the mouse rpL30 gene, the GABP-binding sites are located 40-80 base pairs upstream of the transcriptional start point. Potential GABP-binding sites are present in the promoters of numerous other rp genes, not only in upstream regions, but also in the immediate vicinity of the transcriptional start point. The mouse rpS16 gene is an example of the latter type. We demonstrate here that GABP binds to the rpS16 initiation region, and in so doing down-regulates rpS16 transcription both in vivo and in vitro. Supplementation of cell-free extracts with GABP inhibits transcription on rpS16 templates while concomitantly stimulating transcription on rpL30 templates. The repressive and stimulatory effects, which were proportional to the amount of GABP added, required both the GABP cu subunit and either a beta(1) or beta(2) subunit. Mutations of the rpS16 GABP-binding sites that abolish binding increased rpS16 promoter activity in vivo and in vitro, whereas mutations that strengthen GABP binding caused a reduction in promoter activity. The binding of GABP to the rpS16 initiation region does not significantly affect the positioning of the transcriptional start points. Taken together with earlier studies, these new findings indicate that GABP can have a dual role as repressor or activator of rp gene transcription. | [
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Persistent Emission Properties of SGR J1935+2154 during Its 2020 Active Episode. We present detailed spectral and temporal characteristics of the persistent X-ray emission of SGR J1935+2154 based on our XMM-Newton and Chandra observations taken in the aftermath of its 2020 April burst storm, during which hundreds of energetic X-ray bursts were emitted, including one associated with an extraordinary fast radio burst. We clearly detect the pulsed X-ray emission in the XMM-Newton data. An average spin-down rate of 1.6 x 10(-11) s s(-1) is obtained using our spin period measurement combined with three earlier values reported from the same active episode. Our investigations of the XMM-Newton and Chandra spectra with a variety of phenomenological and physically motivated models concluded that the magnetic field topology of SGR J1935+2154 is most likely highly nondipolar. The spectral models indicate that surface field strengths in somewhat localized regions substantially exceed the polar value of 4.4 x 10(14) G inferred from a spin-down torque associated with a rotating magnetic dipole. | [
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Pressure and recurrence. We deal with a subshift of finite type and an equilibrium state A for a Holder continuous function. Let alpha(n) be the partition into cylinders of length n. We compute (in particular we show the existence of the limit) lim(n-->infinity) n(-1) log Sigma(j=0)(taun(x)) mu(alpha(n)(T-j(x))), where alpha(n) (T-j (x)) is the element of the partition containing T-j (x) and tau(n)(x) is the return time of the trajectory of x to the cylinder alpha(n)(X). | [
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23
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The Social Media Index as an Indicator of Quality for Emergency Medicine Blogs: A METRIQ Study. Study objective: Online educational resources such as blogs are increasingly used for education by emergency medicine clinicians. The Social Media Index was developed to quantify their relative impact. The Medical Education Translational Resources: Indicators of Quality (METRIQ) study was conducted in part to determine the association between the Social Media Index score and quality as measured by gestalt and previously derived quality instruments.Methods: Ten blogs were randomly selected from a list of emergency medicine and critical care Web sites. The 2 most recent clinically oriented blog posts published on these blogs were evaluated with gestalt, the Academic Life in Emergency Medicine Approved Instructional Resources (ALiEM AIR) score, and the METRIQ-8 score. Volunteer raters (including medical students, emergency medicine residents, and emergency medicine attending physicians) were identified with a multimodal recruitment methodology. The Social Media Index was calculated in February 2016, November 2016, April 2017, and December 2017. Pearson's correlations were calculated between the Social Media Index and the average rater gestalt, ALiEM AIR score, and METRIQ-8 score.Results: A total of 309 of 330 raters completed all ratings (93.6%). The Social Media Index correlated moderately to strongly with the mean rater gestalt ratings (range 0.69 to 0.76) and moderately with the mean rater ALiEM AIR score (range 0.55 to 0.61) and METRIQ-8 score (range 0.53 to 0.57) during the month of the blog post's selection and for 2 years after.Conclusion: The Social Media Index's correlation with multiple quality evaluation instruments over time supports the hypothesis that it is associated with overall Web site quality. It can play a role in guiding individuals to high-quality resources that can be reviewed with critical appraisal techniques. | [
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Retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine for hepatic encephalopathy A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. Background: Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is one of the common complications of many serious liver diseases. Western medicine treatment is mainly symptomatic treatment such as neutralizing blood ammonia and protecting liver, which has poor curative effect, easy repetition and high mortality. Retention enema with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used on treatment of HE in China for many years. And it has been clinically proved that retention enema with TCM is effective and safe. But there is absent convincing evidence-based medicine to confirm the efficacy of retention enema with TCM for HE. Thus, we aimed to conduct this meta-analysis to summarize the efficacy of retention enema with TCM in patients with HE. Methods: The study only selects clinical randomized controlled trials of retention enema with TCM for HE. We will search each database from the built-in until December 31, 2020. The English literature mainly searches Cochrane Library, Pubmed, EMBASE, and Web of Science. While the Chinese literature comes from CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang database. Meanwhile, we will retrieve clinical trial registries and gray literature. Two researchers worked independently on literature selection, data extraction and quality assessment. The dichotomous data is represented by relative risk (RR), and the continuous is expressed by mean difference (MD) or standard mean difference (SMD), eventually the data is synthesized using a fixed effect model (FEM) or a random effect model (REM) depending on the heterogeneity. The total effective rate, blood ammonia and the total bilirubin were evaluated as the main outcomes. While several secondary outcomes were also evaluated in this study. The statistical analysis of this Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan software version 5.3. Results: This study will synthesize and provide high-quality evidence based on the data of the currently published retention enema with TCM for the treatment of HE. Conclusion: This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the benefits of retention enema with TCM for the treatment of HE reported in randomized controlled trials, and provide more options for clinicians and patients with HE. Registration number: INPLASY202080107. | [
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Co-Designing and Learning in Virtual Reality: Development of Tool for Alcohol Resistance Training. This paper presents the design process of a Danish educational virtual reality (VR) application for alcohol prevention. Denmark is one on the countries in Europe with the highest alcohol consumption among adolescents. Alcohol abuse is a risk factor for a variety of diseases and contributes as a significant factor to motor vehicle accidents. The application offers first-hand experiences with alcohol in a safe environment. This is done by simulating a party situation using 125 different 360-degree movie sequences and displaying it in a virtual reality headset. The users create their own experience through a choose your own adventure game experience. The experience is designed to acquire skills for recognizing and handling peer pressure, which has been found to be one of the main reasons for drinking initiation. These skills are acquired though experimental learning. The application is a product of a co-design process involving 10 students (aged 18-28) studying film making and game design at Askov Folk High School (a special kind of Danish boarding school without exams for young adults), Denmark, their teachers, alcohol experts from social services and researchers with expertise within health promotion, social marketing, VR, interaction design and game development. Additionally, 35 students from Askov Boarding School (aged 15-17) participated as actors and extras. This article contributes to research within development of 360-degree video applications for experimental learning with a practical example. The iterative design process of the application, containing exploration of key concepts, concept design, prototype design, pre-usability testing, innovation design and usability test is described, as well as our reflections on virtual experimental learning in the application. | [
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285
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The Current Trend of Total Ankle Replacement. Total ankle replacement (TAR) was introduced for end-stage arthritis of the ankle joint in the 1970s. TAR is becoming the modality of choice and offers better mobility, improved gait, and reduces the development of subsequent subtalar joint arthritis when compared with ankle arthrodesis. To maintain the longest function of ankle replacements, the design of the prosthesis should allow for smooth and continuous interaction and normal gait. Improved operative techniques, the surgeon's experience, as well as appropriate patient selection can anticipate better outcomes. Deformities of the ankle and foot should be corrected before TAR is performed. Despite the functional limitations following the revision of TAR, the revision still offers a cost-effective alternative to ankle arthrodesis. The decision to treat with TAR depends on the surgeon's technique, as well as on the patient's condition. | [
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Kinetic study of the substitution of [Tc(tu)(6)](3+) by polyaminocarboxylic acids. Substitution route has been traditionally proposed for the synthesis of new Tc complexes. In particular, Tc(III) coordination compounds can be successfully prepared by substitution on [TC(tu)(6)](3+) (tu = thiourea). In this substitution reaction, TcO2 is a side produce that should be minimized. The success of these synthetic procedures is based on controlling the reaction conditions in order that pure substitution could be faster enough compared to decomposition. In this work, the substitution of [Tc(tu)(6)](3+) by polycarboxylic acids (ethylenediaminetetraacetate (edta), diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (dtpa), N-tris(2-aminoethyl)amin N',N',N '',N '',N''',N'''-hexaacetate (ttaha) and 3-bromo-2,4,6-trimethylacetanilideiminodiacetate (mebrofenin)) is kinetically studied in order to obtain the best conditions for preparing Tc(III) complexes. As a general conclusion, substitution constants are strongly dependent on the pH. k(obs) values fall in the range 0.1-13 X 10(-2) M(-1)s(-1), depending on the pH value and the temperature. No strong differences are found with different incoming ligands. For the four ligands (L), a straight line is obtained when plotting log k(obs)/([Lm-]) vs. pH. This is consistent with a rate constant k(obs) = {k(o) + Sigma k(n)[H+](n)/K-n}[Lm-], where n represents the charge of the incoming ligand and m is the maximum value of n. | [
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Effective atomic number of polymer blended granite stones for Compton scattering. Polymer blended granite stones which are a combination of polymers with their flexibility on the one hand and granite stones with their strength on the other, are useful in many applications of human enterprise. It is very important to understand the interaction of these materials with gamma radiation especially in the widely used energy region 50 keV to 1500 keV. In this energy region, Compton scattering is a dominant process. Hence in the present work we have made an attempt to determine the effective atomic number (Z(eff)) of some polymer blended granite stones using the single differential scattering cross section for gamma rays of energy 59.54 keV at 105 degrees. Compositions of these samples have been determined using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), which is further used to determine theempirical values of Z(eff) of these samples based on Auto-Z(eff) programme. On comparison these values are found to match with Z(eff) obtained from experiment within the range of experimental errors. | [
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TRANSMEMBRANE REDISTRIBUTION OF PHOSPHOLIPIDS OF THE HUMAN RED-CELL MEMBRANE DURING HYPOTONIC HEMOLYSIS. The transmembrane distribution of spin-labeled phospholipids was measured in human erythrocytes before and after hypotonic hemolysis by electron paramagnetic resonance. With a first series of partially water soluble probes a complete randomization of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine and sphingomyelin analogues was achieved when cells were resealed in the absence of Mg-ATP or when the aminophospholipid translocase was inhibited by vanadate or calcium. If the ghosts were resealed with Mg-ATP inside, the transmembrane asymmetry of the aminophospholipids was reestablished. With long chain insoluble spin-labeled lipids complete randomization was obtained with the phosphatidylcholine analogue but even in the presence of vanadate only a small percentage (approx. 15%) of the spin-labeled phosphatidylserine flopped to the outer monolayer and comparable percentage of the spin-labeled sphingomyelin flipped to the inner monolayer, indicating a hierarchy in the phospholipid redistribution for these water insoluble lipids during hemolysis. The mechanism by which a selective randomization takes place is not known. It may involve phosphatidylserine-protein interactions in the inner leaflet and sphingomyelin-cholesterol or sphingomyelin-sphingomyelin interaction in the outer leaflet. | [
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Effects of early statin treatment on symptomatic heart failure and ischemic events after acute myocardial infarction in Japanese. Statins have been shown to prevent coronary artery disease and to preserve left ventricular function in dilated cardiomyopathy. We hypothesized that early use of statins would decrease cardiovascular events, including heart failure in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). To examine the effect of statins in Japanese patients with AMI, a prospective, randomized, open-label trial was conducted in 486 patients with normal total cholesterol levels. Patients were randomly assigned to receive any available statin (n = 241) within 96 hours of AMI onset or no statin (n = 245) and were followed for up to 24 months. The primary end point was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal AMI, recurrent symptomatic myocardial ischemia, congestive heart failure, and stroke. Event rate for the primary end point was lower in the statin group than in the nonstatin group (6.1% vs 11.4%, p = 0.0433). The statin group had a lower risk of congestive heart failure and symptomatic myocardial ischemia (p = 0.0154 and 0.0264, respectively). In conclusion, early lipid-lowering therapy with statins decreases recurrent cardiovascular events, in particular, congestive heart failure. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | [
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(S)he Conquers Who Endures': Theodora DeWolf Colt and the Birth of a New Cultural Elite. This essay explores the intersection of gender and class in the making of the new high brow culture of the late nineteenth century, represented by the matriarch of Bristol, Rhode Island, Theodora Goujaud DeWolf Colt. Through her poetry and salons, Theodora, like other wealthy women of the time, helped fashion a new bourgeois culture, which, though centered in New York and Boston, radiated outward to the smaller cities of the U.S., such as Bristol. Although the gendered norms and practices of the time excluded her from participation in much of public life, Theodora represented a new model of autonomy for upper-class women, for she was unmarried, not dependent on a man, and an independent intellectual. Her work also demonstrated the gendered tensions inherent in the formation of this new culture, as she developed a distinctive literary perspective that subtly criticized the paternalism and bourgeois values of that era. | [
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Spatial Ecotoxicology: Migratory Arctic Seabirds Are Exposed to Mercury Contamination While Overwintering in the Northwest Atlantic. Arctic organisms are exposed to various levels of pollutants, among which mercury (Hg) has raised important environmental concerns. Previous studies examining Hg levels, trends, and effects on Arctic marine top predators have focused on the Arctic region. However, many of these top predators, such as seabirds, migrate to spend a large part of their life cycle far from the Arctic in areas where their exposure to contaminants is largely unknown. By combining biotelemetry and Hg and stable isotope analyses, we studied the seasonal Hg contamination of little auks (Alle alle, the most abundant Arctic seabird) in relation to their distribution and marine foraging habitat, as well as its potential impacts on bird reproduction. We show that little auks were similar to 3.5 times more contaminated when outside the breeding season, and that Hg that accumulated during this nonbreeding non-Arctic period was related to egg size the following season, with females having more Hg laying smaller eggs. Our results highlight that ecotoxicological studies should be expanded to yield a comprehensive understanding of contamination risks and associated threats to top predators over their entire annual cycle. Furthermore, we show that an important nonbreeding area located in the northwest Atlantic was associated with greater Hg contamination and demonstrate the utility of bird-borne miniaturized technology for evaluating the contamination of marine systems on large spatial scales. | [
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Space efficiency of propositional knowledge representation formalisms. We investigate the space efficiency of a Propositional Knowledge Representation (PKR) formalism. Intuitively, the space efficiency of a formalism F in representing a certain piece of knowledge alpha, is the size of the shortest formula of F that represents alpha. In this paper we assume that knowledge is either a set of propositional interpretations (models) or a set of propositional formulae (theorems). We provide a formal way of talking about the relative ability of PKR formalisms to compactly represent a set of models or a set of theorems. We introduce two new compactness measures, the corresponding classes, and show that the relative space efficiency of a PKR formalism in representing models/theorems is directly related to such classes. In particular, we consider formalisms for nonmonotonic reasoning, such as circumscription and default logic, as well as belief revision operators and the stable model semantics for logic programs with negation. One interesting result is that formalisms with the same time complexity do not necessarily belong to the same space efficiency class. | [
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How to assess early rheumatoid arthritis in daily clinical practice. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a heterogeneous disorder in terms of both clinical presentation and outcome. Our goals in RA are directed towards suppression of signs and symptoms of synovitis, prevention of structural damage, maintenance of functionability and reduction of mortality. IgM rheumatoid factor and anticitrulline antibodies should be recorded in clinical practice since they are prognostic values of outcome. As control of disease activity is pivotal to preventing or at least retarding long-term damage, it is important to define stringent therapeutic aims as well as to follow-up patients in daily practice. The disease activity score 28 is a valuable instrument for this purpose. The assessment of radiographic damage and disability should be assessed regularly. Since increased cardiovascular mortality has been documented even in early RA, other cardiovascular risk factors should be looked for and eventually treated. | [
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New closed-form formula for series inductance and shunt capacitance based on measured TDR impedance profile. Time domain reflectometry has been widely used to characterize high speed interconnects. The equivalent lumped LC model is then developed based on the measured impedance profile (Z-profile). However, for discrete L or C, mounted in the middle of transmission line interconnects, the current formula based on Z-profile cannot provide correct results. In this letter, a new closed-form formula based on the Z-profile is derived to determine the lumped L or C with the rise time of the incident step taken into account, which is easy to integrate into any EDA tools. | [
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Adaptive capacity deficits and adaptive capacity of economic systems in climate change vulnerability assessment. This paper considers two ways that economic concepts inform adaptive capacity assessments within the context of climate change vulnerability analysis. First, using an economics framework, there are rational and logical reasons why different individuals and different organized human systems have different levels of adaptive capacity and these differences do not necessarily correlate to differences in vulnerability. An alternative approach is to determine where there are factors leading to socially inequitable or economically sub-optimal investment in adaptive capacity assets or reduced effectiveness of adaptive capacity assets resulting in adaptive capacity deficits. Factors contributing to adaptive capacity deficits include cases of irrational agent behaviour and cases where there are political, social, and economic system failures. A second way current adaptive capacity constructs can be enhanced is by taking explicit account of the adaptive capacity of economic systems. Economic system properties such as scale, diversity, relative mix of the private and public sectors, innovation, organizational/managerial capital, substitutability of inputs, factor mobility, liquidity of assets, etc. will affect the capacity of economic systems to adapt. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. | [
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Solving the -dimensional KP-Boussinesq and BKP-Boussinesq equations by the simplified Hirota's method. We study two (31)-dimensional generalized equations, namely the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-Boussinesq equation and the B-type Kadomtsev-Petviashvili-Boussinesq equation. We use the simplified Hirota's method to conduct this study and to find the general phase shift of these equations. We obtain one- and two-soliton solutions, for each equation, with the coefficients of the three spatial variables are left as free parameters. However, we also develop special conditions on the coefficients of the spatial variables guarantee the existence of three-soliton solutions for each of these two equation. | [
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Lithium Benzoate Exerts Neuroprotective Effect by Improving Mitochondrial Function, Attenuating Reactive Oxygen Species, and Protecting Cognition and Memory in an Animal Model of Alzheimer's Disease. Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease affecting many cellular pathways, including protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress (OS), and neuroinflammation. Currently, no effective treatment for AD exists.Results: In this study, we discovered that LiBen can attenuate cellular ROS level, improve mitochondrial function, increase cell viability against multiple different insults of mitochondrial dysfunction, A beta accumulation, and neuroinflammation, and promote neurogenesis. We demonstrated that LiBen has advantages over lithium or sodium benzoate alone as LiBen displays superior neuroprotective efficacy and oral bioavailability than the other two agents when being applied either alone or in combination. Furthermore, chronic administration of LiBen showed protection for cognition as well as spatial memory and reduced the senile plaque deposition in brains of AD animal models.Conclusion: LiBen stands as a promising therapeutic agent for improving cognition and delaying the progression of AD.Objective: We aim to determine the effect of lithium benzoate (LiBen) in protecting neurons from amyloid-beta (A beta) or other neurotoxin insults.Methods: Primary rat cortical neurons co-treated with neurotoxins and LiBen were used to examine its effect in cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) clearance, and mitochondrial functions by MTT, CellRox fluorescence staining, and seahorse assay. Then, Barnes maze and prepulse inhibition test were performed in APP/PS1 mice that received chronic LiBen treatment to assess its effect on cognitive protection. Oral bioavailability of LiBen was also assessed by pharmacokinetic study in rat plasma. | [
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A characterization of minimizable metrics in the multifacility location problem. In [9], Karzanov showed that the path metric of a graph H is minimizable if and only if all isometric cycles of H have length four and the edges of H can be oriented so that non-adjacent edges in each 4-cycle have opposite orientations along the cycle (such graphs are called frames in [9]). Extending this result to general metrics m, we show that m is minimizable if and only if m is modular and its underlying graph is a frame. (C) 2000 Academic Press.In the minimum 0-extension problem (a version of the multifacility location problem), one is given a metric m on a subset X of a finite set V and a non-negative function c on the unordered pairs of elements of V. The objective is to find a semimetric m' on V that minimizes the inner product c . m', provided that m' coincides with m within X and each element of V is at zero distance from X. For m fixed, this problem is solvable in strongly polynomial time if m is minimizable, which means that for any superset V and function c, the minimum objective value is equal to that in the corresponding linear relaxation. | [
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Synthesis and DFT Study of the Complexation of Schiff Base Derived Curcumin and L-Tyrosine with Al(III), Ag(I), and Pb(II) Metal Ions. The multi-dentate Schiff base ligand (H2L), where H2L-2,2'-(((1,3,5,6)-1-(3-((l1-oxidaneyl)-15-methyl)-4-hydroxyphenyl)-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-di ene-3,5-diylidene)bis(azaneylylidene))bis(3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoic acid), has been prepared from curcumin and L- Tyrosine amino acid. The synthesized Schiff base ligand (H2L) and the second ligand 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) are used to prepare the new complexes [Al(L)(phen)]Cl, K[Ag(L)(phen)] and [Pb(L)(phen)]. The synthesized compounds are characterized by magnetic susceptibility measurements, micro elemental analysis (C.H.N), mass spectrometry, molar conductance, FT-infrared, UV-visible, atomic absorption (AA), C-13-NMR, and H-1-NMR spectral studies. The characterization of the synthesized complexes shows that the environment surrounding the central metal ion in the complexes adopted a distorted octahedral configuration. Moreover, the conductivity measurements show a non-electrolytic character for the [Pb(L)(phen)] complex and an electrolytic character for the [Al(L)(phen)]Cl and K[Ag(L)(phen)] complexes. The experimental infrared data are supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations using the B3LYP level of theory and LANL2DZ basis set. The vibrational frequencies of the molecules are computed using the optimized geometry obtained from the DFT calculations. The calculated vibrational frequencies have been compared with obtained experimental values. H-1 and C-13-NMR chemical shifts were computed for the H2L ligand using the DFT/GIAO method. Additionally, the molecular electronic structures of the complexes have been investigated by DFT calculations. | [
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] |
Metal-assisted reactions. Part XXX. Control of rates of heterogeneously catalyzed transfer hydrogenolysis through changes in solvent composition. Adsorption isotherms in the liquid phase can be used to determine the relative strengths of adsorption of reactants and solvent at a catalyst surface. Such isotherms can then be used to indicate which type of solvent would be most suitable for a heterogeneously catalyzed reaction in the liquid-phase. Solubility in any chosen solvent is also important. As examples, rates of heterogeneously catalyzed liquid-phase transfer hydrogenolyzes of aryl tetrazolyl ethers (1) have been shown to be highly dependent on both the nature of the solvent and on the solution concentrations of the reactants. The rate of reaction can be varied from zero to a maximum and then back to zero simply by adjusting the solubility of the reductant through changes in the proportion of water in a mixed-solvent system. | [
1,
55
] |
Profile analysis and prediction of tissue-specific CpG island methylation classes. Conclusion: Our approach provides new insights into the biological features that determine if a CGI has a functional role in the epigenetic control of gene expression and the features associated with CGI methylation susceptibility. Moreover, we show that the ability to predict CGI methylation is based primarily on the quality of the biological information used and the relationships uncovered between different sources of knowledge. The strategy presented here is able to predict, besides the constitutively methylated and unmethylated classes, two more tissue specific methylation classes conserving the accuracy provided by leading binary methylation classification methods.Results: We defined CGI methylation profiles that separate not only between constitutively methylated and unmethylated CGIs, but also identify CGIs showing a differential degree of methylation across tissues and cell-types or a lack of methylation exclusively in sperm. These profiles are clearly distinguished by a number of CGI attributes including their evolutionary conservation, their significance, as well as the evolutionary evidence of prior methylation. Additionally, we assess profile functionality with respect to the different compartments of protein coding genes and their possible use in the prediction of DNA methylation.Background: The computational prediction of DNA methylation has become an important topic in the recent years due to its role in the epigenetic control of normal and cancer-related processes. While previous prediction approaches focused merely on differences between methylated and unmethylated DNA sequences, recent experimental results have shown the presence of much more complex patterns of methylation across tissues and time in the human genome. These patterns are only partially described by a binary model of DNA methylation. In this work we propose a novel approach, based on profile analysis of tissue-specific methylation that uncovers significant differences in the sequences of CpG islands (CGIs) that predispose them to a tissue-specific methylation pattern. | [
2,
187
] |
A systematic review of the roles of social workers in inclusive education for children with disabilities. International and local communities have made commitments to ensure that children with disabilities have equal opportunities in education, just like their non-disabled counterparts. Regardless of the increasing research about the development of inclusive education for children with disabilities, inclusive education is not achieved. This calls for a focus on what other professionals, like social workers, can contribute to the successful implementation of inclusive education. A systematic review yielding 11 studies revealed that social workers perform well-known generalist practitioner roles like advocacy, collaboration, education, facilitation and provider of psychosocial support which emphasises the need to involve social workers in inclusive schools. | [
2,
33
] |
Autonomous Microcapillary Drug Delivery System Self-Powered by a Flexible Energy Harvester. Implantable bioelectronic devices pave the way for novel biomedical applications operating at high spatiotemporal resolution, which is crucial for neural recording and stimulation, drug delivery, and brain-machine interfaces. Before successful long-term implantation and clinical applications, these devices face a number of challenges, such as mechanical and operational stability, biocompatibility, miniaturization, and powering. To address two of these crucial challenges-miniaturization and powering-the development and characterization of an electrophoretic drug delivery device, manufactured inside fused quartz fibers (outer diameter of 125 mu m), which is self-powered by a flexible piezoelectric energy harvester, are reported. The resulting device-the first integration of piezoelectric charging with \\'iontronic\\' delivery-exhibits a high delivery efficiency (number of neurotransmitters delivered per charges applied) and a direct correlation between the piezoelectric charging and the amount delivered (number of dynamic bends versus pmols delivered). | [
9,
93
] |
Performance Improvement of Linux CPU Scheduler Using Policy Gradient Reinforcement Learning for Android Smartphones. The Energy Aware Scheduler (EAS) was developed and applied to the Linux kernel of recent Android smartphones in order to exploit the ARM big.LITTLE processing architecture efficiently. EAS organizes CPU hardware information into Energy Model which are used to improve CPU scheduling performance. In particular, it reduces power consumption and improves process scheduling performance. However, EAS has limitations in improving CPU scheduling performance, because the Energy Model configures the CPU hardware information to fixed values, which does not reflect the characteristics of running tasks, such as the workload changes and the transition between running state and sleep state. To solve this problem, this paper introduces the Learning Energy Aware Scheduler (Learning EAS). The Learning EAS adjusts the TARGET_LOAD used to set the CPU frequency and the sched_migration_cost used as the task migration criteria according to the characteristics of the running task through the policy gradient reinforcement learning. In LG G8 ThinQ, Learning EAS improved power consumption by 2.3% - 5.7%, hackbench results for process scheduling performance by 2.8% - 25.5%, applications entry time by 4.4% - 6.1%, and applications entry time under high CPU workload by 9.6% - 12.5%, respectively compared with EAS. This paper also showed that the Learning EAS is scalable by applying the Learning EAS to high-end and low-end chipset platforms of Qualcomm.Inc and MediaTek.Inc and improving power consumption by 2.8% - 7.8%, application entry time by 2.2% - 7.2%, respectively compared with EAS. Finally, this paper showed that the performance of CPU scheduling is improved gradually by the repetition of reinforcement learning. | [
8,
87
] |
Sea surface temperature variations in the western Mediterranean Sea over the last 20 kyr: A dual- organic proxy ( UK' 37 and LDI) approach. A high-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) reconstruction of the western Mediterranean was accomplished using two independent, algae-based molecular organic proxies, i.e., the U-37(K) index based on long-chain unsaturated ketones and the novel long-chain diol index (LDI) based on the relative abundances of C-28 and C-30 1,13- and 1,15-diols. Two marine records, from the western and eastern Alboran Sea basin, spanning the last 14 and 20kyr, respectively, were studied. Results from the surface sediments suggest that the two proxies presently reflect seasons with similar SST or simply annual mean SST. Both proxy records reveal the transition from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene in the eastern Alboran Sea with an SST increase of approximately 7 degrees C for U-37(K) and 9 degrees C for LDI. Minimum SSTs (10-12 degrees C) are reached at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and during the last Heinrich event with a subsequent rapid SST increase in LDI-SST toward the beginning of the Bolling period (20 degrees C), while U-37(K)-SST remains constantly low (similar to 12 degrees C). The Bolling-Allerod period is characterized by a rapid increase and subsequent decrease in U-37(K)-SST, while the LDI-SST decrease continuously. Short-term fluctuations in U-37(K)-SST are probably related to the availability of nutrients and seasonal changes. The Younger Dryas is recorded as a short cold interval followed by progressively warmer temperatures. During the Holocene, the general lower U-37(K)-derived temperature values in the eastern Alboran (by approximately 1.5-2 degrees C) suggest a southeastward cold water migration by the western Alboran gyre and divergence in the haptophyte blooming season between both basins. SSTs suggest different growth seasons of alkenone and diol producers | [
7,
24
] |
The Challenges of a Successful Pregnancy in a Patient with Adult Refsum's Disease due to Phytanoyl-CoA Hydroxylase Deficiency. We describe the management and outcomes of pregnancy in a 27-year-old woman with infantile-onset Adult Refsum's disease (ARD). She presented in infancy but was diagnosed with ARD at the age of 10 on basis of phytanic acidaemia and later confirmed to have the phytanoyl-CoA hydroxylase ((PHYH) c.164delT, p.L55fsX12) mutation. Despite repeated plasmapheresis sessions and strict dietary surveillance for 20 years, her phytanic acid levels persistently stayed above the ideal target level of 100 mu mol/L but remained below 400 mmol/L. Initially the pregnancy was uncomplicated but in the third trimester of pregnancy the patient was admitted to the hospital with fluctuating hypertension, sinus tachycardia and breathlessness. The patient was compliant with diet during pregnancy and her phytanic levels were remained well controlled: 177 and 188 mu mol/L in the first and second trimester, respectively. Peri-partum management required a coordinated team approach including a high-calorie and restricted diet to reduce the risk of acute metabolic decompensation. During the induced labour she required 10% dextrose infusions.Post-partum it took the mother a long time to recover from childbirth - her appetite was poor due to post-natal depression and her body weight decreased rapidly by 11 kg within 3 weeks after childbirth, resulting in a spike in phytanic acid to 366 mu mol/L. Measures were taken to minimise the risk of acute neurological decompensation. The infant was unaffected and has made normal developmental progress in the subsequent 2 years. | [
2,
189
] |
Boron Nanoparticles for Room-Temperature Hydrogen Generation from Water. Boron nanoparticles (BNPs) are of great interest for applications such as neutron capture therapy of cancer cells, hydrogen generation from water, and high energy density fuels. Boron is particularly interesting for chemical water splitting, because of its high gravimetric hydrogen generation potential of 277 g H-2 per kg B. However, only a few studies of water splitting by reaction with boron are available, and those have used high temperature steam with external heating. Room-temperature boron hydrolysis is of great interest from both scientific and practical perspectives. The studies presented here demonstrate that high purity amorphous BNPs can be oxidized by water to produce H-2 at room temperature, without external energy input, in the presence of catalytic quantities of an alkali metal or alkali metal hydride. The BNPs are produced in a single step gas phase process via CO2 laser-induced pyrolysis of mixtures of B2H6 and SF6. The BNPs are spherical with a primary particle diameter of 10-15 nm, narrow size distribution, and specific surface area exceeding 250 m(2) g(-1). This first demonstration of room-temperature chemical splitting of liquid water using boron opens up exciting new possibilities for on-demand hydrogen generation at high gravimetric capacity. | [
9,
57
] |
The trapezius perforator flap: Versatility for locoregional reconstruction. Only a few surgical choices are available for cervical and thoracic spine coverage. The trapezius perforator flap is relatively unknown and only a few authors have published on this subject. In this article, we report on four clinical cases where a trapezius perforator flap was used either as a propeller flap, as a tunnelized island flap, or as a supercharged flap for cervical spine, thoracic spine and anterior cervical defects. Harvesting this flap is quite simple and enables high quality reconstruction with low donor-site morbidity in complex situations. (C) 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. | [
2,
71
] |
Experimental demonstrations of electronic dispersion compensation for long-haul transmission using direct-detection optical OFDM. We present experimental demonstrations using direct-detection and optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DD-OOFDM) for the compensation of chromatic dispersion in long-haul optical fiber links. Three transmitter designs of varying electrical and optical complexity are used for optical single sideband (OSSB) transmission and the theory behind each design is discussed. The data rates achieved for the three systems are 10, 12, and 20 Gbit/s for fiber distances between 320 and 400 km. A discussion of system overheads is provided together with simulations of the required optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR). | [
6,
223
] |
Experimental study of impact oscillator with one-sided elastic constraint. In this paper, extensive experimental investigations of an impact oscillator with a one-sided elastic constraint are presented. Different bifurcation scenarios under varying the excitation frequency near grazing are shown for a number of values of the excitation amplitude. The mass acceleration signal is used to effectively detect contacts with the secondary spring. The most typical recorded scenario is when a non-impacting periodic orbit bifurcates into an impacting one via grazing mechanism. The resulting orbit can be stable, but in many cases it loses stability through grazing. Following such an event, the evolution of the attractor is governed by a complex interplay between smooth and non-smooth bifurcations. In some cases, the occurrence of coexisting attractors is manifested through discontinuous transition from one orbit to another through boundary crisis. The stability of non-impacting and impacting period-1 orbits is then studied using a newly proposed experimental procedure. The results are compared with the predictions obtained from standard theoretical stability analysis and a good correspondence between them is shown for different stiffness ratios. A mathematical model of a damped impact oscillator with one-sided elastic constraint is used in the theoretical studies. | [
4,
89
] |
Femtosecond Time-Resolved Fluorescence Study of P3HT/PCBM Blend Films. In order to understand the dependence of photoinduced initial processes on thermal annealing, the femtosecond time-resolved fluorescence dynamics of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in (thermally) annealed P3HT/[6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blend films has been studied by using the fluorescence up-conversion technique. For comparison, a P3HT solution, pristine P3HT, and unannealed P3HT/PCBM blend films have been investigated as well. The fluorescence dynamics of the P3HT solution showed wavelength dependence. Excitation energy transfer between the segments and torsional relaxation possibly occurred in a time scale of several ps in the solution. Observed rise times at longer wavelength emission suggested the formation of these relatively lower emission states (at 650 and 700 nm). Charge transfer (or excitonic quenching) was the dominant process in the fs time scale with emission at 650 nm in the unannealed blend film. In the annealed blend film, the charge transfer (334 fs) and downhill relaxation (942 fs) of self-trapped (dynamic localized) excitons were competitive processes due to the well aligned nanodomains in the P3HT/PCBM blend films. There were different charge transfer rates at different excited states (650 and 700 nm) in the annealed film. The charge transfer process occurred faster at a lower excited state, and a stronger electronic and vibrational coupling in the annealed P3HT/PCBM films was revealed within these measurements as well. The ultrafast anisotropy decays suggested that a strong and ultrafast reorientation of the molecular dipole moments occurred at excited states. The anisotropy decay was mainly determined by the ultrafast process, whereas the energy could continuously migrate along or between P3HT chains in a time scale of similar to 100 ps. The ultrafast process suggested that there was an excitation delocalization associated with vibrational modes, as was consistent with the observation from steady-state measurements. On the basis of the understanding of the mechanisms above, the optimized cell performance has been established. | [
1,
225
] |
Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of S on Pd(111). On the Pd(111) surface (root 7 x root 7) R19.1 degrees S structure was observed. This structure was studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS). In both modes atomic resolution is achieved. With STS two S species, in fcc and hcp sites of the Pd(111) surface, an identified. Theoretical estimates of the surface density of states show small differences for the S at the two different sites. | [
1,
55
] |
Synthesis and antifungal properties of N-[(1,1 '-biphenyl)-4-ylmethyl]-1H-imidazol-1-amine derivatives. In the course of a study on 1H-imidazol-1-amine derivatives as antifungal agents, we found that N-[(1,1'-biphenyl)-4-ylmethyl]-N-[(2,4-dichlorophenyl)methyl]-1H-imidazol-1-amine (1a) exhibited promising activities. In order to explore more in detail the structure-activity relationship of this new class of antifungal agents, we report now the synthesis and the biological activity of new analogues (1b-k) of compound 1a. The synthesis was performed using N-[(1,1'-biphenyl)-4-ylmethyl]-1H-imidazol-1-amine as starting material which was reacted with the proper arylmethyl halide. Most of the newly synthesized imidazolamines exhibited both fungal growth inhibition activity and cellular selectivity. (C) 2002 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. | [
2,
167
] |
Opportunities for a civil engineering climate action strategy. This paper outlines the technical and anecdotal findings of a horizon scanning exercise into the ability of civil engineers to deliver impactful climate action. Examples of interaction between extreme weather and built environment assets are broken down via systems thinking. The concept of unconscious bias is addressed in how infrastructure climate risk is diagnosed; beyond the effects of flooding, drought, and heatwaves. Differentiations between climate mitigation, resilience and adaptation are made. Opportunities to address each throughout the infrastructure lifecycle are discussed, including how to balance conflicts of interest between them. | [
5,
289
] |
Dynamics of yielding observed in a three-dimensional aqueous dry foam. We study the onset of yielding in stable three-dimensional dry foams following the start up of steady shear flow. By means of a charge-coupled device camera equipped with a small depth-of-field objective, we visualize the Plateau border network in the bulk of the foam. The onset of yielding is identified with the deformation gamma(c) for which shear induced rearrangements start occurring. We show that gamma(c) is independent of shear rate (gamma) over dot in a quasistatic regime whereas at high strain rates, a rapid increase of gamma(c) with (gamma) over dot is observed, in qualitative agreement with theoretical models. Moreover, spatiotemporal image analyses are used to determine the velocity profile in the gap. We find that this profile remains linear up to strains far beyond gamma(c). Moreover, we have studied the strain history dependence of gamma(c). | [
9,
180
] |
Coherent X-Ray Diffraction Imaging. For centuries, lens-based microscopy, such as optical, phase-contrast, fluorescence, confocal, and electron microscopy, has played an important role in the evolution of modern science and technology. In 1999, a novel form of microscopy, i.e., coherent diffraction imaging (also termed coherent diffraction microscopy or lensless imaging), was developed and transformed our conventional view of microscopy, in which the diffraction pattern of a noncrystalline specimen or a nanocrystal was first measured and then directly phased to obtain a high-resolution image. The well-known phase problem was solved by combining the oversampling method with iterative algorithms. In this paper, we will briefly discuss the principle of coherent diffraction imaging, present various implementation schemes of this imaging modality, and illustrate its broad applications in materials science, nanoscience, and biology. As coherent X-ray sources such as high harmonic generation and X-ray free-electron lasers are presently under rapid development worldwide, coherent diffraction imaging can potentially be applied to perform high-resolution imaging of materials/nanoscience and biological specimens at the femtosecond time scale. | [
6,
118
] |
LASER SKIN TESTING. In order to accomplish more uniformity for standardization of allergy skin testing, a technique using a CO2 laser in place of a needle was developed. The dose of laser light was based on comparison of biopsies of punctures with Morrow-Brown Needles and varying combinations of laser energy parameters. The resulting laser settings were tested in twenty volunteers who had been referred for skin testing. Blinded tests were conducted with both procedures in parallel using histamine, saline, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, and Lolium perenne. Comparable whealing reactions were produced by laser skin testing and puncture testing with a Morrow-Brown Needle. These results suggest several potential advantages of laser skin testing over the existing test. | [
2,
16
] |
The genus Inonotus sensu lato in Iran, with keys to Inocutis and Mensularia worldwide. Inonotus plorans, previously known only from Algeria and Morocco, is now reported from NW Iran. The known southern distribution of Inocutis rheades is extended to southern Iran, and Mensularia nodulosa is reported as new to Iran. A key to ten species of Inonotus s. lato occurring in Iran is provided. Most of the species are illustrated and their spore and setal dimensions are given. The earlier reports of L radiatus and Mensularia hastifera from Iran turned out to be misidentifications. Keys to the accepted species of Inocutis and Mensularia are provided. | [
5,
249
] |
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