We show that a linear operator is closable iff it is possible to weaken the topology on its range in a certain nice way so as to render the operator continuous. We apply this result to show that if $E$ is a sequentially complete locally convex Hausdorff space and ${(L(t))_{0 \leqslant t < \infty }}$ is a locally equicontinuous semigroup of class $({C_0})$ in $E$ with generator $S$ and if $x \in E$ (not necessarily belonging to the domain of $S$) then the function $u(t) = L(t)x$ is a solution, in a generalized sense, of the initial value problem $u’(t) = Su(t)$, $u(0) = x$, and that such a generalized solution is unique. It should be noted here that $u(t)$ may fail to belong to the domain of $S$ so we must assign a suitable meaning to the expression $Su(...

Abstract Background Sex differences in arterial stiffness and wave reflections may lead to disproportionate increases in afterload and myocardial work in women. We examined sex differences in arterial stiffness, pressure from wave reflections, measures of left ventricular (LV) energetics and myocardial work. Methods 99 Healthy adults participated in this study 84 were selected (42 females, 42 males) to be matched for potential confounders of central hemodynamic burden such as age, BMI, and mean arterial pressure. Aortic pressure waves were derived from the radial artery using a generalized transfer function. Pulse contour analysis and wave separation analysis were used to obtain: pulse wave velocity (PWV) as a measure of aortic stiffness, augmentation index ...

The surface loss probability of hydrocarbon radicals was measured below the roof baffle of the ASDEX Upgrade divertor using the cavity technique. Hydrocarbon layers are mainly formed by sticking of hydrocarbon radicals with high surface loss probabilities of about 0.2 and close to unity. In addition to sticking, re-erosion by atomic hydrogen plays an important role in layer formation. The temperature dependence of layer formation was measured with heated and cooled long term samples from 77 to 475 K. The layer growth rate is larger by a factor of about 40 at 77 K compared with room temperature, while it is lower by a factor of about 70 at 475 K than at room temperature due to enhanced re-erosion. Implications of the results for predictions of tritium retenti...

Objective: To investigate the healing of bone defects in male rats treated with salmon calcitonin, low-level laser therapy (LLLT), or both. Background: Healing of bone defects still represents a challenge to health professionals in several areas. In this article, the effect of calcitonin in combination with LLLT on bone repair was studied. Densitometry was used as a valuable tool for the measurement of bone regeneration. Methods: Sixty male Wistar rats underwent bilateral castration surgery before the creation of a surgical bone defect. The animals were randomly divided into four groups: control, treated with calcitonin (Ca), treated with LLLT (La), and treated with calcitonin and LLLT (CaLa). Groups Ca and CaLa received 2 IU/kg of synthetic salmon calcitoni...

The glass system xFe2O3⋅(55 − x)P2O5⋅30CaO⋅5MgO⋅10B2O3 has been prepared for x = 0–15. Structural characterizations of as casted and heat treated samples were highlighted by means of X-ray diffraction, infrared and electron spin resonance spectroscopies. Effects of iron addition on the phosphate network have been identified by new bands observed in the 400–1150 cm−1 wavenumber range in the infrared spectra. Electron spin resonance spectra showed the iron ions ligand field effect through resonances centered at g ≈ 4.3 and g ≈ 2.0. There were discernable changes in the electron spin resonance spectra after the heat treatment. The samples were tested for bioactivity in simulated body fluids for 15 and 30 days. No evidence of bioactivity was ...

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect serogroup specific antibodies to bluetongue viruses. This test is commercially available and was evaluated with serially collected sera from 10 sentinel herds of cattle maintained in Queensland, Australia during 1994. Determination of an infection during the period of observation was based on the development of a serum neutralisation (SN) test titre > or = 1:8 to any one of 8 bluetongue virus serotypes known to exist in Australia. Using the inhibition value of 40% recommended by the manufacturer to classify cattle as exposed to bluetongue viruses, the ELISA was highly sensitive (100%; 95% confidence interval, 77.9-100%) and moderately specific (86.4%; 95% CI, 77.0-93.0%), relative to ...

The present study is concerned with the methods and means to safely produce relatively small amounts (i.e., up to 50 kg/h) of ammonia. The equilibrium and kinetic study of urea hydrolysis was conducted in a semibatch reactor at atmospheric pressure to investigate the effects of reaction temperature, initial feed concentration, and time on ammonia production. This study reveals that conversion increases exponentially with increasing temperature but decreases slightly with increasing initial feed concentration of urea. Furthermore, the effect of time on conversion was also studied; it was found that conversion increases with increasing time. Using collision theory, the temperature dependency of the forward rate constant was determined, from which the activatio...

チタン酸鉛の迅速分析法として,キシレノールオレンジを指示薬とする鉛標準溶液による逆滴定法を検討した.チタン(IV)のマスキングに,フッ化アンモニウム-ホウ酸が有効であることを見いだし,分離操作を必要としない分析法を確立した.すなわち,試料溶液に既知量の0.02M EDTA溶液を加え,pH5.0で過剰EDTAを0.01M 鉛標準溶液で逆滴定して鉛,チタン合量を定量する.別に,フッ化アンモニウム-ホウ酸によりチタン(IV) をマスクし,同様に滴定して鉛を定量する.両定量結果から鉛,チタン量が求められる.本法による定量値の変動係数(C. V. %)は,チタン,鉛に対してそれぞれ0.37, 0.23%である.�...

P-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR-1 gene, confers multi-drug resistance against antineoplastic agents and is important for the transmembrane transition of various other common therapeutic drugs. Recently, a number of polymorphisms in the MDR-1 gene were identified and the T/T genotype at position 3435 in exon 26 was found to correlate with intestinal P-glycoprotein expression and bioavailability of digoxin after oral administration. We analysed the allelic frequencies at the polymorphic site C3435T in a group of patients with locally advanced breast cancer treated by preoperative chemotherapy to evaluate its predictive value. Sixty-eight patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2001 were treated by preoperative chemotherapy with anthracyclines or these agents co...

This paper proposes a novel frequency-based predictive sequence estimator that allows for the isolation of voltages and currents harmonic components, needed for the control of grid-tied converters. The proposed method relays on an enhanced sliding Goertzel transformation (SGT) by adding a predictive estimator with a prediction horizon equal to the SGT processing window. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the well-established DSOGI alternative, proving a higher estimation bandwidth as well as improved immunity to changes in the magnitude, frequency, and phase of the tracked signals. Additionally, the closed-loop performance in a current-controlled grid-tied inverter using the proposed sequence extractor is analyzed. The presented results ...

In this work, the effects of different factors on the flocculating activity and flocculation mechanism of bioflocculant XMMBF from Bacillus licheniformis are investigated. The results show that the optimum concentration of bioflocculant for kaolin clay sedimentation is 4 mg/L. Both monovalent and bivalent cations increase the flocculating activity, whereas trivalent cations inhibit it. The optimum pH and concentration of kaolin clay suspension are 5–11 and 2–10 g/L, respectively. The adsorption of XMMBF on kaolin clay is described using the Langmuir adsorption model. Infrared spectrum shows the carboxyl groups, amino groups, and hydrogen bonds in XMMBF prefer the flocculation process. The zeta potential of kaolin clay can be changed from −26.26 to −1...

A new first-order hyperbolic system (FOHS) is formulated for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. The resulting hyperbolic Navier-Stokes system (HNS), termed HNS20G in this paper, introduces the gradients of density, velocity, and temperature as auxiliary variables. Efficient, accurate, compact and robust reconstructed discontinuous Galerkin (rDG) methods are developed for solving this new HNS system. The newly introduced variables are recycled to obtain the gradients of the primary variables. The gradients of these gradient variables are reconstructed based on a newly developed variational formulation in order to obtain a higher order polynomial solution for these primary variables without increasing the number of degrees of freedom. The implicit backw...

In a variety of animal species, females hold a leading position in evaluating potential mating partners. The decision of virgin females to accept or reject a courting male is one of the most critical steps for mating success. In the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, however, the molecular and neuronal mechanisms underlying female receptivity are still poorly understood, particularly for virgin females. The Drosophila painless (pain) gene encodes a transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel. We previously demonstrated that mutations in pain significantly enhance the sexual receptivity of virgin females and that pain expression in painGAL4-positive neurons is necessary and sufficient for pain-mediated regulation of the virgin receptivity. Among the painGAL...

Abnormalities in measures of mid-latency auditory evoked responses (MLAER) have frequently been reported in schizophrenia, while few studies have examined whether these measures could distinguish cognitive subtypes of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patterns of performance on MLAER measures could differentiate a cognitive subtype of patients characterized by pervasive cognitive deficits (CD) from patients with only mild cognitive deficits (CS) and controls. An auditory paired-click conditioning test was administered to 55 schizophrenia patients (26 CD, 29 CS) and 49 healthy controls. Amplitudes, latencies and sensory gating indices of the P50, N100, and P200 MLAER were analysed. The results showed that CD patients exhibited sm...

The microstructure evolution and failure mechanism of nickel-based single crystal DD9 under tensile and compressive creeps at 1100 °C and 140 MPa were studied. N-type rafting occurs in tensile creep and P-type rafting occurs in compressive creep. The γ′ phases gradually roughen into a layered plate structure during tensile creep and a rod structure during compressive creep. The rafting rate of tensile creep is higher than that of compressive creep. The crystal orientation deflection affects the Schmid factor, the activating of slip systems, and the morphology of Topological Close-Packed (TCP) phases. The moving direction and morphology of dislocations between tensile creep and compressive creep are approximately “opposite”. Moreover, the microstructu...

Bleaching procedures performed before restorative procedures, due to the oxygen released, affects the quality of bonding restorations. The application of an lower-concentrated antioxidant for one-hour or more can reversal the compromised bonding to bleached enamel, but it was not effective according to the bleaching concentrations applied. The aim of the present study was to evaluate simplified protocol of higher-concentrated sodium ascorbate (35%SA) in bond strength values of enamel bleached with 10%, 16%, 22% carbamide peroxide (CP) or 35% hydrogen peroxide (HP).Three hundred and forty enamel surfaces of 85 human third molars were used, divided into 17 groups (n=20), according to the following groups: control = no bleaching and no ascorbic acid application...

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength of resin cement to feldspathic ceramic with various surface treatments. Background Data: Application of adhesive techniques is well established in restorative dentistry, yet the influence of surface treatments on the bond strength of resin cement to ceramic materials prior to luting or repair procedures remains unclear. Methods: One hundred samples made of a feldspathic ceramic were divided into 10 groups (n = 10): (1) control (no treatment); (2) 10% hydrofluoric acid (HF); (3) 37% phosphoric acid (H3PO4); (4) 1.23% acidulated phosphate fluoride acid (APF); (5) diamond bur; (6) air abrasion with Al2O3; (7) Al2O3 + HF; (8) CoJet-Sand; (9) Er:YAG laser, and (10) Al2O3 + Er:YAG laser...

The antitumor effects and toxicities of combination chemotherapies using cisplatin (CDDP) and its analogues were compared with those of single drug therapies. Congenitally athymic nude BALB/c (nu/nu) mice were used to estimate antitumor activities of these compounds against human testicular tumor (Ht-14) xenografts and hetero-BALB/c (nu/+) mice were used to evaluate the toxic effects of the drugs. Combination therapy with half dosages of CDDP and carboplatin (JM8) (CDDP: 2, JM8: 20 mg/kg/day for 5 days), or of CDDP and (glycolato-O, O′)-diammineplatinum (II) (254S) (CDDP: 2, 254S: 4 mg/kg/day for 5 days), resulted in significant tumor regression. The combination of CDDP and JM8 had the highest therapeutic efficacy while the CDDP and 254S combination had a ...

Among all breast cancer types, basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) represents an aggressive subtype that lacks targeted therapy. We and others have found that receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) is overexpressed in BLBC and other types of cancer and that ROR1 is significantly correlated with patient prognosis. In addition, using primary patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) and ROR1-knockout BLBC cells, we found that ROR1+ cells form tumors in immunodeficient mice. We developed an anti-ROR1 immunotoxin and found that targeting ROR1 significantly kills ROR1+ cancer cells and slows down tumor growth in ROR1+ xenografts. Our bioinformatics analysis revealed that ROR1 expression is commonly associated with the activation of FGFR-mediated signaling pat...

This paper discusses the topic of ‘interculturality’ in higher education as it relates to global student mobility and internationalization efforts at higher education institutions. Starting with the underlying idea of ‘internationalization at home’, it explores domestic students’ intercultural experiences at a summer international program in Korea. Four main themes emerged from this case study, interpreted as student intercultural learning and development. They include: (1) intercultural impact due to the presence of international students; (2) personal intercultural change including development in construing cultural differences; (3) the English language perceived as a tool rather than an end; and (4) intercultural experiences with international f...

Resolution modeling (RM) of PET systems has been introduced in iterative reconstruction algorithms for oncologic PET. The RM recovers the loss of resolution and reduces the associated partial volume effect. While these methods improved the observer performance, particularly in the detection of small and faint lesions, their impact on quantification accuracy still requires thorough investigation. The aim of this study was to characterize the performances of the RM algorithms under controlled conditions simulating a typical (18)F-FDG oncologic study, using an anthropomorphic phantom and selected physical figures of merit, used for image quantification.Measurements were performed on Biograph HiREZ (B_HiREZ) and Discovery 710 (D_710) PET/CT scanners and reconstr...

The deteriorating global environment is of grave concern given the growing world's population and the rapid expansion of economic development.The field of analytical chemistry is expected to play an important role in the Sustainable Development Goals (the 2030 Agenda) adopted by the United Nations.In order to solve environmental problems, a proper understanding of the current situation is paramount; to accomplish this, accurate measurements and evaluations are of the utmost importance.Moreover, if the samples to be analyzed cannot be measured at this time, novel analytical methods must be developed to make this a possibility.In addition, vast and complicated results should be summarized, interpreted, and provided as common property.Here, we have decided to p...

In the present work, a sensitive electrochemical aptasensor was designed for the detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) with hemin/graphene oxide nanosheets (HGNs). Firstly, the ATP aptamer was self-assembled on gold electrode surface, and then HGNs were captured to the modified electrode by π-π stacking. The captured HGNs could catalyze the disproportionation reaction of H2O2, and produced a detectable electrochemical signal by chronoamperometry. ATP was competitively bound to aptamer which led to the release of HGNs from the electrode surface after adding ATP. The decrease of the electrochemical signal, which was calculated by the difference of amperometric responses before and after incubation of ATP, provided a quantitative signal for ATP detection....

We investigate the thermodynamics of an integrable spin ladder model which possesses a free parameter besides rung and leg couplings. The model is exactly solvable by means of the Bethe ansatz and exhibits a phase transition between a gapped and a gapless spin excitation spectrum. The magnetic susceptibility is obtained numerically and its dependence on the anisotropy parameter is determined. The spin gap obtained from the susceptibility curve and the one obtained from the Bethe ansatz equations are in very good agreement. Our results for the magnetic susceptibility fit well the experimental data for the organometallic compounds (5IAP)2CuBr4·2H2O (Landee C. P. et al., Phys. Rev. B, 63 (2001) 100402(R)) Cu2(C5H12N2)2Cl4 (Hayward C. A., Poilblanc D. and Lèvy...

Tumor angiogenesis appears to be achieved by the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) within solid tumors that stimulate host vascular endothelial cell mitogenesis and possibly chemotaxis. VEGF's angiogenic actions are mediated through its high-affinity binding to 2 endothelium-specific receptor tyrosine kinase, Flt-1 (VEGFR1), and Flk-1/KDR (VEGFR2). RNA interference-mediated knockdown of protein expression at the messenger RNA level provides a new therapeutic strategy to overcome various diseases. To achieve high efficacy in RNA interference-mediated therapy, it is critical to develop an efficient delivering system to deliver small interference RNA (siRNA) into tissues or cells site-specifically. We previously reported an angiogenic endo...

G3139 is an antisense Bcl-2 phosphorothioate oligonucleotide that has been combined with DTIC in a phase III clinical trial in melanoma. However, its actual mechanism of action in melanoma is controversial. Treatment of 518A2 melanoma cells with either G3139 or G4126 (a two-base mismatch) and then with light-activated DTIC caused these cells (but not SK-Mel-30 or 346.1 cells) to be protected against the cytotoxic effects of DTIC. This cytoprotection was not recapitulated with a phosphodiester congener of G3139 nor with a small interfering RNA (siRNA) also targeted to the Bcl-2 mRNA. Administering the drugs in reverse order also did not produce cytoprotection, and an 18- mer phosphorothioate homopolymer of thymidine was also inactive. Subsequently, it was dis...

Abstract In this study, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-cast and as-annealed CoCrFeNiWx (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6, x value in molar ratio) high-entropy alloys were investigated. Both W-addition and annealing treatment were conducive to the formation of the μ phase in CoCrFeNiWx alloys. With the increase of x value, the microstructures of the as-cast HEAs evolved from single-phase solid solution (x = 0, 0.2) to hypoeutectic structure (x = 0.4), then to hypereutectic structure (x = 0.6). The as-cast CoCrFeNiW0.4 alloy exhibited a tensile strength of 690.7 MPa with a considerable elongation of 33.1%, which resulted from solid solution strengthening and second phase strengthening. After annealing, the as-annealed CoCrFeNiW0.4 allo...

Lung sound signals convey valuable information of the lung status. Auscultation is an effective technique to appreciate the condition of the respiratory system using lung sound signals. The prior works on asthma detection from lung sound signals rely on the presence of wheeze. In this paper, we have classified normal and asthmatic subjects using advanced signal processing of posterior lung sound signals, even in the absence of wheeze.We collected lung sounds of 60 subjects (30 normal and 30 asthma) using a novel 4-channel data acquisition system from four different positions over the posterior chest, as suggested by the pulmonologist. A spectral subband based feature extraction scheme is proposed that works with artificial neural network (ANN) and support ve...

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the performance of routing protocols in distributed vehicular networks. We propose a novel and efficient routing protocol, namely cross-layer, weighted, position-based routing, which considers link quality, mobility and utilisation of nodes in a cross layer manner to make effective position-based forwarding decisions. An analytic hierarchy process approach is utilised to combine multiple decision criteria into a single weighting function and to perform a comparative evaluation of the effects of aforementioned criteria on forwarding decisions. Comprehensive simulations are performed in realistic representative urban scenarios with synthetic and real traffic. Insights on the effect of different communication and mob...

Microtubules (MTs) are an essential component of the neuronal cytoskeleton; they are involved in various aspects of neuron development, maintenance, and functions including polarization, synaptic plasticity, and transport. Neuronal MTs are highly heterogeneous due to the presence of multiple tubulin isotypes and extensive post-translational modifications (PTMs). These PTMs-most notably detyrosination, acetylation, and polyglutamylation-have emerged as important regulators of the neuronal microtubule cytoskeleton. With this review, we summarize what is currently known about the impact of tubulin PTMs on microtubule dynamics, neuronal differentiation, plasticity, and transport as well as on brain function in normal and pathological conditions, in particular du...

Co-based (Co, Fe)75B15Si7P3 bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) without any early transition metal or rare-earth elements have been successfully developed, which possess outstanding soft magnetic properties with high saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) and good mechanical properties. Addition of an appropriate amount of P into a Co75B15Si10 alloy promotes the occurrence of glass transition and increases the stability of the supercooled liquid, and a Co75B15Si7P3 metallic glass exhibits a large supercooled liquid region of 33 K. Subsequent replacement of Co by 15–35 at.% Fe enhances the glass-forming ability (GFA) of the Co75B15Si7P3 alloy, and the BMG rods with diameters up to 2.0 mm are obtained. The improved GFA might be originated from the high thermal stabi...

The treatment of complex femur fractures poses a significant challenge. Even with current advancements and the various implements available for the fixation of femoral fractures, results are often disappointing. This study sought to identify problems associated with and examine results of modular proximal femoral replacement. Outcomes were evaluated in two groups of patients: those receiving primary modular proximal femoral replacement for fractures and those treated with salvage arthroplasty for failed internal fixation. Twelve patients who had received modular proximal femoral replacement as primary treatment for proximal femoral fractures were evaluated along with nine patients treated with salvage proximal femoral replacement for failed internal fixation...

Deaf people who use cochlear implants show surprisingly poor sensitivity to the temporal fine structure of sounds. One possible reason is that conventional cochlear implants cannot activate selectively the auditory-nerve fibers having low characteristic frequencies (CFs), which, in normal hearing, phase lock to stimulus fine structure. Recently, we tested in animals an alternative mode of auditory prosthesis using penetrating auditory-nerve electrodes that permit frequency-specific excitation in all frequency regions. We present here measures of temporal transmission through the auditory brainstem, from pulse trains presented with various auditory-nerve electrodes to phase-locked activity of neurons in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (ICC). On...

Reactions of cis,trans,cis-[Ir(H) 2 (PPh 3 ) 2 (solv) 2 ]PF 6 (solv = MeOH or Me 2 CO) with the imines HN=CPh 2 , (o-HOC 6 H 4 )C(Me)=NCH 2 Ph, and PhC(H)=N(p-F-C 6 H 4 ) in MeOH or acetone under Ar give the complexes [IrH{NH=C(Ph)(o-C 6 H 4 )}(NH=CPh 2 )(PPh 3 ) 2 ]PF 6 (3), [IrH{PhCH 2 N=C(Me)(o-C 6 H 3 OH)}(solv)(PPh 3 ) 2 ]PF 6 , where solv = MeOH (4) or Me 2 CO (4a), and [IrH{N(p-F-C 6 H 4 )=CH(o-C 6 H 4 )}(Me 2 CO)(PPh 3 ) 2 ]PF 6 (5a), which have been isolated and characterized. The imine (C 6 F 5 )C(H)=NPh is unreactive toward the Ir precursors. The X-ray structures of 3, 4·2MeOH, and 5a·1/2Me 2 CO show an η 2 -N,C-imine moiety coordinated via the N atom and an orthometallated-C atom. Complex 3, which contains both an orthometallated imine and an ...

The laminar wave-train structure of collisionless magnetic slow shocks is investigated using two-fluid hydromagnetics with ion-cyclotron-radius dispersion. For shock strengths less than the maximally strong switch-off shock, in the shock-leading edge, dispersive steepening forms a magnetic-field gradient, while in the downstream flow dispersive propagation forms a trailing wave train; dispersion scale lengths are the ion inerrial length if β > 1 and the ion cyclotron radius if β > 1. In the switch-off slow-shock leading edge, dispersion only produces rotations of the magnetic-field direction; the gradient of the magnetic-field magnitude, and hence the shock-steepening length, is determined solely by resistive diffusion. The switch-off shock structure consi...

Sixty-six patients with end-stage peripheral vascular disease who had undergone bilateral major amputation of the lower extremities in our institution during the 10-year period January 1980-December 1989 were reviewed. There were 46 males and 20 females with an age range from 34 to 91 years (mean 67.7 years). A 98.5% follow-up was achieved. Of these patients 25% underwent their second amputation in the first, 50% within the second and 75% within the third postoperative year, notwithstanding the fact that prior attempts at revascularisation had been performed in 62% of all patients. The 30-day hospital mortality was 4.5%. The initial level of amputation was metatarsal in 14.4%, below knee in 66.6%, through knee in 9.9% and above knee in 9.1%. Out of a total o...

Delirium is a significant problem for older hospitalized people and is associated with poor outcomes. It is poorly recognized and evidence suggests that a major reason is lack of education. Nurses, who are educated about delirium, can play a significant role in improving delirium recognition. This study evaluated the impact of a delirium specific educational website. A cluster randomized controlled trial, with a pretest/post-test time series design, was conducted to measure delirium knowledge (DK) and delirium recognition (DR) over three time-points. Statistically significant differences were found between the intervention and non-intervention group. The intervention groups' DK scores were higher and the change over time results were statistically significan...

The examinations of conditions for establishing a variety independent Agrobacterium-mediated transformation procedure for wheat are preferable since many of cultivars and breeding lines remain recalcitrant for biotechnological manipulation, mainly due to low efficiency of plant regeneration in vitro, which is highly genotype specific. This paper describes and discusses an improved protocol for enhanced and low-genotype dependent Agrobacterium-mediated transformation using a super-binary vector LBA4404/pTOK233 carrying reporter gus-intron gene and hygromycin (hpt) and kanamicyn (nptII) selectable marker genes. The protocol was optimized on highly responsive common wheat cv. Vesna. Transient expression monitored by the gus-intron on explants after 3, 6 and 25 ...

Root system architecture is important for plants to adapt to a changing environment. The major determinant of the root system is lateral roots originating from the primary root. The developmental process of lateral root formation can be divided into priming, initiation, primordium development and the emergence of lateral roots, and is well characterized in Arabidopsis. The hormone auxin plays a critical role in lateral root development, and several auxin response modules involving AUXIN RESPONSE FACTORS (ARFs), transcriptional regulators of auxin-regulated genes and Aux/IAA, negative regulators of ARFs, regulate lateral root formation. The LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES DOMAIN/ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE (LBD/ASL) gene family encodes a unique class of transcription fa...

The powders of layered structured LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 cathode material are synthesized by a thermal polymerization method in the temperatures range from 750 °C to 950 °C in air and oxygen. It is found that the LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 powder sintered in oxygen has significantly decreased degree of cationic mixing. The discharge capacities of the samples sintered in oxygen are higher than those of the samples sintered in air. The sample sintered at 900 °C in oxygen has the highest ratio of I003/I104 and the highest initial discharge capacities of 200 mAh g− 1 at a rate of 0.1C in the voltage range of 2.8–4.5 V. In order to improve the cycling stability of the LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 electrode, a series of Zr-doped LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 electrodes (LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0...

In 1990s, with dramatic price reductions, reverse e-auctions were projected to be a widely used procurement tool. However, not all buyers saw the economic benefits of reverse e-auctions and the current usage is more limited than expected. This study identifies important organizational characteristics that determine the net return of e-auction programs and addresses why adopters of e-auctions experience varying profitability levels from their usage. The first step in the study concentrated on gathering interview and archival data from five large U.S. manufacturing firms that have used reverse e-auctions. Based on the field study findings, controlled experiments were conducted using a simulation model to assess identified influential factors for e-auctions. Im...

Parietal and frontal cortical areas play important roles in the control of goal-oriented behaviour. This review examines how signal processing in the parietal and frontal eye fields is involved in coding and storing space, directing attention and processing the sensorimotor transformation for saccades. After a survey of the functional specialization of these areas in monkeys, we discuss homologous regions in the human brain in terms of topographic organization, storage capacity, target selection, spatial remapping, reference frame transformations and effector specificity. The overall picture suggests that bottom-up sensory, top-down cognitive signals and efferent motor signals are integrated in dynamic sensorimotor maps as part of a functionally flexible par...

When the specification of safety goals for offshore jacket platforms is made in explicit “probability of failure” terms, a design procedure may be developed that rationally derives design load return periods and levels for sizing. One such procedure is described here. Using information on the probabilistic description of annual maximum wave heights, an ultimate-level wave height is first estimated that establishes a load level against which performance will in the end be confirmed. From this ultimate-level load, one derives a lower level of load (and associated design-level wave height) to be employed for sizing members by assuming/anticipating the reserve strength characteristics of the jacket beyond the design level and into the nonlinear post-yield re...

To determine the relationship between growth potential in culture and the age of the patient, skin biopsies were obtained from over 60 patients of varying ages. The relationship between the length of time elapsed since burn injury and growth potential was also examined, using biopsies obtained from patients with burns during their treatment. Keratinocytes were extracted from biopsies and assessed for colony-forming ability by standard methods. Repeated subculture of cells was undertaken to determine the reproductive capacity of cells in vitro. Age had no effect on the colony-forming ability of keratinocytes in primary culture; however age did affect the total number of generations achieved by these cells. The growth potential of keratinocytes from patients w...

Although Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is a seminal essay in the study of media history, the work itself gives a surprisingly brief account of one of field’s core subjects: the printing press. Books and literature present only a special case of mechanical reproduction, according to Benjamin, but the implications of this point remain largely unexplored by scholars. The purpose of this essay is to ask why Benjamin would have considered print to be different or less historically consequential compared to photography and cinema when the revolutionary potential he ascribes to these more recent technologies is also prefigured in his other writings on books and literature. Answering this question helps to create a...

Abstract This study examines the effects of root surface demineralization and topical fibronectin as adjuncts to reconstructive periodontal surgery. In 14 beagle dogs, horizontal periodontal defects were surgically induced around the mandibular premolars followed by a 6-week period without plaque control. Reconstructive surgery of the defects was subsequently carried out. The root surfaces were debrided and superficially demineralized with citric acid or tetracycline hydrochloride, with or without subsequent application of fibronectin, Muco-periosteal flaps were raised to cover most of the crowns and sutured. The animals were sacrificed 12 weeks after surgery and block sections of the teeth and surrounding tissues were processed for histology. Analysis inclu...

Neohesperidin dihydrochalcone was administered to groups of 20 male and 20 female Wistar rats at dietary levels of 0, 0.2, 1.0 and 5.0% for 91 days. No treatment-related ophthalmoscopical, haematological or histopathological effects were observed. In the high-dose group, a marked caecal enlargement occurred in both sexes, accompanied by soft stools in the early stages of the study, somewhat lower plasma urea concentrations and increased plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and a decreased urinary pH. This group also showed slight growth depression accompanied by transient reduction in food intake; in males the body weights remained relatively low throughout the experimental period. Furthermore, bilirubin level was increased in females and total protein level...

Purpose A sustainable freight transportation system involves freight processes that are economically efficient, socially inclusive and environment friendly. For enhancing sustainability in the freight operations, mode selection is a crucial strategic decision. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is selecting the best mode, or a combination of modes based on various criteria to carry shipments from origin to destination. Design/methodology/approach This study has used an integrated grey relational analysis based intuitionistic fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making process (GRA–IFP) and fuzzy multi-objective linear programming model. Three scenarios have been developed for analyzing sensitivity of decision variables with the variations in parameters under re...

Cathepsin B (CatB), a lysosomal cysteine protease, is important to brain function and may have dual utility as a peripheral biomarker of moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study determined levels of pro- and mature (mat) CatB protein as well as cysteine protease activity within the frontal cortex (FC; proximal injury site), hippocampus (HC; distal injury site), and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) collected 1-7 days after craniotomy and penetrating ballistic-like brain injury (PBBI) in rats. Values were compared with naïve controls. Further, the utility of CatB protein as a translational biomarker was determined in CSF derived from patients with severe TBI. Craniotomy increased matCatB levels in the FC and HC, and led to elevation of HC ac...

The rapid global growth in fish farming and limited supply of fish meal (FM) has consequently reduced FM inclusion levels in compound feeds leading to a higher reliance on alternative protein sources. Sasya is a single cell protein (SCP) product that has a similar amino acid profile as FM. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of replacing FM with SCP on in vivo digestibility, growth, feed efficiency, whole-body proximate/amino acid composition and gene expression levels of various hepatic enzymes in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Three isonitrogenous (470 g/kg crude protein) and isolipidic (18 g/kg crude lipid) diets were formulated as follows: Diet 1: control (30% FM); Diet 2:24% FM + 6% SCP and Diet 3:18% FM + 12% SCP. Each diet was hand...

Seven different phosphorothioate DNA-RNA chimeric hammerhead ribozymes (RzV3-nT, n = 1-7) targeted against the V3 loop region of HIV-1 were synthesized. Two of these, RzV3-1T and RzV3-3T, efficiently cleaved transcribed envelope RNA of HXB2 in vitro. The target sequence of RzV3-1T belongs to a conserved region and is completely identical in the HIV-1 HXB2, NL432, and ADA strains. Furthermore, RzV3-1T cleaved the envelope RNA of HIV-1 SF162 with a single base substitution in the distal site. U87 cells expressing CD4 and coreceptors were used as target cells for infections with the SF162 and NL432 strains. Replication of both the NL432 and SF162 strains in RzV3-1T-treated cells was significantly lower than that in control cultures. Envelope gene product format...

The numerical simulation of coal char combustion process can quickly obtain the combustion characteristics of char. It has guiding significance for the design and operation industrial boilers. But during the numerical simulation, how to choose the appropriate kinetic parameters is a difficult problem. The values of combustion activation energy in previous literatures were different. This paper focused on the influence of activation energy on the simulation results of char combustion. The activation energies of 20 Chinese typical coals were measured by a two-step in-situ reaction analyzer. CBK (Carbon burnout kinetics) model was used to simulate char combustion process. Results showed that when activation energy varied greatly, the the predicted combustion ra...

The name tokamak (derived from the Russian for 'toroidal-chamber-magnetic') is applied to axially symmetric toroidal systems in which the plasma is confined by a strong toroidal magnetic field Bt , produced by an external toroidal solenoid, together with a weaker poloidal field Bp, produced mainly by a toroidal current Ip flowing in the plasma itself. The combination of the two fields produces nested toroidal magnetic surfaces composed of helical field lines. Equilibrium of the plasma is produced by the poloidal field, whilst the toroidal field serves to suppress the main magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, provided the 'safety factor' q = aBt/RBp is sufficiently large, where a and R are the plasma minor and major radii, respectively. The toroidal plasma curr...

We investigated the efficacy of retrograde gene delivery via the sternomastoid muscle of recombinant adenovirus vector (AdV) carrying brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene for the rescue of injured rat spinal cord. One hundred-thirty five adult Sprague-Dawley rats were used in the study with a standard weight-compression technique to produce spinal cord injury. AdV-BDNF gene or AdV-β-galactosidase (AdV-LacZ) gene was injected into the sternomastoid muscle immediately after traumatic C4 segment spinal cord injury. AdV-BDNF was successfully appeared in the injured cervical spinal cord following injection into the sternomastoid muscle. BDNF expression in the anterior horn neurons of the cervical spinal cord reached peak levels at 1–2 weeks; and the e...

Low natural gas prices are contributing to rapid growth in natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) power production in the United States. CO2 capture from the exhaust gas of these plants is complicated by the relatively low CO2 concentration in this flue gas (3%–4%). A membrane process using incoming combustion air as a sweep stream in a selective exhaust gas recycle configuration can be used to preconcentrate CO2 from 4% to 15%–20% with almost no energy input. Depending on the process configuration, the selective recycle membrane design reduces the minimum energy of a CO2 capture step by up to 40%. An all-membrane design using a capture step in series with a selective recycle membrane can capture 90% of CO2 from an NGCC power plant using less energy and at a ...

Abstract Alloys in a (Fe70Ni30)80(B–Si–Nb)20 system, with good glass forming ability (GFA), were identified using Thermocalc software to simulate liquidus temperatures (T's) and solidification ranges (areas between the liquidus and solidus in a binary phase diagram,a line at fixed T). A region with excellent GFA was identified at 14–18% B and 0–7% Si with the balance Nb, showing minima in liquidus and solidification range. A region with a solidification range minimum, but no corresponding liquidus minimum was identified at 3–8% B and 5–10% Si but had lower GFA. A shallow liquidus minimum, with no minimum in solidification range, at 3–5% B and 1–3% Si had the lowest GFA and did not produce amorphous material. Measured GFA was ranked using para...

Carotenoids constitute a ubiquitous group of isoprenoid pigments. They are very efficient physical quenchers of singlet oxygen and scavengers of other reactive oxygen species. Carotenoids can also act as chemical quenchers undergoing irreversible oxygenation. The molecular mechanisms underlying these reactions are still not fully understood, especially in the context of the anti- and pro-oxidant activity of carotenoids, which, although not synthesized by humans and animals, are also present in their blood and tissues, contributing to a number of biochemical processes. The antioxidant potential of carotenoids is of particular significance to human health, due to the fact that losing antioxidant-reactive oxygen species balance results in “oxidative stress”...

The main goal of this paper is to present the case for shifting the focus of research on aging and anti-aging from lifespan pharmacology to what I like to call healthspan pharmacology, in which the desired outcome is the extension of healthy years of life rather than lifespan alone. Lifespan could be influenced by both genetic and epigenetic factors, but a long lifespan may not be a good indicator of an optimal healthspan. Without improving healthspan, prolonging longevity would have enormous negative socioeconomic outcomes for humans. Therefore, the goal of aging and anti-aging research should be to add healthy years to life and not merely to increase the chronological age. This article summarizes and compares two categories of pharmacologically induced lif...

Recently, we have reported that keratin film consisting of human hair proteins is a useful substitute for hair samples to evaluate the friction and adsorption by processing commercial shampoo and conditioner products. The frictional coefficient of the keratin film whose MIU value was 7–8 fold more than that of a hair strand, was decreased after undergoing shampoo-conditioner treatment. Since the commercial products contained a number of ingredients more than thirty, the compound to affect the friction remained unclear. Thus, we designed and prepared the model shampoo (MS) and conditioner (MC), and examined their effects on the friction of the keratin by a KES system. Like commercial products, the MIU value was significantly decreased when the keratin film ...

Little is known about how fast-food consumption affects dietary quality in women during the first trimester of pregnancy, which may adversely affect pregnancy outcomes. An observational design compared high versus low frequency of fast-food consumption in low-income pregnant women (N = 50) during the first trimester. Although high-frequency fast-food consumers ate significantly more vegetables, they also consumed more gravies, less fruit, and more daily calories, with a higher percentage of total calories from fats. Those with high-frequency fast-food consumption were more likely to be obese, depressed, and stressed and they skipped more meals. In addition, the combination of depression, stress, and emotional eating depression and anxiety subscale scores exp...

This study examines selected design characteristics of government Web interfaces from three Arab countries using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Organizational and graphical elements from 30 ministry websites from Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia were examined using content analysis method. The results suggest that Hofstede’s model of culture does not fully reflect the design characteristics of these interfaces.Cette étude examine un ensemble de caractéristiques dans la conception d’interfaces Web de trois pays arabes, à l’aide des dimensions culturelles d’Hofstede. Les éléments organisationnels et graphiques de 30 sites Web de ministères de l’Égypte, du Liban et de l’Arabie saoudite ont été examinés au moyen d’une analyse de conten...

Transport pathways for spermidine (Spd) were characterized in mammalian cells in culture of different origin, i.e. L 1210, P 388, C 6, U 251, Balb/c 3T3 normal and transformed by virus SV40 (SV40/3T3). The kinetic constants (Km and Vmax) for 14C-Spd uptake were found to be different in these cells. Spd uptake was inhibited by spermine and putrescine in all cells. Preloading of these cells with system A and other amino acids, including ornithine, usually did not affect Spd uptake, except in L 1210 and C 6 cells, where Spd uptake was accelerated by 2-aminoisobutyric acid, demonstrating that in these two cell lines the polyamines share the system A pathway. Iso-osmotic replacement of Na+ by choline chloride in the assay medium resulted in a decrease in Spd upta...

The obturator hernia is a rare pelvic hernia that often comes in the shape of bowel obstruction caused by the presence of an intestinal segment, more often ileum, passing trough the obturator foramen of the pelvic wall (Fig. 1). This type of hernia accounts for 0.5-1.4% of all hernias. We report the clinical case of a 84-year-old woman with no previous surgical interventions, who went to the emergency room complaining of vomit and nausea, bowels closed to gas and stool, which she had experienced for three previous days. Routine blood test showed impaired renal function and hydrohelectrolyte imbalance. A CT scan revealed a right ileal, strangulated obturator hernia. The patient underwent an emergency surgical intervention with laparoscopic trans-abdominal per...

Predator conditioning can be used to improve post-release antipredator recognition of hatchery-reared salmonids. However, possible negative stress-related effects of prolonged predator conditioning on juvenile fish physiology are poorly understood. We studied the effects of prolonged (91 days) predator odour exposure on whole-body cortisol level and spleen size in six full-sib families of juvenile hatchery-bred Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). Chemical cues from water containing charr-fed pikeperch (Sander lucioperca) were used as the predator exposure stimuli and lakewater was used as a chemical control. Our study revealed that juvenile body cortisol levels post-predator conditioning were affected by treatment, fish size and their interaction. Importantly...

Eight different formulations were developed with four diacrylate reactive monomers such as tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA), 1,4-butanediol diacrylate (BDDA), 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA), and 2-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) and aromatic urethane diacrylate (M1100) in order to modify the crust leather surface. To study the effect of pigment on the performance of ultraviolet (UV)-cured leather surface, 1% pigment (congored) was incorporated in the formulations. Irgacure 369 (2%) was also used in the formulation as photoinitiator. The gel content, tensile strength, elongation at break, and pendulum hardness of UV-cured thin films with and without pigment was studied. The films without pigment produced better properties. Among all the diluent...

The current treatment of partial distal biceps tears is a period of nonoperative management, followed by surgery, if symptoms persist. Little is known about the success rate and outcomes of nonoperative management of this illness.We identified 132 patients with partial distal biceps tears through an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision code query of our institution's database. Patient records were reviewed to abstract demographic information and confirm partial tears of the distal biceps tendon based on clinical examination findings and confirmatory magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Seventy-four patients completed an outcome survey.In our study, 55.7% of the contacted patients who tried a nonoperative course (34 of 61 patients) ultimately...

Bi2S3 thermoelectric (TE) material has received extensive attention due to its earth-abundant and low-cost elements. This study has been successfully synthesized a series of Bi2S3+x bulks with a preferential c-axis orientation using temperature gradient cooling technique that is simple and high-yield, focusing on the effects of soaking temperature (TS) and the amount of excess S on their TE properties. We found that the electrical conductivity of TS = 1103 K sample was greatly enhanced due to the decreased Bi vacancy. Along with the moderated thermal conductivity, the highest ZT value was obtained almost in the whole temperature. Further adding excess S could effectively tailor carrier concentration and significantly enhance Seebeck coefficient, leading to a...

Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for mixed integer programming problems is proposed. PSO is mainly a method to find a global or quasi-minimum for a nonlinear and non-convex optimization problem, and few researches about optimization problems with discrete decision variables have been studied. In this paper, we present the treatment of discrete decision variables. To treat discrete decision variables as a penalty function, it is possible to treat all decision variables as a continuous decision variable. As a result, the penalty parameter for the penalty function is needed. In this paper, we also present how to determine the penalty parameter for the penalty function. Through mathematical and structural optimization problems, we examine the validity of PSO fo...

Physical implementations of quantum information processing devices are generally not unique, and we are faced with the problem of choosing the best implementation. Here, we consider the sensitivity of quantum devices to variations in their different components. To measure this, we adopt a quantum metrological approach, and find that the sensitivity of a device to variations in a component has a particularly simple general form. We use the concept of cost functions to establish a general practical criterion to decide between two different physical implementations of the same quantum device consisting of a variety of components. We give two practical examples of sensitivities of quantum devices to variations in beam splitter transmitivities: the KLM and Revers...

Seed dispersal by frugivores is thought to play an important role in the maintenance of tropical forest diversity. Spider monkeys (Ateles spp.) are amongst the most frugivorous primates known, and they incorporate a diverse array of fruit species in their diets. In a 1-y study in lowland Ecuador, 670 h of focal observations and data on 916 faecal depositions were collected, and these data are used to describe the seed dispersal patterns of one group of wild spider monkeys (Ateles belzebuth) in terms of both the quantity of seeds dispersed and the primary seed shadows generated. Spider monkeys fed on the fruits of at least 152 plant species and swallowed seeds from more than 98% of these. Collected faecal samples contained seeds from at least 133 different pl...

We examined the antioxidant activity, total polyphenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total tannin content (TTC) and physical characteristics of green coffee beans fermented with selected yeasts. There was no significant (p > 0.05) interaction effect between yeast-fermented coffee extracts and duration of fermentation on antioxidant activity (oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC] and superoxide dismutase-like [SOD-like] activity). However, the mean of the antioxidant activity (ORAC and SOD-like activity) significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the fermented coffee extracts compared to unfermented coffee. There were significant (p < 0.05) interaction effects between yeast-fermented coffee extracts and duration of fermentation (24 h a...

The purpose of this study was to examine possible correlations among age, arteriosclerotic risk factors, and specific sites of calcification in the thoracic aorta as detected by X-ray computed tomography (CT). A total of 80 patients (mean age 59±9 years, 50 M/30 Fe) included 34 patients with ischemic heart disease, 32 with chest pain syndrome, 5 with valvular heart disease, and 9 with other diseases. The thoracic aortic calcification score, based on X-ray CT images, is the sum of the length (cm) of calcification detected in 1-cm-interval horizontal cross-sections. Differences in calcification were compared for patients with and without hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipemia. Calcification occurred more often in the external left arch wall (52 cases), foll...

Heat-exchange calorimetry has been extended to the flow type. Two glass vessels for the sample and a reference are fixed separately in a precision water bath. In each vessel, a thermistor, a heater element, an inlet of the solution and an outlet for any overflow are installed. Heat released in the sample vessel is freely exchanged with the ambient water. The temperature in each vessel is observed by a thermistor associated with a Wheatstone bridge. The amplified output is introduced into an analog computation circuit in order to calculate the total heat effect. A constant related to the heat transfer of vessels was theoretically found to be proportional to the flow rate; it was subsequently confirmed experimentally by changing the flow rate from 30 g/min to ...

The growth in tourism sector in Thailand is increasing rapidly over the past decades. Despite the conventional tourism that has reputation globally, another type of tourism is also slowly growing in Thailand. With the assistance from scholars, public and private organizations, the non-governmental agencies, governmental officials and environmentalists, the community-based tourism (CBT) has become an alternative for tourists who would like to experience the local ways of life. Many communities tried to operate the CBT, however they were struggled by the poor management, and failed to be successful. The paper explores the context of the CBT in Thailand, analyzes the CBT management of the case study of the village called Mae Kampong located in Chiang Mai, the p...

An 8-week growth trial was conducted to investigate the effects of non-genetically modified (nGM) soybean (Youchun 06-1) and genetically modified (GM) soybean (Roundup Ready®) with and without a heat treatment on the growth and health of three Cyprinidae species with different feeding habits (grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idellus, gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio, and black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus; body weight: 283.0 ± 2.0 g, 60.5 ± 0.7 g, and 261.4 ± 3.1 g). Five diets (FM, nGMS, hnGMS, GMS, and hGMS) were made with fishmeal and full-fat soybean (Youchun 06-1, heat-treated Youchun 06-1, Roundup Ready®, and heat-treated Roundup Ready®). The FM diet contained fishmeal as the sole protein source. The experimental diets contained full-fat soybean me...

Feminist social scientists and some epidemiologists suggest that women's family lives may form a backdrop for menopause. Some family contexts for menopause have been ignored by researchers, however. In this article women's discussions of family background were explored in an attempt to broaden social science and epidemiological knowledge of family contexts. Data were collected in 61 in-depth interviews with menopausal women aged 38-60 in a midwest state in 2001. Unprompted by the interviewer, 42 women (69%) discussed mothers' menopause experiences when trying to describe their own; many also discussed other female relatives' experiences. Interview conversations often focused on whether daughters' menopause experiences matched their mothers'. Women's discussi...

An impact-driven piezoelectric energy harvester from human motion is proposed in this paper. A high-frequency PZT-5A bimorph cantilever beam with attached proof mass at the free end was selected. A frequency up-conversion strategy was realized using impulse force generated by human motion. An aluminum prototype was attached to the leg of a person on a treadmill and measurements taken of the dissipated electric energy across multiple resistances over a range of walking speeds. The outer dimensions of this prototype are 90 mm × 40 mm × 24 mm. It has been shown that the average output voltage generated by the piezoelectric bimorph increases sequentially with a faster walking speed, the power varies with the external resistances and maximum levels occur a...

In Arabidopsis, extracellular calcium (Ca²⁺(o)) promotes intracellular calcium (Ca²⁺(i)) transients and stomatal closure, which has been found to be regulated by the calcium sensing receptor (CAS). However, the detailed pathways for transducting the Ca²⁺(o) signal by CAS are still unclear. We found that nitric oxide (NO) and the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) accumulated in the guard cell chloroplast were the two elements that act downstream of the CAS signaling and trigger the stomatal closure by prolonging Ca²⁺(i) transients. Here we provide more commentary on CAS-regulated H₂O₂ generation from chloroplast and Ca²⁺(i) transients in response to Ca²⁺(o), as well as other potential mechanisms that may be involved in the CAS signaling pathw...

We demonstrate novel analysis on electrical characteristics of ferroelectric-gate field effect transistor (FeFET), especially reverse DIBL (RDIBL) and negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomena through measurements of fabricated FeFETs and technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations. The FeFETs are embodied by extracting the ferroelectric properties using metal-ferroelectric-metal (MFM) capacitors and applying it to the gate stack of n-type FeFETs. Then, the device and the model parameters of the FeFETs are calibrated by matching TCAD simulation results to measured electrical characteristics. By the TCAD simulations which reflect the Preisach model considering multi-domain ferroelectric characteristics, it is revealed that RDIBL and NDR result ...

It is well known that grammatical gender systems may change historically. Previous research has documented loss of the feminine gender in several Norwegian dialects, including those spoken in Oslo and Tromsø (Lødrup in Maal og Minne 2:120–136, 2011; Rodina and Westergaard in J Ger Linguist 27(2):145–187 2015). In these dialects, the change is characterized by replacement of the feminine indefinite article ei (e.g., ei bok ‘a book’) with the masculine form en (e.g., en bok). Child and adult native speakers of the Trondheim dialect (N = 71) participated in two production experiments that tested gender marking in indefinite and double definite forms, using an identical methodology to the Tromsø study. Results show that both children and adults are af...

Increasing evidence suggests that infusion of a subanesthetic dose of ketamine exerts antidepressant and antisuicidal effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).In this investigation, we used the resting functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging (fcMRI) to determine the effects of ketamine on the functional connectivity (FC) of prefrontal cortex (PFC)-related circuits in patients with TRD.Forty-eight patients with TRD were recruited and randomly divided into three groups on the basis of ketamine infusion dose: 0.5 mg/kg (standard dose), 0.2 mg/kg (low dose), or normal saline (a placebo infusion). Resting functional MRI data and clinical data were recorded at the baseline and on the third day after ketamine infusion treatment.The s...

BACKGROUND: The Atreus 2C+ system (Gambro BCT) automates whole blood (WB) processing into a single device. This study compared the quality of red blood cells (RBCs), fresh-frozen plasma (FFP), and buffy coats (BCs) made from WB held with or without active cooling. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: WB was collected into Atreus disposables and stored with (n = 20) or without (n = 20) active cooling for 14 to 18 hours at 22 ± 2°C before processing with the Atreus. Two RBC leukodepletion filters were assessed, and markers of RBC quality were tested to Day 42. BCs were held for 3 hours before testing, plasma was tested, and samples were frozen for coagulation analysis. RESULTS: RBCs met UK specifications for volume, hemoglobin content (48 ± 5 g), and hematocrit (Hct)....

Cryopreserved canine adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (Ad-MSCs) can be used instantly in dogs for clinical uses. However, cryopreservation results in a reduction of the cellular viability, proliferation, and anti-oxidation of post-thawed Ad-MSCs. Therefore, there is a need for in-vitro procedure to improve post-thawed Ad-MSCs’ viability, proliferation, anti-oxidation, and differentiation capacity. In this study, fresh-Ad-MSCs were activated with heat shock, hypoxia (5% O2), or hypoxia (5% O2) + heat shock treatments. The results showed that compared to the other treatments, heat shock significantly improved the proliferation rate, anti-oxidation, heat shock proteins and growth factors expressions of canine-fresh-Ad-MSCs. Consequently, fresh-Ad-MSC...

Reproduction efficacy of sturgeon as donors of oocytes is regulated by hormones effects. It can influence the egg quality or larvae functions as rearing mediators for successful production. This study is conducted to evaluate the concentration of sex steroids, cortisol and thyroid hormones and distinguish the relationship of maternal hormones' correlation in Stellate sturgeon. The study followed the hormones fluctuations that could impress some egg quality information such as fertilization rate. Female breeders were injected with LHRHa2 for controlled propagation. Samples from blood, ovarian fluid and oocytes were obtained for hormonal and biochemical analysis. Our results showed that the concentrations of estradiol 17-β and testosterone were significantly ...

There are many remote villages in Malaysia that are not connected to an electric grid, and are dependent on expensive diesel generator sets (gensets) in their daily activities. Malaysia, a tropical country, has the potential to promote solar power generation in these isolated areas. The organic Rankine cycle (ORC) using solar thermal energy as the heat source could be an attractive approach to off-grid power generation. In this study, a 1 kWe solar ORC with a parabolic trough collector (PTC) is proposed. The ORC utilizes R245fa as the working fluid and Therminol VP1 as the heat transfer medium between the PTC and ORC. Thermodynamic analysis of the ORC is performed, predicting the performance of the ORC and the operating conditions of the PTC. Based on the de...

Abstract The mechanism of hydrogen sulfide in an effluent and the biological corrosion phenomena within concrete are recalled. The concrete digestors examined have shown, after 4 years in service, gas leaks and important deterioration on the top of the concrete shell. Investigation of the structure from the inside showed that the joint between the shell and the dome, which consists of a sealant and a resin coating, was cracked and therefore causing gas leakage outside the tank. Physico-chemical analyses (scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction) showed that the development of gas leaks and the deterioration of concrete originated from biological phenomena. The cause of cracking and the biological corrosion mechanism are described. To repair the str...

Background: MxA gene expression is one of the most appropriate markers of biological activity of exogenous interferon (IFN) beta. Methods: We quantified MxA mRNA for five consecutive days in 62 patients treated with IFN beta (16, Avonex; 10, Betaferon; 24, Rebif 22; 12, Rebif 44), by quantitative-competitive polymerase chain reaction. Every three months, IFN beta induced neutralising antibodies (NAbs) were evaluated in sera using a cytopathic effect assay. Results: Two categories of patients were identified: one group (49/62) had a sharp post-injection increase in MxA expression (defined as “IFN beta biological responder”), whereas the other group (13/62) had no MxA induction after IFN beta administrations (defined as “IFN beta bio...

Abstract Pd-loaded tungsten oxide thin films have been successfully fabricated by direct UV irradiation of bis(β-diketonate)dioxotungsten(VI) and Pd(II) precursor complexes spin-coated on Si(100) substrates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyze the crystal structure and the chemical composition of the films before and after annealing at 500 °C. The results of XRD and AFM analysis showed that the as-photodeposited films are amorphous whereas thermally treated films present a rougher morphology. Post-annealing of the films in air at 500 °C transforms the oxides to a monoclinic WO3 phase. Annealed 10% Pd/WO3 films exhibited an excellent response towards 50 ppm ammonia gas at an operating temperature of 30...