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The purpose of the article is to study the actual approaches to the analysis of economic development, in particular, its manifestations in the context of determining priorities of publishing and printing industry by formulating the essential characteristics of groups of factors that influence and clarify the simulations performed. The study investigated the development of publishing and printing industry in the context of sustainable development and institutional development issues new information economy. Grouping and structuring of the basic characteristics of groups of factors determining the economic development of publishing and printing activities in Ukraine. Substantiated proposals to clarify and improve the forecasting model of mutual influence of selected factors on the basis of the hierarchy of functional competition with other areas of consumer information. Prospects for further investigation in this direction are the formulation of the theoretical and methodological foundations of management and regulation of publishing and printing industry in the information society, solutions using such techniques of sustainable development, and on the conceptual level, there is a need to clarify certain fundamental categories of knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) frequency was observed to be higher with an increase in the daily temperature range. This showed that a wide daily range of temperature, rather than the absolute value of the temperature, is associated with the occurrence of RRD. Purpose. To investigate the association between the frequency of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and the atmospheric temperature. Method. A retrospective review of consecutive eyes that had undergone primary RRD surgery from 1996 to 2016 at Chungbuk National University Hospital was conducted. Temperature data (highest, lowest, and mean daily temperatures and daily temperature range) in Chungbuk Province were obtained from the Korean Meteorological Administration database. We investigated the relationship between the daily temperature range and the frequency of RRD surgery. We also analyzed the association between various temperature data and the frequency of RRD surgery. Result. There were 1,394 RRD surgeries from 1996 to 2016. Among them, 974 eyes were included in this study. The monthly average number of RRD operations showed a bimodal peak (in April and October) throughout the year. With the same tendency as the frequency of RRD, the monthly average of the daily temperature range over 1 year also showed a bimodal peak in April and October. There was a significant positive correlation between the monthly average of the daily temperature range and the number of RRD surgeries (r = 0.297, P

Background/Aims: Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a family of novel non-coding RNAs associated with various diseases, especially cancer. Recent studies have demonstrated that circRNAs participate in pathogenesis mainly by acting as microRNA (miRNA) sponges. The expression profile of circRNAs in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has rarely been reported. Methods: Profiles of circRNAs were analyzed using an Arraystar human circRNA microarray with 5 bone marrow samples from patients with newly diagnosed AML and 5 from patients with iron-deficiency anemia. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to validate the expression pattern of circRNAs. Furthermore, circRNA–miRNA network, Gene Ontology (GO), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were applied. Results: CircRNA microarray analysis revealed that 698 circRNAs were differentially expressed in AML patients, with 282 circRNAs found to be upregulated and 416 to be downregulated. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR showed that circ-ANAPC7 was significantly upregulated in AML. Bioinformatics analysis predicted that circ-ANAPC7 acts as a sponge for the miR-181 family, KEGG analysis revealed that it is associated with cancer-related pathways, and GO analysis indicated that most of its target genes are involved in biological processes. Conclusions: These findings show that circ-ANAPC7 is a promising biomarker for AML, and that it might participate in AML pathogenesis by acting as a sponge for the miR-181 family.

Abstract The channel capacity of multi-channel cognitive radio systems is studied with the assumption of limited sensing capability. The randomness of sub-channel selection is utilized to convey information. Two types of sub-channels, memoryless and finite state, are considered. For both cases, the separation of sub-channel input distribution optimization and sub-channel selection policy optimization is proved. For the memoryless case, explicit expressions for optimal sensing policy are obtained. For the finite state case, the optimization of channel capacity is considered as a Markov decision problem that maximizes average award. By using Markov decision theory, it is shown that, for the finite state case, the channel capacity is determined by the static distribution of state.

Abstract Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is believed to be the most prevalent liver disease worldwide and a major cause of chronic liver injury. It is characterized by lipid accumulation in the absence of significant alcohol consumption and frequently progresses to steatohepatitis, liver fibrosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Although many studies have been conducted to better understand NAFLD since it was first recognized, there are still many gaps in knowledge of etiology, prognosis, prevention and treatment. Methionine-choline deficient (MCD) diet, a well-established experimental model of NAFLD in rodents, rapidly and efficiently produces the clinical pathologies including macrovesicular steatosis and leads to disease progression. In this study, we measured the response to MCD diet in C57BL/6N mice obtained from three different sources; Korea NIFDS, USA, and Japan. We evaluated changes in body weight, food consumption, and relative weights of tissues such as liver, kidney, gonadal white adipose tissue, inguinal white adipose tissue, and brown adipose tissue. These basic parameters of mice with an MCD diet were not significantly different among the sources of mice tested. After 3 weeks on an MCD diet, histopathological analyses showed that the MCD diet induced clear fat vacuoles involving most area of the acinus in the liver of all mice. It was accompanied by increased serum activities of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, and decreased levels of serum triglyceride and cholesterol. In conclusion, the response of C57BL6N mice originating from different sources to the MCD diet showed no significant differences as measured by physiological, biochemical, and histopathological parameters.

An indole-based fluorescent chemosensor IH-Sal was synthesized to detect Zn2+. IH-Sal displayed a marked fluorescence increment with Zn2+. The detection limit (0.41 μM) of IH-Sal for Zn2+ was greatly below that suggested by the World Health Organization. IH-Sal can quantify Zn2+ in real water samples. More significantly, IH-Sal could determine and depict the presence of Zn2+ in zebrafish. The detecting mechanism of IH-Sal toward Zn2+ was illustrated by fluorescence and UV–visible spectroscopy, DFT calculations, 1H NMR titration and ESI mass.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role that domain knowledge plays in users' interactions with information systems. Two groups of users with two different areas of expertise were recruited for 34 experimental sessions to answer two research questions: (a) Does one group's domain knowledge (Geography majors) affect their performance on an information system more than another group's domain knowledge (Computer Science majors)? (b) Are there any differences and/or similarities in the performance of the two groups in terms of the information problem-solving processes? Task completion time, task completeness, and mouse movements were collected while users performed six tasks during the experimental sessions. Data were analyzed through repeated measures. An ANOVA was used for task completion time and task completeness. GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, and Selection rules) was also used for mouse movements to identify some of the similarities and differences between the two groups' information problem-solving processes. The GOMS analysis found the two groups' processing activities to be remarkably similar. The ANOVA results indicate that expertise type was not a major factor influencing user performance, but task and task combined with the type of expertise played a significant role in the users' interactions with the interface. External operators, goal decompositions, and methods related to the problem solving process through GOMS are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We propose to use an mean square error (MSE) transfer chart to evaluate the performance of the proposed belief propagation (BP)-based channel decoding and state estimation scheme. We focus on two models to evaluate the performance of BP-based channel decoding and state estimation: the sequential model and the iterative model. The numerical results show that the MSE transfer chart can provide much insight about the performance of the proposed channel decoding and state estimation scheme.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

The isothermal transformation kinetics of experimental steel was studied by the thermal expansion method. Uhrafine bainite was obtained by austempering at low temperature. The microstructure was quantificationally analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that microstructure of the experimental steel is composed of a large number of uhrafine lath bainite ferrite and thin film austenite. The spacing of the bainitic lath is about 60 nm and the hardness is about HBW 610 by austempering at 210%. The final microstructure and properties depend on the temperature and holding time for austempering. The holding time for fully transformed bainite increases at a lower austempering temperature.

Purpose. To investigate the associations between hyperreflective foci (HRF) on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and early recurrence of macular edema after intravitreal dexamethasone (DEX) implantation in eyes with refractory diabetic macular edema (DME) to bevacizumab. Methods. Medical records of patients with refractory DME to bevacizumab, who underwent intravitreal DEX implantation and 12-month follow-up, were reviewed. Eyes in which central subfield thickness (CST) increased over 50 μm at 3 months compared with the first month after intravitreal DEX implantation were categorized into the early recurrence group, and the others were categorized into the late recurrence group. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), CST, and number of HRF on SD-OCT were analyzed. Results. Twenty-nine eyes of 26 patients (16 eyes in the early recurrence group and 13 eyes in the late recurrence group) were included in this study. The numbers of HRF in entire retina, inner retina, and outer retina at baseline in the early recurrence group (11.38 ± 3.07 in entire retina, 5.44 ± 1.50 in inner retina, 5.94 ± 2.74 in outer retina) were significantly greater than those in the late recurrence group (7.54 ± 3.60 in entire retina, p=0.006; 4.08 ± 1.70 in inner retina, p=0.034; 3.46 ± 2.30 in outer retina, p=0.013). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a higher number of HRF increased the risk of early recurrence after intravitreal DEX implantation (odds ratio in entire retina: 1.518, p=0.012; odds ratio in inner retina: 2.058, p=0.027; odds ratio in outer retina: 1.610, p=0.029). Conclusions. Higher baseline numbers of HRF on SD-OCT may be a predictive indicator of early recurrence of macular edema after intravitreal DEX implantation for DME.

In electronic packaging, Sn-Zn lead-free solder has great application prospects. Sn-9Zn-xBi alloys were obtained by smelting. This paper details a systematic study of the effect of Bi on the microstructure, melting behavior, wettability, mechanical behavior, antioxidant properties, and electrical conductivity of Sn-9Zn-xBi alloy, as well as the interfacial reaction in Sn-9Zn-xBi/Cu joints. The coarse Zn-rich phase became larger with an increase in the addition of Bi, which is harmful to the oxidation resistance of the solders. The melting temperature, solidus temperature, and liquidus temperature decreased with the increase in the addition of Bi, but the melting range increased. Adding a proper amount of Bi could substantially improve the spreading rate of Sn-9Zn, but reduce its oxidation resistance. Because of the solid solution effect of Bi element, the tensile strength of the Sn-9Zn solders could be enhanced, but the plastic and electrical conductivity was decreased. The IMC layer of the Sn-9Zn and Cu joints consisted of the ε-CuZn5 phase and the γ-Cu5Zn8 phase. With an increase in the Bi element, the thickness of the interfacial reaction layer was firstly increased. When the Bi element content exceeded 3 wt.%, the inhibitory effect of the aggregated Bi elements on the formation of IMC was greater than the positive effect of the longer reaction time, and the thickness of the IMC decreased.

Phenol and formalin are major water pollutants that are frequently discharged into the aquatic milieu. These chemicals can affect broad domains of life, including microorganisms. Aquatic pollutants, unlike terrestrial pollutants, are easily diluted in water environments and exist at a sub-inhibitory concentration (sub-IC), thus not directly inhibiting bacterial growth. However, they can modulate gene expression profiles. The sub-IC values of phenol and formalin were measured by minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) assay to be 0.146% (1.3 mM) and 0.0039% (0.38 mM), respectively, in Edwardsiella piscicida CK108, a Gram-negative fish pathogen. We investigated the differentially expressed genes (DEG) by RNA-seq when the cells were exposed to the sub-ICs of phenol and formalin. DEG analyses revealed that genes involved in major virulence factors (type I fimbriae, flagella, type III and type VI secretion system) and various cellular pathways (energy production, amino acid synthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and two-component regulatory systems) were up- or downregulated by both chemicals. The genome-wide gene expression data corresponded to the results of a quantitative reverse complementary-PCR and motility assay. This study not only provides insight into how a representative fish pathogen, E. piscicida CK108, responds to the sub-ICs of phenol and formalin but also shows the importance of controlling chemical pollutants in aquatic environments.

A method for classification luminous intensity distribution curves with fixed tolerance zones for luminous intensity values is developed. The method defines the luminous intensity distribution not by a single curve, but by a zone as a limiting locus for variations of luminous intensity of luminaires with a total flux of 1000 lm. Based on this methodology, the new classification contains 14 standard distribution curves with tolerance zones. The design data for lighting installations are thus greatly reduced and standardised. The improvement of luminaire quality will be promoted through including standard luminous intensity distribution curves in engineering documentation. Requirements will be as closely matched as possible to the luminaire intensity distribution, taking into account that the intensity distribution curve of a luminaire never coincides precisely with the required one. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A multi-functional chemosensor 1 as silver and sulfide detector was synthesized by the combination of octopamine and 4-dimethylaminocinnamaldehyde. Sensor 1 exhibited a ratiometric fluorescence emission for Ag+ from blue to sky. The binding mode of 1 and Ag+ turned out to be a 1 : 1 ratio as determined using Job plot and electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectral analyses. The sensing mechanism of 1 with silver ion was unravelled by 1H NMR titrations and theoretical calculations. Sensor 1 also discerned sulfide by enhancing fluorescence intensity and changing colour from yellow to colourless in aqueous solution. The sensing properties of 1 toward S2− were investigated by using ESI-mass analysis, Job plot and 1H NMR titrations. Moreover, 1 could be used as a detector for sulfide in a wide pH range.

Purpose. To investigate the effectiveness of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist in patients with steroid-induced central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). Methods. A retrospective review was conducted of steroid-induced CSC patients who were treated with the MR antagonist spironolactone 50 mg once per day for at least 1 month. The primary outcome measure was complete resolution rate of subretinal fluid (SRF) after spironolactone treatment. Secondary outcomes included central subfield thickness (CST), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) changes after spironolactone treatment. Results. Seventeen eyes from 15 patients were included in this study. Conditions warranting chronic systemic steroid use were myasthenia gravis (6/15, 40%), glomerulonephritis (5/15, 33.3%), and organ transplantation (4/15, 26.7%). Mean symptom duration of CSC was 4.00 ± 3.04 months. After spironolactone treatment, 14 eyes (82.4%) showed complete resolution of SRF (P