ANALYSIS OF FIELDER STARTS AND BENCH ABILITY ON AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL PLAYERS

The development of athletes or players depends on two aspects: nature and nurture. The former is the talent and qualification of the players themselves, while the latter is the training that consumes human, material and financial resources. Take professional baseball players as an example. Matching the talents of players and referring to the relevant starting rules of the professional baseball league, when the up-and-coming players are first discovered, focused training are used on them. By doing so, the value of the players would be effectively enhanced and the players are helped to seek a better way out. This can form a virtuous circle: the pellets get quality players, and the players get better results. That is to say, strengthening the training for the shortcomings of the players with the potential of the starting players can avoid unnecessary training and huge training expenses behind them, and greatly reduce the risk of career, so that the players have higher security in their short career, and get a win-win-win situation. This study is aimed at the schedule information of the American Baseball League teams. Through feature selection of data mining, this study analyzes the main relationships and key differences between starting player and bench player of second baseman and shortstop in League of Nations teams. It is found that the on base percentage and speed of the infielders is an important ability indicator for the starting position; whereas, the second baseman emphasizes on the attack and the shortstop focuses on fielding. This feature is verified by comparing the opinions of experts and commentators.  Article visualizations

Effects of different ceramic and dentin thicknesses on the temperature rise during photocuring

AbstractBackground/purposeThe aims of this investigation were to describe the effect of different ceramic and remaining dentin thicknesses on substrate temperature during photocuring, and investigate whether the temperature increased by >5.5°C for different dentin/ceramic combinations.Materials and methodsThree groups of dentin thicknesses of 1.0 (D1.0), 1.5 (D1.5), and 2.0 mm (D2.0), and three groups of ceramic thicknesses of 1.5 (C1.5), 2.5 (C2.5), and 3.5 mm (C3.5) were examined. Temperature changes and the maximum temperature were observed under a high-intensity halogen light (QTH-Atralis 10 ECS program at 1200mW/cm2 for 30 seconds, Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Schaan, Liechtenstein). Four groups, D1.0–C1.5 (+11°C), D1.5–C1.5 (+7.2°C), D1.0–C2.5 (+6.7°C), and D2–0C1.5 (+5.8°C), demonstrated temperature changes of >5.5°C.Results and ConclusionsA statistical analysis showed that separate individual thicknesses and combinations of dentin and ceramic had significant effects on temperature changes (P<0.01). It was observed that the ceramic exhibited a smaller temperature shielding effect than dentin. Clinically, it would be optimal to preserve the dentin to avoid damaging pulp tissues. Where there is insufficient overall thickness (≤3.5mm), continuous high-energy output photocuring should be avoided to protect pulp tissues from thermal injury

High-Mobility Pentacene-Based Thin-Film Transistors With a Solution-Processed Barium Titanate Insulator

Abstract—Pentacene-based organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) with solution-processed barium titanate (Ba1.2Ti0.8O3) as a gate insulator are demonstrated. The electrical properties of pentacene-based TFTs show a high field-effect mobility of 8.85 cm2 · V−1 · s−1, a low threshold voltage of −1.89 V, and a low subthreshold slope swing of 310 mV/decade. The chemical composition and binding energy of solution-processed barium titanate thin films are analyzed through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The matching surface energy on the surface of the barium titanate thin film is 43.12 mJ · m−2, which leads to Stranski–Krastanov mode growth, and thus, high mobility is exhibited in pentacene-based TFTs. Index Terms—Barium titanate, high field-effect mobility, high permittivity, organic thin-filmtransistor (OTFT), solution process

Ocular post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

AbstractWe report a case of an iris tumor with mutton-fat keratic precipitates in a young patient after liver transplantation surgery. A 6-year-old girl underwent liver transplantation for congenital biliary atresia and was subsequently immunosuppressed with oral cyclosporine. We examined her 5 years after transplantation because of a “white nodule in her left eye,” which had been detected by her father one day before visiting our clinic. Ophthalmological examinations revealed symmetric visual acuity and normal afferent papillary reflex. Slit-lamp examination revealed a depigmented iris nodule approximately3 × 2 mm with mutton-fat keratic precipitates in the anterior chamber. Fundus examination was unremarkable, and computed tomography (CT) of the head, neck, and abdomen showed normal findings. Based on the suspicion of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), therapy was initiated, which included tapering cyclosporine and topical mydriatics. After 2.5 months, the lesion resolved and no more mutton-fat keratic precipitates were identified in the anterior chamber. In this PTLD case, the patient presented with an iris nodule and mutton-fat keratic precipitates, and the ocular PTLD presentation resolved spontaneously after tapering cyclosporine

An overview of epigenetics and chemoprevention

AbstractIt is now appreciated that both genetic alteration, e.g. mutations, and aberrant epigenetic changes, e.g. DNA methylation, cause cancer. Epigenetic dysregulation is potentially reversible which makes it attractive as targets for cancer prevention. Synthetic drugs targeting enzymes, e.g. DNA methyltransferase and histone deacetylase, that regulate epigenetic patterns are active in clinical settings. In addition, dietary factors have been suggested to have potential to reverse aberrant epigenetic patterns. Uncovering the human epigenome can lead us to better understand the dynamics of DNA methylation in disease progression which can further assist in cancer prevention

Acute necrotizing eosinophilic myocarditis in a young woman

Abstract Eosinophilic myocarditis is recognized by severe heart failure and marked eosinophilia infiltration resulting from different etiologies. Acute necrotizing eosinophilic myocarditis, the initial presentation of the disease, is rare and often fatal, with unique echocardiographic pictures, and followed by endocardial thrombosis and chronic endomyocardial fibrosis. We report a young female with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who presented fever and acute heart failure syndrome. The echocardiography showed severe left ventricle diastolic dysfunction with preserved ejection fraction. Systemic eosinophilia and the unique echocardiographic images made the diagnosis of acute necrotizing eosinophilic myocarditis. The patient survived after intensive cytotoxic chemotherapy including high-dose steroid

An overview of the Phalaenopsis orchid genome through BAC end sequence analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Phalaenopsis </it>orchids are popular floral crops, and development of new cultivars is economically important to floricultural industries worldwide. Analysis of orchid genes could facilitate orchid improvement. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) end sequences (BESs) can provide the first glimpses into the sequence composition of a novel genome and can yield molecular markers for use in genetic mapping and breeding.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We used two BAC libraries (constructed using the <it>Bam</it>HI and <it>Hin</it>dIII restriction enzymes) of <it>Phalaenopsis equestris </it>to generate pair-end sequences from 2,920 BAC clones (71.4% and 28.6% from the <it>Bam</it>HI and <it>Hin</it>dIII libraries, respectively), at a success rate of 95.7%. A total of 5,535 BESs were generated, representing 4.5 Mb, or about 0.3% of the <it>Phalaenopsis </it>genome. The trimmed sequences ranged from 123 to 1,397 base pairs (bp) in size, with an average edited read length of 821 bp. When these BESs were subjected to sequence homology searches, it was found that 641 (11.6%) were predicted to represent protein-encoding regions, whereas 1,272 (23.0%) contained repetitive DNA. Most of the repetitive DNA sequences were gypsy- and copia-like retrotransposons (41.9% and 12.8%, respectively), whereas only 10.8% were DNA transposons. Further, 950 potential simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were discovered. Dinucleotides were the most abundant repeat motifs; AT/TA dimer repeats were the most frequent SSRs, representing 253 (26.6%) of all identified SSRs. Microsynteny analysis revealed that more BESs mapped to the whole-genome sequences of poplar than to those of grape or <it>Arabidopsis</it>, and even fewer mapped to the rice genome. This work will facilitate analysis of the <it>Phalaenopsis </it>genome, and will help clarify similarities and differences in genome composition between orchids and other plant species.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Using BES analysis, we obtained an overview of the <it>Phalaenopsis </it>genome in terms of gene abundance, the presence of repetitive DNA and SSR markers, and the extent of microsynteny with other plant species. This work provides a basis for future physical mapping of the <it>Phalaenopsis </it>genome and advances our knowledge thereof.</p

Surface Second Harmonic Generation from Topological Dirac Semimetal PdTe2_2

Recent experiments and calculations in topological semimetals have observed anomalously strong second-order optical nonlinearity, but yet whether the enhancement also occurs at surfaces of topological semimetals in general remains an open question. In this work, we tackle this problem by measuring polarization-dependent and rotational-anisotropy optical second harmonic generation (SHG) from centrosymmetric type-II Dirac semimetal PdTe$_2$. We found the SHG to follow C$_{3v}$ surface symmetry with a time-varying intensity dictated by the oxidation kinetics of the material after its surface cleavage, indicating the surface origin of SHG. Quantitative characterization of the surface nonlinear susceptibility indicates a large out-of-plane response of PdTe$_2$ with $|\chi_{ccc}^{(2)}|$ up to 25 $\times$ 10$^{-18}$ m$^2$/V. Our results support the topological surfaces/interfaces as a new route toward applications of nonlinear optical effects with released symmetry constraints, and demonstrate SHG as a viable means to in situ study of kinetics of topological surfaces