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The phase specific localization of the reinforcing fillers like carbon black (CB), which has been known to influence the physical and mechanical performance of the rubber blends, can be determined by different characterization techniques, however, only for binary rubber blends. They have been failed so far when applied for more complicated systems like filled ternary rubber blends. In the present work we introduced a new technique using the attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) with germanium crystal for characterization of the specific localization of CB in a ternary blend of solution styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), butadiene rubber (BR) and natural rubber (NR). It is the first time we could follow the change of the amount of CB localized in each phase of this blend along the mixing time. CB firstly is incorporated into the NR phase and then it obviously migrates from the NR phase to the SBR phase as a function of mixing time that corresponds very well with the theoretical prediction based on the Z-model using the surface tension values of the filler and rubber blend components. The interaction between CB and rubber components can be qualitatively proved by the shift of the FTIR peak. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to support the results obtained by the FTIR method. The study was further extended to follow the CB distribution in multi-step mixing.

Resume Le nombre de luxations congenitales de hanches decouvertes a l’âge de la marche est en augmentation. L’echographie de hanche est l’examen cle du depistage de la luxation de hanche apres l’examen clinique. Dans cette fiche technique, nous rappelons les indications et les bonnes pratiques pour le depistage, mais egalement pour le diagnostic echographique de la luxation congenitale de hanche.

Background Histological disease severity assessment in ulcerative colitis has become a mainstay in clinical endpoints definition (“histologic remission”) in clinical trials of ulcerative colitis (UC). Among the several scores that were developed for the microscopical assessment of disease activity, the Nancy index (NI) stands out for the least amount of work load due to the lowest number of scoring items. To which extent histologic assessment using NI is affected by interobserver reliability in the real word setting, is poorly understood. We therefore performed a single-center retrospective analysis of NI assessment in patients with ulcerative colitis. Methods We retrospectively evaluated in two independent cohorts with a total of n=1085 of biopsy samples (sigmoid, rectum) taken from 547 clinically diagnosed UC patients, who underwent colonoscopy between 2007 and 2020. Cohort #1 consisted of 637 biopsies from 312 patients, Cohort #2 consisted of 448 biopsies from 235 patients. The NI of these samples were assessed by two blinded pathologists with a different amount of pathological experience. After each cohort a consensus conference was held where samples that were rated with different NI grades were re-assessed, and a consensual score was given by both observers. We evaluated interobserver reliability and differences in the amount of the several grades of the NI rated by the observers. Results The interobserver-agreement of the NI was very-good after the assessment of the 1085 samples (κ = 0,687 [95%-CI: 0,653-0,720]). An improvement of the interobserver-agreement was found with growing numbers of samples evaluated by both observers (1st cohort: κ = 0,659 [95%-CI: 0,615-0,704]; 2nd cohort: κ = 0,726 [95%-CI: 0,675-0,776]). The biggest number of differences were in NI grade 1 (observer 1: n=128; observer 2: n=236). The smallest number of differences were in NI grades 0 (observer 1: n=504; observer 2: n=479) and 3 (observer 1: n=71; observer 2: n=66). After a consensual score was given the largest part of grades were NI grade 0 (n=504) followed by NI grade 2 (n=309). The least number of samples were given NI grade 3 (n=62). Average time for scoring was less than 2 minutes. Conclusion The NI represents an easy-to-use index with very high interobserver reliability to assess the histological disease activity of UC patients in a real-world setting. Though further improvements of the NI regarding stricter classifications of the several grades need to be done to improve the practicability of the index. While NI grades 0 and 3 having a very high level of agreement between the observers, NI grade 1 has a lower agreement-level. This highlights the clinical need to specify histological characteristic leading to NI grade 1.

Resume Introduction Le pectus excavatum est la malformation congenitale thoracique la plus frequente et constitue un motif de consultation courant en chirurgie plastique. Notre attitude consiste le plus souvent en un comblement de la depression par une prothese sur mesure en silicone. L’objectif de ce travail etait d’evaluer les gains apportes par la conception assistee par ordinateur (CAO) dans la fabrication des implants en comparaison de la methode classique de moulage plâtre. Patients et methode Nous avons collige l’ensemble des cas ayant beneficie de la mise en place d’implants sur mesure en silicone au sein du service de chirurgie plastique du CHU de Nantes. Les criteres de jugement etaient la qualite des resultats evaluee par le patient, et par l’equipe chirurgicale en aveugle sur photographies et par questionnaires standardises. Les delais pre-operatoires, les durees d’interventions et d’hospitalisation, le nombre de reprises chirurgicales a visee cosmetique, les suites et complications postoperatoires, etaient releves. Resultats Entre 1990 et 2016, 29 implants thoraciques en silicone ont ete poses dans notre service. Avant 2012, les implants etaient concus par moulage plâtre (n = 13). Apres cette date, les implants etaient concus par CAO (n = 16). Les patients jugeaient leurs resultats « bons » ou « excellents » dans 77 % et 86 % des cas respectivement dans les groupes Plâtre et CAO. Les notes attribuees par l’equipe chirurgicale aux reconstructions par implants CAO etaient meilleures que dans le groupe Plâtre : 8,17 versus 6,96 (p = 0,001). Les implants CAO etaient significativement moins perceptibles que les implants du groupe Plâtre. La duree operatoire etait reduite dans le groupe CAO : 60,2 versus 74,7 minutes dans le groupe Plâtre (p = 0,04), de meme que la duree d’hospitalisation : 3,5 versus 5,3 jours (p = 0,01). Il n’y avait pas de differences significatives entre les deux groupes en termes de complications postoperatoires. Conclusion La prise en charge des pectus excavatum par pose d’un implant en silicone sur mesure constitue une methode peu invasive et pourvoyeuse de bons resultats cosmetiques. La conception de ces implants est facilitee et amelioree qualitativement par la CAO.

Thermodynamic properties are essential to understand and describe many chemical/biological processes in the real environment. To obtain correct thermodynamic data of chemical species for a wide range of temperatures, a rigorous Hindered Internal Rotation (HIR) treatment must be considered. Such a treatment requires detailed information about the internal rotation (i.e., rotational axis, group, frequency, symmetry and hindrance potential). However, it is very tedious, even prone-to-error, for chemists to prepare the input parameters for such a treatment. Among the HIR parameters, the rotational frequency (or mode) is the most difficult element due to the complex molecular structure and mixing vibrational modes of chemical species. Recently, a rule-based framework has been proposed to help chemists with this tedious process (Le et al., Comput. Theor. Chem., 2017, 61). This approach has been demonstrated to work well for simple species; however, it still lacked the ability to handle more complex cases. Therefore, in this study, a data mining approach is proposed to overcome the challenges of the previous algorithm. Within this framework, the HIR pattern was found using the features extracted from existing data provided by chemists. More specifically, multivariate logistic regression was implemented to analyze the chemical data to better predict the rotational frequency (mode) of chemical species as well as to highlight the effect of each attribute of the rotation. The experimental results were demonstrated to be more accurate than the previous study in terms of both accuracy and completeness. It also gives meaningful insights into the HIR itself. The proposed approach of this research will be integrated into MSMC-GUI ( https://sites.google.com/site/msmccode/manual/gui-1 ) to provide chemists with both an interactive and robust tool to prepare the data for their thermodynamic calculations on-the-fly.

Potato virus X (PVX), a type member of the plant virus potexvirus group, offers a unique nanotechnology platform based on its high aspect ratio and flexible filamentous shape. The PVX platform has already been engineered and studied for its uses in imaging, drug delivery, and immunotherapies. While genetic engineering procedures are well established for PVX, there is limited information about chemical conjugation strategies for functionalizing PVX, partly due to the lack of structural information of PVX at high resolution. To overcome these challenges, we built a structural model of the PVX particle based on the available structures from pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a close cousin of PVX. Using the model and a series of chemical conjugation experiments, we identified and probed the addressability of cysteine side chains. Chemical reactivity of cysteines was confirmed using Michael-addition and thiol-selective probes, including fluorescent dyes and biotin tags. LC/MS/MS was used to map Cys 121 as having the highest selectivity for modification. Finally, building on the availability of two reactive groups, the newly identified Cys and previously established Lys side chains, we prepared multifunctional PVX nanoparticles by conjugating Gd-DOTA for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to lysines and fluorescent dyes for optical imaging to cysteines. The resulting functionalized nanofilament could have applications in dual-modal optical-MRI imaging applications. These results further extend the understanding of the chemical properties of PVX and enable development of novel multifunctional platforms in bio/nanotechnology.

ZusammenfassungPrimär intraokuläre Lymphome sind sehr seltene Tumoren, die sich noch weiter in primär vitreoretinale und die noch viel selteneren primär uvealen Lymphome unterteilen lassen. In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat die Inzidenz des primär vitreoretinalen Lymphoms (PVRL) deutlich zugenommen. Die differenzialdiagnostische Abgrenzung zur posterioren Uveitis ist mitunter schwierig und daher kommt es in einigen Fällen zur verschleppten Diagnosestellung mit einer verzögerten Therapieeinleitung. Dies ist insbesondere deshalb fatal, weil das primär vitreoretinale Lymphom häufig mit dem primären ZNS-Lymphom assoziiert ist. Goldstandard zur Diagnosesicherung vor Therapieeinleitung ist der zytologische bzw. histologische Nachweis von Lymphomzellen. Hierzu wird eine diagnostische Vitrektomie mit Glaskörperbiopsie, evtl. kombiniert mit einer transretinalen Biopsie, durchgeführt. Zytokinanalyse, Durchflusszytometrie sowie molekulare Diagnostik sind lediglich ergänzende Maßnahmen, sofern genügend Probenmaterial vorhanden ist. Sobald die Diagnose eines Lymphoms gestellt ist, muss in interdisziplinärer Zusammenarbeit zwischen Onkologen und Ophthalmologen ein Therapiekonzept erarbeitet werden.

Retinoblastome sind auserordentlich seltene, in ca. der Halfte der Falle erbliche fruhkindliche Augenneoplasien. Sie zeigen hochproliferative, CRX-positive („cone-rod homeobox protein“) undifferenzierte Tumorzellen (z. T. auch mit Rosettenbildung). Das Staging richtet sich nach der pTNM-Klassifikation und dem „International Retinoblastoma Staging System“ (IRSS). Die Grundlage fur eine eventuelle systemische Chemotherapie und/oder Radiatio ist der Nachweis einer postlaminaren Optikusinfiltration, ausgepragten Choroideainfiltration, Sklerainvasion oder sogar extraokularer Ausbreitung. In morphologisch schwierigen Fallen sind immunhistochemische Untersuchungen (CRX und Ki67) auserst hilfreich. Retinozytome (Retinome) zeigen keine undifferenzierten Tumorareale, sondern ausschlieslich eine Photorezeptordifferenzierung sowie eine mittels Ki67 nachgewiesene auffallend geringe Proliferation.

Two waste materials, concrete and sponge, were used as biomass carriers in the attached growth reactor in a nitrogen wastewater treatment system. The nitrogen removal performance was compared to a control reactor using commercial carrier material. The highest nitrogen removal efficiency, 87%, was found in the sponge reactor, with the concrete reactor showing 82% efficiency ahead of the commercial reactor of 76%. A thick biofilm developed on the fiber of the sponge carrier, with the biomass increasing from 270 g-VSS/m3-carrier to 1,000 g-VSS/m3-carrier. For the concrete carrier, biomass was observed on the concrete cracks and also as a biofilm on the surface. The maximal biomass was 630 g-VSS/m3-carrier. The content of the biomass agglomerated in the commercial carrier was 310 g-VSS/m3-carrier. Nitrification and denitrification simultaneously occurred to remove nitrogen in the sponge and the commercial carrier reactor. However, in the concrete reactor, nitrification mainly occurred during the aeration phase and denitrification occurred in the non-aeration phase. These results demonstrate that the sponge was the best carrier, with high nitrogen removal efficiency, dense biomass and tolerance to shock loading. The simplicity inherent in the system design together with good performance make it suitable for use in wastewater treatment systems.

We have recently developed a novel double-hydrophobic elastin-like triblock polypeptide called GPG, designed after the uneven distribution of two different hydrophobic domains found in elastin, an extracellular matrix protein providing elasticity and resilience to tissues. Upon temperature trigger, GPG undergoes a sequential self-assembling process to form flexible beaded nanofibers with high homogeneity and excellent dispersibility in water. Given that GPG might be a potential elastin-mimetic material, we sought to explore the biological activities of this block polypeptide. Besides GPG, several functionalized derivatives were also constructed by fusing functional motifs such as KAAK or KAAKGRGDS at the C-terminal of GPG. Although the added motifs affected the kinetics of fiber formation and β-sheet contents, all three GPGs assembled into beaded nanofibers at the physiological temperature. The resulting GPG nanofibers preserved their beaded structures in cell culture medium; therefore, they were coated on polystyrene substrates to study their cytocompatibility toward mouse embryonic fibroblasts, NIH-3T3. Among the three polypeptides, GPG having the cell-binding motif GRGDS derived from fibronectin showed excellent cell adhesion and cell proliferation properties compared to other conventional materials, suggesting its promising applications as extracellular matrices for mammalian cells. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2475-2484, 2017.

Heat of formation (HoF) of a chemical species is one of the most essential thermodynamic properties to help understand and predict behaviors of a chemical system; however, it is very challenging to obtain accurate HoF values in large systems using traditional approaches, such as quantum mechanics. In this study, we propose a Lasso Regression-based machine learning approach, which is combined with the Reaction-based approach and Morgan fingerprints, to obtain reliable HoF values on-the-fly for an unknown chemical species. A dataset of species is taken into account for training and testing in order to evaluate the proposed machine learning approach, compared with the previous experimental results.

Uveal melanoma (UM) is fatal in ~50% of patients as a result of disseminated disease. This study aims to externally validate the Liverpool Uveal Melanoma Prognosticator Online V3 (LUMPO3) to determine its reliability in predicting survival after treatment for choroidal melanoma when utilizing external data from other ocular oncology centers. Anonymized data of 1836 UM patients from seven international ocular oncology centers were analyzed with LUMPO3 to predict the 10-year survival for each patient in each external dataset. The analysts were masked to the patient outcomes. Model predictions were sent to an independent statistician to evaluate LUMPO3&rsquo, s performance using discrimination and calibration methods. LUMPO3&rsquo, s ability to discriminate between UM patients who died of metastatic UM and those who were still alive was fair-to-good, with C-statistics ranging from 0.64 to 0.85 at year 1. The pooled estimate for all external centers was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.68 to 0.75). Agreement between observed and predicted survival probabilities was generally good given differences in case mix and survival rates between different centers. Despite the differences between the international cohorts of patients with primary UM, LUMPO3 is a valuable tool for predicting all-cause mortality in this disease when using data from external centers.

International audience; The development of a macroscopic model for solute transport coupled with unsaturated water flow in double-porosity media is presented in this work, by using the asymptotic homogenization method. The model was derived for the case in which the medium exhibits a strong contrast of transport properties by upscaling rigorously the transport mechanisms from micro-scale to macro-scale. It consists of two coupled equations for dispersion–convection processes at macroscopic level and diffusion intervention from local scale that can be described by a non-Fickian behaviour of solute concentration breakthrough. The proposed model was numerically implemented in the environment of a finite element code (commercial software) and applied to 2D examples with different boundary conditions. To validate, a comparative analysis between the results obtained from the homogenized model and the fine scale model (reference solution obtained from explicit heterogeneous representation of the medium structure) was carried out. The obtained numerical tool for the two-scale implementation enables treating various types of two-equation models to study the macroscopic non-Fickian transport and also non-equilibrium evolution of concentration fields inside the micro-porous medium.

The Covid-19 outbreak has turned out an opportunity for a recent noticeable increase in online shopping in Vietnam. Hence, this paper aims to discover how online shoppers react to their purchasing behaviour during Covid-19 time in terms of perceived benefits perspective. Based on the collected data from 427 Vietnamese online respondents during the social distancing period due to Covid-19, the research analyses the role of Covid-19 as a moderator variable in the relationship between benefits perception of the consumer and their online shopping activity. The result shows Covid-19 plays a moderating role in consumer’s awareness of utilities, which encourages shoppers towards Online shopping. However, the affection of society could be a reason that consumers become more hesitant to shop online. In the meanwhile, awareness of the Covid-19 pandemic and marketing policies do not impact on online shopping significantly during the Covid-19 pandemic which is a conflict with previous researches. These findings can contribute to understanding consumer behaviour comprehensively, help companies deal with similar situation as well as recommendations for the government to support businesses effectively in the future.

Understanding the mechanisms governing the optical activity of layered-stacked materials is crucial to the design of devices aimed at manipulating light at the nanoscale. Here, we show that both twisted and slid bilayer graphene are chiral systems that can deflect the polarization of linear polarized light. However, only twisted bilayer graphene supports circular dichroism. Our calculation scheme, which is based on the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation, is particularly efficient for calculating the optical-conductivity tensor. Specifically, it allows us to show the chirality of hybridized states as the handedness-dependent bending of the trajectory of kicked Gaussian wave packets in bilayer lattices. We show that nonzero Hall conductivity is the result of the noncanceling manifestation of hybridized states in chiral lattices. We also demonstrate the continuous dependence of the conductivity tensor on the twist angle and the sliding vector., Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures

Context: Security Vulnerabilities (SVs) pose many serious threats to software systems. Developers usually seek solutions to addressing these SVs on developer Question and Answer (Q&A) websites. However, there is still little known about on-going SV-specific discussions on different developer Q&A sites. Objective: We present a large-scale empirical study to understand developers' SV discussions and how these discussions are being supported by Q&A sites. Method: We first curate 71,329 SV posts from two large Q&A sites, namely Stack Overflow (SO) and Security StackExchange (SSE). We then use topic modeling to uncover the topics of SV-related discussions and analyze the popularity, difficulty, and level of expertise for each topic. We also perform a qualitative analysis to identify the types of solutions to SV-related questions. Results: We identify 13 main SV discussion topics on Q&A sites. Many topics do not follow the distributions and trends in expert-based security sources such as Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) and Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). We also discover that SV discussions attract more experts to answer than many other domains, but some difficult SV topics (e.g., Vulnerability Scanning Tools) still receive quite limited support from experts. Moreover, we identify seven key types of answers given to SV questions on Q&A sites, in which SO often provides code and instructions, while SSE usually gives experience-based advice and explanations. Conclusion: Our findings provide support for researchers and practitioners to effectively acquire, share and leverage SV knowledge on Q&A sites., Accepted for publication at the 25th International Conference on Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering (EASE 2021)

X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses of lean apatite ores from the Laokai deposits were performed. The test sample was divided into 11 fractions, each being analyzed for phosphorus and the major associated impurities. The chemical composition of the lean apatite was found to be virtually independent of particle size, thereby the primary beneficiation of the raw material being excluded.

Elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) are promising candidates for fabricating tissue-engineering scaffolds that mimic the extracellular environment of elastic tissues. We have developed a &ldquo, double-hydrophobic&rdquo, block ELP, GPG, inspired by non-uniform distribution of two different hydrophobic domains in natural elastin. GPG has a block sequence of (VGGVG)5-(VPGXG)25-(VGGVG)5 that self-assembles to form nanofibers in water. Functional derivatives of GPG with appended amino acid motifs can also form nanofibers, a display of the block sequence&rsquo, s robust self-assembling properties. However, how the block length affects fiber formation has never been clarified. This study focuses on the synthesis and characterization of a novel ELP, GPPG, in which the central sequence (VPGVG)25 is repeated twice by a short linker sequence. The self-assembly behavior and the resultant nanostructures of GPG and GPPG were when compared through circular dichroism spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Dynamic rheology measurements revealed that the nanofiber dispersions of both GPG and GPPG at an extremely low concentration (0.034 wt%) exhibited solid-like behavior with storage modulus G&prime, &gt, loss modulus G&rdquo, over wide range of angular frequencies, which was most probably due to the high aspect ratio of the nanofibers that leads to the flocculation of nanofibers in the dispersion.

In complex indoor environments, the censoring, dropping, and multi-component problems may present in the observable data. This is due to the attenuation of signals, the unexpected operation of equipments, and the changing surrounding environment. Censoring refers to the fact that sensors on portable devices are unable to measure Received Signal Strength Index (RSSI) values below a certain threshold, for example, −100 dBm with typical smart phones. Dropping means that, occasionally, RSSI measurements of Wifi access points are not available, although their value is clearly above the censoring threshold. The multi-component problem occurs when the measured data varies due to obstacles as well as user directions; doors closed or open; and so forth. Taking these problems into consideration, this paper proposes a novel approach to enhance the performance of the Wifi Fingerprinting based Indoor Positioning System (WF-IPS). The proposed method is verified through simulated data and real field data. The experimental results show that our proposal outperforms the other state-of-the-art WF-IPS approach both in positioning accuracy and computational cost.

Climate change has increasingly affected coastal environments and coastal communities. Long-term sea-level rise and infrequent but severe storm surges are expected to cause potential inundation in Mekong delta, the largest delta of Vietnam. This paper presents storm surge modelling along the coast of Mekong delta in the context of sea-level rise. Based on hydro-oceanographic conditions (river discharge, water level, typhoon wind speed) corresponding to given return periods (RPs), the authors use two-dimensional numerical models with nested grids to predict the maximum surge level during a synthetic typhoon that occurs during high tide. The models are calibrated against measured water levels and surveyed surge heights. Computation results show that the maximum water level might reach 4.2 m for the case of 100-year RP. The modelled surge envelope is generally higher than that presented in the Vietnam’s standard. The modelling method demonstrates physical links between tide, wind, wave, and surge, and can be applied to other coastal zones.

The picosecond evolution of non-Maxwellian electron distribution functions was measured in a laser-produced plasma using collective electron plasma wave Thomson scattering. During the laser heating, the distribution was measured to be approximately super-Gaussian due to inverse bremsstrahlung heating. After the heating laser turned off, collisional ionization caused further modification to the distribution function while increasing electron density and decreasing temperature. Electron distribution functions were determined using Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations including atomic kinetics.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death globally. For an effective treatment of CVDs, automatic CVDs detection based on Electrocardiograph (ECG) monitoring is highly desirable. One major challenge in ECG classification is feature learning. This paper reviews developed techniques for feature extraction and compared their performances in Atrial Fibrillation (AF), Myocardial Infarction (MI) and Pericarditis detection. Feature extraction methods in the literature reviews can be divided into mainly four categories: linear feature, nonlinear feature, wavelet transform, deep learning. Three studies were implemented using database from PhysioNet to evaluate the effectiveness of different feature extraction techniques. The AF detection algorithm use morphology features, statistic features, spectral feature, and wavelet entropy, presented a sensitivity of 96%, specificity of 93% and accuracy of 94.1%. In the case of Pericarditis and MI classification, information thoery-based features including subband energy, permutation entropy, and approximate entropy are the most noteworthy features. The study of detecting MI using machine learning based model of Convolutional Neural Network showed a sensitivity of 92.04% which yield the most promising results.

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is a plant species native to Central Asia and has been widely grown in other regions such as Mediterranean regions as well as Asia, Europe and Africa. Determining the optimal time of storage is very important in maintaining stable garlic agricultural supply chain. In this study, we aim to identify optimal storage conditions and packaging materials that allow maintaining highest nutritional values of garlic. Garlic was harvested and stored at different temperatures and storage time. A wide range of quality parameters of garlic were taken into account including total polyphenol content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity, moisture and weight loss. The results of the study show that, at 0 °C, garlic bulbs showed minimal mass weight loss (0.49%) and stabilized polyphenol content. The change of DPPH free radical activity and the total flavonoid content in garlic bulbs stored under different temperature conditions were minor. Lastly, net cloth packaging introduced favorable loss of weight of garlic bulbs during prolonged storage.

[For the English abstract and full text of the article please see the attached PDF-File (English version follows Russian version)].ABSTRACT The article presents some of the main objectives of transport policy and measures to implement the strategy for development of Vietnam’s railway transport until 2020 and a vision of sectoral prospects until 2050. Among other things, there are preferences concerning investments in modernization of existing networks, construction of speed and high-speed lines, reconstruction of railway stations, railway crossings, introduction of resource-saving and advanced production technologies, and also the dynamics, priority and proportions of planned changes in certain sectors of the industry and transportation activities of railways are determined. The issues of state budgetary and financial policy, planning, international economic relations, functioning of international transport corridors, education and training of specialists are being considered, taking into account the growing requirements for management and the new information environment. Keywords: Vietnam, railways, development strategy, modernization, investment policy, management system, periodization.

In order to obtain accurate thermodynamic properties for a chemical species, an effective and rigorous improvement on the common harmonic oscillator approximation is to solve the 1-D Schrodinger equation for hindered internal rotors (HIRs), which requires detailed information about the rotors (e.g., low-frequency vibrational modes needed to be treated as hindered internal rotors and the corresponding rotational axes, groups, internal symmetries, and hindrance potentials). Such a treatment is tedious, prone-to-error even for experts; thus, it is challenging to make it a de-facto procedure for general cases. In this work, we present a robust JAVA-based algorithm for automatically generating the HIR parameters using data from the electronic structure calculations. The algorithm has been shown to be reliable via different types of test cases. As a result, when combined with a HIR engine such as that of MSMC ( https://sites.google.com/site/msmccode ), the scheme provides a powerful tool for calculating accurate thermodynamic data for a wide range of systems on-the-fly.

Plant viral nanoparticles (VNPs) are a novel class of nanocarriers with implications for drug delivery in cancer therapy. VNPs are characterized by their highly symmetrical nanoscale structures. Furthermore, plant VNPs are biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-infectious in mammals. VNPs provide a proteinaceous platform technology that can be readily engineered to carry contrast agents and therapies using chemical and genetic modifications. Of particular interest are high aspect ratio, elongated filaments such as the ones formed by potato virus X (PVX, measuring 515 × 13 nm). PVX has demonstrated enhanced tumor homing and penetration properties compared to spherical counterparts. Here, we sought to investigate the potential of PVX as a drug carrier delivering doxorubicin (DOX), a commonly used cancer chemotherapy. We synthesized therapeutic PVX nanoparticles using a simple in-solution mixing protocol; after 5 days of mixing of DOX and PVX and ultra-centrifugal purification, ∼1000 DOX per PVX were stably associated with the carrier, most likely based on hydrophobic interaction. Efficacy and drug activity of PVX-DOX were confirmed using a panel of cancer cell lines including ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and cervical cancer. Lastly, we demonstrated treatment of athymic mice bearing human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer xenografts: PVX-DOX treatment resulted in reduced tumor growth in this model. Our results open the door for further development of PVX and other high aspect ratio plant VNPs for applications in cancer therapy.

In the present work, the development and characterization of an intrinsically self-healable material based on butyl imidazole modified bromobutyl rubber (BIIR)/natural rubber (NR) blends, which are filled with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are reported. It was found that the addition of CNTs and the blending with NR significantly enhance the tensile strength of the BIIR composites. The use of butyl imidazole as physical cross-linker for the BIIR phase provides the blend composites the non-covalent bondings, which are responsible for their self-healing properties. Owing to the increase of the viscosity of the BIIR phase upon its physical crosslinking the island-matrix morphology of the blend changes over to a co-continuous structure. The preferential wetting of the CNT surface by the low-loading NR phase in the NR/BIIR blends can be explained by the good rubber-filler interaction between the linked phospholipids of the NR molecules and the π-electrons of the CNT surface. As a result, the favored localization of the CNTs in the NR phase strongly improves the electrical properties of the blends according to the double percolation theory. On the other hand it does not deteriorate the self-healing of the BIIR phase. The high electrical conductivity provides us a possibility to heat the blend by application of an electrical voltage in order to accelerate the self-healing process.

The aim of this work was to study the effect of the ionic liquids (ILs) with respect to their anion type and the length of alkyl chain as dispersing and coupling agent in carbon nanotube (CNT) filled styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)/natural rubber (NR) blends. We characterized the ILs by their surface tensions whereupon their different values explain the different compatibilities of ILs with the rubber components and the filler. The wetting concept was further developed in order to experimentally characterize the effect of the rubber-IL and CNT-IL compatibility on the selective wetting of CNTs in rubber blends. It was found that all the used ILs improved the dispersion of CNTs in rubber blends significantly. During the mixing process the IL layer pre-bound to the CNT surface was replaced mainly by the NR phase and, partly, by the SBR phase. Thus, ILs cannot be used as coupling agent in this rubber blend. For the ILs with surface tension similar to that of CNTs the filler was partly wetted by IL that imparts the mixture a high electrical conductivity directly after the mixing process. This high conductivity can be used for triggering the vulcanization of the blend by means of the Joule heating. The preferential localization of ILs in the rubber matrix - but not in rubber-filler interphase - considerably influences the cross-link behavior of the vulcanizates and thus their final mechanical properties significantly.

Resume Le diverticule de Meckel est une malformation frequente chez l’enfant, le plus souvent asymptomatique, se compliquant dans 20 % des cas. De facon exceptionnelle, il peut etre le siege de developpement d’une tumeur, notamment un lymphome de Burkitt chez l’enfant. Plus rarement, comme chez l’adulte, des tumeurs stromales gastro-intestinales, des leiomyosarcomes ou des tumeurs neuro-endocrines de type carcinoide peuvent etre observees. Le diagnostic de pseudo-tumeur inflammatoire secondaire a une perforation est rare. Nous rapportons le cas d’une pseudo-tumeur inflammatoire developpee sur la pointe d’un diverticule de Meckel avec une heterotopie gastrique chez un nourrisson de 14 mois. Cette lesion avait fait evoquer une tumeur maligne. L’evolution a ete favorable apres exerese chirurgicale. La perforation d’un diverticule de Meckel secondaire a une ulceration sur heterotopie gastrique est un mode de revelation frequent. La decouverte secondaire d’une pseudo-tumeur inflammatoire reactionnelle a cette perforation doit faire avant tout discuter les diagnostics differentiels de tumeurs malignes.

The scalar spherical wave functions (SWFs) are solutions to the scalar Helmholtz equation obtained by the method of separation of variables in spherical polar coordinates. These functions are complete and orthogonal over a sphere, and they can, therefore, be used as a set of basis functions in solving boundary value problems by spherical wave expansions. In this work, we show that there exists a theory of functions with quaternionic values and of three real variables, which is determined by the Moisil–Theodorescu-type operator with quaternionic variable coefficients, and which is intimately related to the radial, angular and azimuthal wave equations. As a result, we explain the connections between the null solutions of these equations, on one hand, and the quaternionic hyperholomorphic and anti-hyperholomorphic functions, on the other. We further introduce the quaternionic spherical wave functions (QSWFs), which refine and extend the SWFs. Each function is a linear combination of SWFs and products of D0-hyperholomorphic functions by regular spherical Bessel functions. We prove that the QSWFs are orthogonal in the unit ball with respect to a particular bilinear form. Also, we perform a detailed analysis of the related properties of QSWFs. We conclude the paper establishing analogues of the basic integral formulae of complex analysis such as Borel–Pompeiu's and Cauchy's, for this version of quaternionic function theory. As an application, we present some plot simulations that illustrate the results of this work. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Purpose Intraocular retinoblastoma is curable, but survivors with a heritable predisposition are at high risk for second malignancies. Because second malignancies are associated with high mortality, prognostic factors for second malignancy influence long-term overall survival. This study investigates the impact of all types of eye-preserving therapies on long-term survival in the complete German cohort of patients with heritable retinoblastoma. Patients and Methods Overall survival, disease staging using international scales, time period of diagnosis, and treatment type were analyzed in the 633 German children treated at the national reference center for heritable retinoblastoma. Results The 5-year overall survival of children diagnosed in Germany with heritable retinoblastoma between 1940 and 2008 was 93.2% (95% CI, 91.2% to 95.1%), but long-term mortality was increased compared with patients with nonheritable disease. Overall survival correlated with tumor staging, and 92% of patients were diagnosed with a favorable tumor stage (International Retinoblastoma Staging System stage 0 or I). Despite a 5-year overall survival of 97.4% (95% CI, 96.0% to 98.8%) in patients with stage 0 or I, only 79.5% (95% CI, 74.2% to 84.8%) of these patients survived 40 years after diagnosis. Long-term overall survival was reduced in children treated with eye-preserving radiotherapy compared with enucleation alone, and adding chemotherapy aggravated this effect. Conclusion The benefits of preserving vision must be balanced with the impact of eye-preserving treatments on long-term survival in heritable retinoblastoma, and the genetic background of the patient influences choice of eye-preserving treatment. Germline RB1 genetic analysis is important to identify heritable retinoblastoma among unilateral retinoblastoma cases. Eye-preserving radiotherapy should be carefully considered in patients with germline RB1 mutations. Life-long oncologic follow-up is crucial for all retinoblastoma survivors, and less detrimental eye-preserving therapies must be developed.

Background Survivors of heritable retinoblastoma carry a high risk to develop second cancers. Eye-preserving radiotherapy raises this risk, while the impact of chemotherapy remains less defined. Procedure This population-based study characterizes the impact of all treatment modalities on second cancers incidence and type after retinoblastoma treatment in Germany. Data on second cancer incidence in 648 patients with heritable retinoblastoma treated between 1940 and 2008 at the German national reference center for retinoblastoma were analyzed to identify associations with treatment. Results The cumulative incidence ratio (per 1,000 person years) of second cancers was 8.6 (95% confidence interval 7.0–10.4). Second cancer incidence was influenced by type of retinoblastoma treatment but not by the year of diagnosis or by sex. Radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy increased the incidence of second cancers (by 3.0- and 1.8-fold, respectively). While radiotherapy was specifically associated with second cancers arising within the periorbital region in the previously irradiated field, chemotherapy was the strongest risk factor for second cancers in other localizations. Soft tissue sarcomas and osteosarcomas were the most prevalent second cancers (standardized incidence ratio 179.35 compared to the German population). Conclusions Second cancers remain a major concern in heritable retinoblastoma survivors. Consistent with previous reports, radiotherapy increased second cancer incidence and influenced type and localization. However, chemotherapy was the strongest risk factor for second malignancies outside the periorbital region. Our results provide screening priorities during life-long oncological follow-up based on the curative therapy the patient has received and emphasize the need for less-detrimental therapies for children with heritable retinoblastoma.

Coordonnateur : Thierry Higuero Auteurs : Laurent Abramowitz L, Helene Pillant-Le Moult; Philippe Hemery, Ghislain Staumont; Thierry Higuero, Francois Pigot, Agnes Senejoux, Jean-Luc Suduca, Cecile Laclotte Duhoux, Alain Castinel, Nadia Fathallah, Beatrice Vinson-Bonnet, Laurent Siproudhis. Groupe de lecture : Laurent Abramowitz, Paul Bendfredj, Dominique Bouchard, Carole Cordonnier, Hubert Dereux, Paul Dieterling, Jean-Luc Faucheron, Philippe Godeberge, Michel Gompel, Thierry Higuero, Pierre Moreau, Francois Mion, Francois Pigot, Elise Pommaret, Agnes Senejoux, Laurent Siproudhis, Denis Soudan, Marc Souffran, Ghislain Staumont, Jean Jacques Tassou, Christian, Thomas, Beatrice Vinson-Bonnet et autres membres anonymes de la SNFCP.

The growing demand for natural products has spurred the idea of replacing synthetic fragrances with essential oils with antibacterial properties. Essential oils distilled from commercially valuable Cymbopogon citratus species has citral as a major component and finds a wide range of application such as flavors and aromas in perfumes, cosmetics, soaps, and detergents and in the pharmaceutical industry. Via hydrodistillation, the extraction yield of essential oil reached 0.29%. The components for formulation of the cleaning product were determined through a survey of active ingredients: 4.5% Sodium Lauryl Ether Sulphate (SLES), Ethylendiamin Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA-2Na), 0.7% Coco Amido Propyl Betaine (CAPB), 1% Hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC), Sodium Benzoate, 0.3% Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), 0.1% NaCl and 0.2% lemongrass essential oil. The finished product was evaluated based on the foaming ability and durability of the emulsion. At the same time, samples stored at different conditions (e.g. room temperature, acceleration, thermal shock) were evaluated for its durability. The results show that citronella oil can be used as a valuable cosmetic material, an antibacterial agent, while not adversely affecting the usability of floor cleaning liquid.

Turmeric is commonly used as a spice, food preservative, coloring agent, and medicine. Turmeric essential oil (EO) is effective in acne treatment, skin lightening, anti-aging, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory. In this study, the kinetic model evaluates variable conditions that affect the hydrodistillation (HD) process. The HD method was chosen because it is easy for industrial-scale applications. The significant HD parameters, including turmeric-water ratio (TWR), heating oil temperature (HOT), and distillation time, were investigated. The highest yield (6.72%) was achieved under the following conditions: the turmeric-water ratio of 1:5, heating oil temperature of 150°C, and distillation time of 4 hours. There have been no studies on the kinetic model of essential oil extraction from turmeric by hydrodistillation. Therefore, three kinetic models were proposed to test for compatibility. The results showed that the two-site desorption model had a better fit than other models. The TWR and HOT had a more significant impact on the cell and tissue alteration of oil glands than the diffusion of essential oil.

The aim of our study was to prospectively evaluate the effectiveness of the Fistula Laser Closure (FiLaCA prospective study was conducted on all patients treated with FiLaCA total of 69 consecutive patients (34 males) with a median age of 40 years (33-53 years) were included in the study. One patient was lost to follow up. The fistulas were intersphincteric (3%), low (15%) or high (66%) trans-sphincteric, and suprasphincteric (16%). After a median follow-up period of 6.3 months (4.2-9.3), fistula healing was observed in 31 patients (45.6%). In univariate analysis, high trans-sphincteric fistulas (p = 0.007) and age over 50 years (p = 0.034) were significantly associated with healing. In multivariate analysis, only high trans-sphincteric fistulas were a predictive factor of significant success. No new cases of anal incontinence or any worsening in case of pre-existing anal incontinence were observed during follow-up.FiLaC

Greening disease of citrus is a serious disease known in South Africa since the late 1920s. In South Africa, it is associated with infection by ‘Candidatus Liberibacter africanus’, a heat sensitive, phloem-limited, noncultured alpha-proteobacterium. Huanglongbing (HLB), a similar, but more devastating disease that was described initially from China but which now occurs in several citrus producing countries, is associated with a different Liberibacter species, ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’. A ‘Ca. L. africanus’ subspecies, ‘Ca. L. africanus subsp. capensis’, has been found only in South Africa infecting an indigenous Rutaceous species, Calodendrum capense (Cape Chestnut), in the Western Cape in 1995. The discovery of a new Liberibacter species in Brazil, ‘Ca. L. americanus’, and the spread of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ to a number of additional countries over the last few years prompted us to assess whether only ‘Ca. L. africanus’ is present in commercial citrus orchards in South Africa. Samples displaying greening or similar symptoms were collected from 249 citrus trees from 57 orchards distributed throughout the greening affected citrus production areas of South Africa. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on DNA extracts to detect the known citrus Liberibacters. Amplicons were obtained from 197 samples. None of the samples yielded a 1,027-bp amplicon indicative of ‘Ca. L. americanus’ infection. The amplicons of 84 samples were sequenced, and all were identical to the cognate ‘Ca. L. africanus’ Nelspruit sequence in GenBank. No instance of ‘Ca. L. asiaticus’ or ‘Ca. L. africanus subsp. capensis’ sequence was found. Geographically representative samples that tested negative for Liberibacter also tested negative for phytoplasmas based on real-time PCR results. Based on the results of this survey, it is concluded that to date only ‘Ca. L. africanus’ is associated with citrus greening in commercial citrus in South Africa.

We characterise the dynamics of electrons in twisted bilayer graphene by analysing the time-evolution of electron waves in the atomic lattice. We perform simulations based on a kernel polynomial technique using Chebyshev polynomial; this method does not requires any diagonalisation of the system Hamiltonian. Our simulations reveal that the inter-layer electronic coupling induces the exchange of waves between the two graphene layers. This wave transfer manifests as oscillations of the layer-integrated probability densities as a function of time. For the bilayer case, it also causes a difference in the wavefront dynamics compared to monolayer graphene. The intra-layer spreading of electron waves is irregular and progresses as a two-stage process. The first one characterised by a well-defined wavefront occurs in a short time | a wavefront forms instead during the second stage. The wavefront takes a hexagon-like shape with the vertices developing faster than the edges. Though the detail spreading form of waves depends on initial states, we observe localisation of waves in specific regions of the moir\'e zone. To characterise the electron dynamics, we also analyse the time auto-correlation functions. We show that these quantities shall exhibit the beating modulation when reducing the interlayer coupling., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures