Experiments The sample used in this work, 3 wt% Pd supported on Al2O3, is set in the in-situ cell. The reduction by H2 and the oxidation by O2 were measured by the DXAFS instrument at NW2A beam line (PF-AR) at the vicinity of the Pd K edge. A Si(511) bent crystal (Laue type) was used as the polychromator with the bending radius of 0.9 m, and a photodiode array was used as the linear detector. All measurements were carried out at 673 K. Results and Discussion An example of the XANES spectral change for the reduction and oxidation process is shown in Fig. 1 and 2, respectively. The spectrum before the reduction is consistent with that of PdO with the white line peak top at 24.363 keV. After the reduction by H2, PdO is perfectly converted to metallic Pd. Some isosbestic points are clearly observed in the spectral change and they are independent on the reaction conditions. The reduced Pd(0) species is quantitatively oxidized to the initial PdO state by O2 as seen in Fig. 2. The observed isosbestic points are in agreement with those of reduction process. The redox reactions are thus found to occur reversibly at 673 K. The change of absorbance at 24.363 keV (the white line peak top of PdO) was shown in Fig. 3 and 4 as a function of time for the reduction and oxidation reaction, respectively. The reduction with H2 is completed within ca. 1 s under the H2 pressure of 20.6 kPa at 673 K (Fig. 3). It is found that the absorbance is linearly changed vs. time, suggesting the zero-order reaction for Pd. This means that the Pd species does not contribute to the reaction before the system reaches to the transition state. The change in the H2 species may be the rate-determining step for the reduction process of PdO on Al2O3. In contrast, the absorbance is exponentially changed for the oxidation process, indicating that the reaction is first-order for Pd. The oxidation of Pd(0) by O2 is relatively slower than the reduction of PdO by H2, but is completed within ca. 3 s under the O2 pressure of 50.7 kPa at 673 K. The redox reactions of Pd on Al2O3 proceed reversibly and the reaction rates are found to be dependent on the gas pressure for both reactions. The reaction mechanisms can be revealed by the kinetic analysis of the absorbance change and by the evaluation of the pressure dependence of the rate constants. The microscopic structure change during reactions will be clarified by the dynamic EXAFS analyses.


Wolfe, Alan. Political Evil: What It Is and How to Combat It. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. vii + 339 pages. Cloth, $27.95. Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science at Boston College and contributing editor of The New Republic magazine, evaluates "political evil"--i.e., genocide, ethnic cleansing, and terrorism. He argues that many governments misinterpret forms of "political evil"--e.g., incorrectly identifying cases of ethnic cleansing as genocide which causes those governments to respond ineptly to such situations. Wolfe asserts that the governments of Israel and the United States misunderstand the practitioners of terrorism and, thus, respond with unrestrained violence that contributes to the terrorist leaders' effectiveness in recruiting adherents. One of the catalysts for Western leaders who are Christians to overreact to "political evil," Wolfe states, is a conception of evil as an object that has its own identity. Wolfe traces this notion to "a third-century Persian prophet named Mani, who viewed the world as a constant struggle between the forces of good and those of evil" (p. 50). The Christian theologian St. Augustine, a fifth-century bishop of Hippo in Roman Africa, became intrigued by Mani's idea, studied it exhaustively, and finally repudiated it as heretical. To Wolfe, President George W. Bush's characterization of terrorism as a manifestation of evil that stands alongside and threatens good is incongruous, given Bush's self-professed, born-again Christian faith. "Bush drew so easily upon the language of evil because he was one of the most religious of America's presidents" (p. 83). However, in focusing on evil as a separate force, Bush ultimately embraced Mani rather than Jesus. Wolfe contends that "political evil" is not an independent force of nature; rather, it is an impulse in human beings that may motivate them to inflict harm on others to accomplish political objectives: "... [T]errorism is a form of political evil rather than an embodiment of evil per se" (p. 147). Therefore, leaders of democratic nations should respond to "political evil" with political solutions, rather than with calls for a crusade against evil. Treating "political evil" as an entity in its own right leads to rhetoric that equates Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, and Osama bin Laden with each other. Logically, as the rhetoric continues, any response to "political evil" that is less than furious and bloodthirsty draws a contemptuous analogy to the infamous Munich Agreement of September 1938. Inevitably, leaders of democratic nations can be agitated to resort to extreme measures, such as torturing suspected terrorists, that resemble the acts of the evildoers themselves. The objective of terrorist groups like al-Qaeda is to discredit and disrupt the order and stability of liberal societies. …


An equation for analyzing the kinetic results for the droplet-train apparatus with a wall loss is derived. We show that the presence of a radial concentration gradient due to loss on the flow reactor wall significantly affects the measured uptake coefficient γmeas on droplets in the center of the reactor. For an efficient wall loss, γmeas can be ∼60% less than that calculated without consideration of the loss on the wall. This revision of the kinetics for species with a wall loss leads to an increase in the uncertainty of the extracted gas−surface reaction probability for high water vapor pressure experimental conditions.


Method for performing dual-mode rate control in a wireless communication system to the access point, including operation and operation of the multi-user mode of single-user mode. In single-user mode, the base rate for a station is determined based on channel conditions. In multi-user mode, the rate for the plurality of stations is determined using the tracking. Tracking includes performing a sounding for a plurality of stations. Then, the first multi-user current rate is set equal to a function of the number and the base rate of the user. Transmission to the plurality of stations is performed using the current rate. Packet error rate (PER) are detected during transmission to multiple stations. Current rate is adjusted based on PER. After rate adjustment, sounding is triggered, or, the method returns to sending sent using the current rate.


Purpose

Smartphones have become a critical medium by which people remain in contact with family, friends, and colleagues. A variety of factors have contributed to the rapid prevalence of smartphones. The most influential factor is definitely the mobile platform or mobile operating system (OS). The purpose of this paper is to employ a theoretical framework based on an information systems success model and a theory values to examine the factors that affect smartphone users' switching mobile OSs. Habit is regarded as a moderating variable to construct an integrated research model which helps researchers unveil the puzzle of users' switching mobile OSs.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 424 users on their perceptions of smartphones. A structural equation modeling was used to assess the relationships of the research model.

Findings

The results of the study have shown that users consider the perceived switching value and satisfaction arising from their behaviors when deciding whether to switch to another mobile OS. Quality characteristics, including information quality, system quality, and service quality, are the key factors determining people's perceived switching value and satisfaction. The participants of the study were grouped by degree of habit. The effect on satisfaction was not significant in the high-habit subgroup. Nevertheless, it has been found that the influence of the perceived switching value was stronger in the low-habit subgroup than in the high-habit subgroup.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a theoretical understanding of factors that explain users' intention to switch mobile OSs.


Technology and engineering have become critical components of 21st-century life. Therefore, technology and engineering literacy (TEL) need to be achieved by youngsters, not only vocational and technological school students but also students at general secondary schools. As a result, general education at primary and secondary education should have a mission to develop students' TEL. However, so far there is no technology or engineering courses at primary and general secondary school level curriculum, so that formally no vehicle available to deliver technology and engineering knowledge and skills to support the development of TEL. In such circumstances science courses that exist in primary and general secondary school curriculum need to take a role to develop TEL in addition to its main function to develop students' scientific literacy. Therefore, this paper reviewed the study of technology and engineering literacy improvement in primary and secondary schools by investigating the implementation of methods in other countries. Japan and U.S was chosen as an investigated sample because of its development in STEM-based activity that was considered as an approach to deliver technology and engineering. The result showed that there were two methods implementation in formal and non-formal setting (out of school), that embedded engineering practice in the program activities. Keywords—Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL), STEMbased activity


The two-point boundary value problem for interaction between the fundamental and second harmonic inside a ring resonator filled with a χ(2) medium is analyzed.


We construct an elliptic curve of rank at least 4 over Q(t) with a rational point of order 4. We also show an infinite family of elliptic curves of rank at least 5 over Q with a rational point of order 4, which is parametrized by the rational points of an elliptic curve of rank at least 1.


Surface alloying of metallic materials implemented by a liquid-phase mixing of thin deposited film with upper layer of substrate using a low-energy, high-current electron beam (LEHCEB) has been investigated. In surface alloying, LEHCEB has been employed as a source of energy that is delivered to the near-surface layer of the workpiece and released there. The electron-beam parameters were: 2–3 µs pulse duration and 30 keV maximum electron energy. Deposition of metallic films was performed by means of magnetron sputtering. Systems of metals examined were Zr-Ti, Ni-Cu as well as Stainless Steel deposited on Cu substrate. Investigation of cross-section of the samples revealed that concentration of the substrate material changes gradually from 100 in the bulk to almost 0% at the surface. In contrast, the concentration of the alloyed material changes from 0 in the bulk to about 100% at the surface. In such a way the composition of formed surface alloy represents two different metallic materials bonded via a transition layer. Investigations of properties of Cu electrodes alloyed by Ni showed in particularly that they reveal improved electric strength of vacuum insulation compared to that for the initial and LEHCEB-irradiated electrodes made of pure copper.


Offshore windfarms is an emerging technology in the wind energy conversion system. For onshore wind farms high voltage overhead lines are used for transmitting power from the wind farm to the grid. However this option is not possible in the case of an offshore windfarm as large part of the distance to connection point must be covered by submarine cables. The application of high voltage dc (HVDC) transmission for integrating large scale and/or off-shore wind generation systems with the electric grid is attractive in comparison to extra high voltage (EHV) ac transmission due to a variety of reasons like efficiency, economics etc. In the case of HVDC transmission a converter is connected between the wind farm and the utility grid. Even though CSC's and VSC's are widely used for the realization of large HVDC systems, as an alternative approach Bridge of Bridge converter (BoBC) is introduced recently. In this work the performance of the VSC and BoBC are compared and analyzed. The simulation is done using PSCAD/EMTDC software. Compared with the onshore wind farms, the offshore wind farms have access to significantly better wind energy resources and hence offer larger energy generating capability. Therefore offshore wind farms are gaining importance and the BoBC proves to be better than the VSC for similar applications.


Web Usage Mining is the application of Data Mining process used for understanding the behavioural patterns of the web user. The web usage patterns are stored in web server and inthe form of web access log files. These web access log files carries full blue print of the usage data of the web pages. The web usage mining researchers uses this web log files to analysis the behaviour of the web user. The extracted patterns from the web log files are clustered for analyzing using proposed PSO-K-Harmonic technique. The clustered navigational patterns are analyzed with proposed negative association rules and pruned with negative selection algorithm.


Since the least squares estimation is not appropriate when multicollinearity exists among the regressors of the linear regression model, the principal components regression is used to deal with the multicollinearity problem. This article suggests a new procedure for the selection of suitable principal components. The procedure is based on the condition index instead of the eigenvalue. The principal components corresponding to the indices are removed from the model if any condition indices are larger than the upper limit of the cutoff value. On the other hand, the corresponding principal components are included if any condition indices are smaller than the lower limit. The forward inclusion method is employed to select proper principal components if any condition indices are between the upper limit and the lower limit. The limits are obtained from the linear model which is constructed on the basis of the conjoint analysis. The procedure is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulation in terms of the mean square error of estimator. The simulation results indicate that the proposed procedure is superior to the existing methods.


. We consider 12 -BPS circular Wilson loops in a class of 5d superconformal field theories on S 5 . The large N limit of the vacuum expectation values of Wilson loops are computed both by localization in the field theory and by evaluating the fundamental string and D4-brane actions in the dual massive IIA supergravity background. We find agreement in the leading large N limit for a rather general class of representations, including fundamental, anti-symmetric and symmetric representations. For single-node theories the match is straightforward, while for quiver theories, the Wilson loop can be in different representations for each node. We highlight the two special cases when the Wilson loop is in either in all symmetric or all anti-symmetric representations. In the anti-symmetric case, we find that the vacuum expectation value factorizes into distinct contributions from each quiver node. In the dual supergravity description, this corresponds to probe D4-branes wrapping internal S 3 cycles. The story is more complicated in the symmetric case and the vacuum expectation value does not exhibit factorization.


This study aims to analyze the influence of the social environment, the level of knowledge of taxation, the perception of ease of technology, and the quality of tax services on the level of tax compliance. The subjects in this study are taxpayers registered at the Demak Primary Tax Office. The study was conducted using a questionnaire as an instrument for primary data collection. In this study a sample of 50 people were all made as respondents. To measure the influence of the social environment, the level of tax knowledge, the perception of ease of technology, and the quality of service tax on the level of taxpayer compliance using multiple regression analysis.
The results showed that the social environment, the level of knowledge of taxation, the perception of ease of technology, and the quality of service tax had a positive influence on the level of tax compliance. The results also show that around 77.2% of the level of taxpayer compliance can be explained by social environment variables, level of tax knowledge, perceived ease of technology, and quality of tax services. While the remaining 22.8% is influenced by other variables not examined.


Ovalbumin was hydrolysed with Pronase-P, and the carbohydrate-containing fragments were isolated as two glycopeptides. From partial hydrolysate of glycopeptides in 2N hydrochloric acid, N-acetylglucosamine-asparagine compound was isolated in pure, crystalline state, and its structure was established for N-(L-β-aspartyl)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-D-glucosylamine.


This paper takes an event study approach to jointly examine the wealth and risk effects associated with electronic commerce announcements, contributing to the emerging research on the riskiness of IT investments and the trade-off between risk and return in the information systems literature. We estimate a generalized event study model that allows for both systematic and unsystematic risk changes on data collected for electronic commerce announcements in the 1996--2002 time frame. A striking result emerging from our analysis is that wealth effects are not significant after controlling for contemporaneous risk changes. Both total and unsystematic risk show a significant postevent increase in 1998 and 2000, whereas systematic risk adjusts downward in 1996 and 2002. Put together, our results contribute to our nascent understanding of how IT initiatives affect the risk-return profile of the firm.


The inhibition of mild steel corrosion in 0.5 M sulphuric acid solution by ethanol extracts of Parinari polyandra as an eco-friendly inhibitor was studied at different temperatures by weight loss technique and linear polarization. The test plant extracts has a promising inhibitory action against corrosion of mild steel in the sulphuric acid media. The inhibition efficiencies increase with a corresponding increase in the concentration of the inhibitor. The adsorption of the inhibitor on mild steel surface is exothermic, spontaneous and is best described by Freundlich and Temkim adsorption models. Calculated values of activation energy, enthalpy of activation, entropy of activation, free energy of adsorption and the trend in the variation of inhibition efficiency with temperature, the mechanism of the process is by physical adsorption. Ethanol extract of Parinari polyandra is a good adsorption inhibitor for the corrosion of mild steel in sulphuric acid. Tafel polarization analyses indicate that the studied plant extract is a mixed type inhibitor.

 Key words: Isotherm, polarization, adsorption, inhibitor, Parinari polyandra.


The success of Wali Songo in building a harmonious social order during a diverse society is written in the manuscript of the book "Tarikh Perjuangan Islam Indonesia" by K.H.R As'ad Syamsul Arifin. This study aims to explore the values of Wali Songo's da'wah bil-irshad in building social order harmony in the manuscript of the book "Tarikh Perjuangan Islam Indonesia" by K.H.R. As'ad Syamsul Arifin from a counseling perspective. The research method uses a hermeneutic approach. The results showed that the personality profile of Wali Songo has the integrity of shalih (which comes from psychospiritual sufism) and has the competence of shalahiyyah (scientific quality as fuqaha and siyasi skills). Techniques are applied by exemplary (social model), friendship to build social relationships, form organizations, provide a forum for activities to gather together, and train several cadres through Islamic boarding schools. With these characters and techniques, Wali Songo was able to form the khaira ummah's personality and form a harmonious social order between the ulama, umara and the ummat on an ongoing basis. This research is a subject development of "Da'wah Science", "Islamic Guidance and Counseling", "Multicultural Counseling", and "Islamic Psychology", which were extracted from the books of Islamic boarding school ulama.


Submitted for publication: December 10, 2019 Accepted for publication: December 16, 2019 Funding: This study received no specific financial support. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: None of the authors have any potential conflicts of interest to disclose. Corresponding author: Rodrigo P. C. Lira. E-mail: email@example.com Survival analysis is a non-parametric statistical model in which the dependent variable is the "time interval" and the independent variable is the "occurrence or not" of a given event(1-4). The analysis measures and compares the lapsed times from interventions or exposures to given "events." Understanding the concept of median survival, the time interval in which the event occurs in 50% of participants, is essential. The median survival has a similar meaning to that of the means and standard deviation used in classical descriptive statistics. Kaplan-Meier curve estimators are named after the creators of this broadly used method in medicine(5) that estimates the probability of survival, under different conditions and at different time intervals with a graph that illustrates the probability over time. In medicine, survival analyses are used to predict the longevity of surgical interventions such as fistulas or transplants, as well as the longevity of disease-free or complication-free periods in various forms of chronic diseases and malignancies (Box 1). Survival analyses are excellent for evaluating outcomes and helping to make therapeutic decisions anticipating progressions. These analyses may be applied in comparative longitudinal studies on the safety and efficacy of clinical or surgical treatments. Box 1. Examples of relevant observations in general medicine and ophthalmology, using survival analysis


) that retain many larval characteristics in the adultstage. They are pelagic at night, remaining in the water column, and benthicby day (Leis et al., 1989; Watson, 2004). Kon & Yoshino (2002) and Konet al. (2007) stated that the Schindleriidae includes one of the smallest andyoungest reproducing vertebrates (average 37 days old). Landaeta et al.(2002) also found that Schindleria praematura (Schindler) is a fast-growing fishwith a very short life span (no more than 2 or 3 months) based on otolith anal-ysis. Schindleriids have been recorded from the reef habitats in many areas ofthe Indo-Pacific oceans, including: southern Japan, south China (Ozawa M Leis, 1982; Clarke, 1991), Tahiti,Samoa and the Tasman Sea (Bruun, 1940), Great Barrier Reef (Leis, 1994),Laccadine Islands off south-eastern India (Jones & Kumaran, 1964), south-eastern Africa (Harris & Cyrus, 1996), and Salas Y Gomez (Belyanina, 1989;Parin et al., 1997) and Easter Island (Landaeta et al., 2002) in the south-easternPacific. The nearest area to the Red Sea where a schindleriid, Schindleriapietschmanni (Schindler), has been recorded is Madagascar (Sardou, 1974).Only one genus, Schindleria, is known in the family (Johnson & Brothers,1993). Although Kon et al. (2007) estimated that the genus Schindleria may


The proposed technology demonstrates that the use of DC magnetron sputtering results in a deposition of a layer four times faster compared to magnetron sputtering excited by high power pulses, and therefore the process is more efficient and less energy consuming. However, using a high power impulse magnetnetron sputtering leads to deposition of a layer not only by the sputterred atoms but also by the ions of the sputtered material, which results in the preparation of improved thin films (e.g. greater adhesion to the substrate, lower roughness or higher density), and thus it leads to depostion of thin films with higher added values. In this case, up to 48% of ions of sputered materials will be deposited at the substrate position.


The new cellulose derivative containing nitrogen Propionic Acid Hydrazide-3-(OCellulose) was prepared from bleached kraft bagasse pulp via the formation of methyl propionate-3-(OCellulose), [MPC]. Different reaction variables were applied during the formation of [MPC], such as : sodium hydroxide concentration, sodium hydroxide to cellulose ratio, time and temperature of reaction. On the basis of the results from IR-absorption spectra the optimum conditions of the formation of [MPC] by Michael addition reaction were determined. The prepared Propionic Acid-Hydrazide-3-(OCellulose) ; [PAHC], and its combination with some metal ions were characterized by FTIR-spectra, micro-analyses and thermal analysis. The thermal properties were evaluated by non-isothermal TGA and the activation energies of the degradation of the samples were calculated using the Coats and Redfern equation.


Geodesign tools can be used to support collaborative processes (STEINITZ 2012). Typical tools combine different methods, such as simulation models, spatial multicriteria analysis, visualization, and optimization. User-friendly interfaces allow multiple users to provide input and generate real-time output to support negotiated spatial decisions (SIEBER 2006; GEERTMAN & STILLWELL 2009; PELZER et al. 2013).


Empirical studies are used frequently in software engineering as a method for studying and understanding software engineering techniques and methods. When conducting studies, researchers make assumptions about three objects, people, processes and products. Researchers usually focus their study on only one of those objects. But, regardless of which type of object is chosen as the focus of the study, researchers make assumptions about all three objects. The impact of those assumptions on experimental validity varies depending on the focus of the study. In this paper, we discuss the various types of assumptions that researchers make. We relate those assumptions back to some concepts from social science research. We then use the results of a people-focused study to illustrate the impact of the assumptions on the results of that study.


This work addresses the issues of security, social control and focuses on the problem of the production of order in urban spaces such as railway stations and shopping centers. Which actors follow which security policies towards which social groups and why? The answer is based on theoretical work and on fieldwork carried out in four sites: two railway stations and two shopping centers in Lyon and Milan. The methods employed include direct observation, more than 90 interviews and archival research. To explain how order is produced, it is necessary to articulate the various levels of analysis in sociology (micro, meso, macro). The thesis is therefore organized around three problems. The first problem is that of the actors of the production of order and the stakes which animate the definition of the security policies that they implement. Private actors and public actors are animated by different logics which depend on the stakes of their auspices. The police have stakes of public order, which lead them to follow specific security policies. Shopping centers and railway companies have commercial stakes, which lead them to follow different policies. Competition within the same space creates tensions which are resolved differently in France and Italy according to the institutional context. The second problem is that of the power relationships one can find at the micro level on each space between the actors of the production of order and the populations considered as potentially threatening. Fieldwork shows that the majority of these populations manage to establish a power relationship that constrains organizations to implement more tolerant security policies. The actual security policies are not just socially defined, they emerge out of the micro-level daily interactions with the deviant populations. The third problem is that of the relationship between the production of order and immigration. In Lyon and Milan, in both shopping centers and both railway stations, the populations considered as threatening by the police and commercial stakeholders are invariably the immigrants in Italy and the children of immigrants in France. This finding raises a problem of interpretation: is the penal focus on immigrants a functional response to over-delinquency or is it over-criminalization of particular social groups? Data show that the question cannot be reduced to the over-delinquency of immigrants, nor it is a by-product of the labor market. In the two countries, interviews reveal "us"/"them" classifications based on immigration. Immigrants incrimination relies therefore not only on rational-action schemes. This work therefore suggests the formulation of a functionalist hypothesis of the incrimination of the immigrants: in European societies facing profound social change, to merge the issues of crime and immigration may enhance the solidarity of the mainstream social group.


To introduce and evaluate a method for signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) improvement and T2 shine‐through effect reduction in diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI).


To what extent MNCs achieve the outcomes desired by host country stakeholders is yet to receive the attention it deserves in the mainstream international business literature. There is much ambiguity regarding how to deal with cooperative global innovations as they evolve from being subpatentable learning experiments to commercially viable patents with potentially large social impact. Our research shows that the contribution of MNCs in the form of exports and royalties is significantly lower than the contribution made by local firms. Insufficient attention to local subsidiary interests may undermine the motivation of subsidiary managers to discover new sources of advantage for the MNC. It may also discourage subsidiary country governments from offering incentives to MNCs for inward FDI.


HE teaching practice and curricula. The paper presents five approaches taken across the four Faculties at Strathclyde (Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and the Strathclyde Business School) and examines the challenges and opportunities involved in establishing a "collaborative programme" of ESD: a coordinated and complementary ESD provision that is accessible to students at all levels of study and across all disciplines. The paper will outline and compare the structure, design and implementation methods of each initiative and discuss the benefits observed and opportunities for progression. Finally, the paper will consider the key lessons learned from the implementation of these initiatives and how they will inform the future integration and delivery of ESD at Strathclyde, which may be translatable to other like-minded institutions.


Migration is both a quest for security, and an act that exposes one to new kinds of insecurity, especially for international migrants. We argue that a human security approach to researching migration issues can provide additional insights. It is migrant-centered and person-centered, systematically investigating the opportunities and vulnerabilities of complex persons. Human security adds an ontology that better grounds the work of explanation, evaluation and policy analysis. A literature review of the two areas (human security and migration studies) aids in revealing the issues at hand. The paper addresses gaps and weaknesses in the gender component of migration studies. A human security framework is not viewed as essential to the research, but may broach relevant, valuable and distinctive elements relating to theme of common security.


Objective To investigate the protective effect of AL-1 and NDS on rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus(DM). Methods Type 2 DM in rats was induced by high-fat diets(HFD) and streptozotocin(STZ, ip, 35 mg·kg- 1). FBG level was determined 1 week after the treatment. Serum superoxide dismutase(SOD), serum malondialdehyde(MDA) and serum nitric oxide synthase(NOS) levels were measured to determine the changes of cellular antioxidant defense system. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and insulin immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate the rat pancreas. Results In HFD and STZ induced type 2 DM model rats, AL-1 lowered the FBG level. The effect of AL-1 was better than that of NDS, andrographolide(Andro) and alpha lipoic acid(LA). AL-1 suppressed the level of serum MDA and improved contents of serum SOD and NOS. Conclusion AL-1 may lower the FBG level in type 2 DM rats. The effect of AL-1 is better than that of NDS. Compared with the chemical structure and protective activity of NDS, the disulfide bond is important for antidiabetic activity. AL-1 is effective in scavenging free radicals, which suggests that anti-oxidation is partially responsible for the effect of AL-1.


Abstract: Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a minor component of the myelin sheath, appears to be implicated in the late events of CNS myelinogenesis. To investigate the transcriptional regulation of MOG, 657 bp of the 5′‐flanking sequence of the murine MOG gene, previously shown to induce the highest level of transcription in an oligodendroglial cell line, was analyzed by in vitro footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. This region contains at least three sites that contact nuclear proteins in vitro. Each region described in this study binds specific nuclear proteins and enhances transcription in the OLN‐93 glial cell line. More specifically, a region located at position ‐93 to ‐73 bp, which displays 100% homology in mouse and human MOG promoters, presents distinct binding affinities between brain and liver nuclear proteins. The results obtained by supershift assay and site‐directed mutagenesis reveal that this region contains an essential positive element (TGACGTGG) related to the cyclic AMP‐responsive element CREB‐1 and are additional evidence for the involvement of the cyclic AMP transduction pathway in oligodendrocyte development.


Multi-detector row CT has great potential to provide not only anatomic but also functional cardiac information if the challenges of improved temporal resolution, ease of image analysis, and radiation dose reduction can be met. In this issue of Radiology, Mahnken et al (6) demonstrate with an animal model some indication of what the future holds in cardiac imaging with multi-detector row CT.


We describe a specification language and architecture for managing distributed software and mapped compute, storage and network infrastructure services dynamically, beyond the state of the art in cloud computing. This is referred to as dynamic application topology orchestration, where the mapping and configuration of distributed, interconnected, interdependent application services and infrastructure resources are dynamically adjusted, according to guarantees in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and operational constraints. The core concepts of our solution are application topology specification and orchestration of SLA management, provisioning, monitoring and response. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) [1] is a contract between a consumer and a provider of a service regarding its usage and quality [2]. It defines guarantees or Quality of Service (QoS) terms under which the services are provided and the ways for checking those guarantees. The SLAs might also contain guaranteed actions, which might be used for enforcing the validity of the guaranteed states. The content of an SLA is inevitably used for concrete instantiation and configuration directives, which parameterize the provisioning of resources, deployment of software and tuning of settings to enable effective operation of the service. We use SLAs as the basis for specifying dynamic behavior of application and infrastructure services, by using an extension of the USDL-SLA [3] vocabulary for describing the guaranteed states and actions (management rules), as well as the conditions required for automatic execution of the actions. The SLAs also contain enough information for determining the context in which the conditions are evaluated. Figure 1 depicts the model used for defining the SLAs, which are used during the actual service deployment phase. The SLA model contains Service Type entities that are used for representing the linked descriptions [4] of the services. Each Service Type specifies one or more Monitoring Metrics that are used during runtime for gathering state information about the actual service instances. The Service Type also specifies a Service Level Profile that contains one or more Service Levels. A Service Level can be either a Guaranteed State or Guaranteed Action, which are used during runtime for checking the state of the services and for performing actions on them, such as scale-up and scale-down. Each Service Level has a Service Level Expression that is used as described below. The Guaranteed State service level specifies a single Service Level Expression, which is used for checking a service stateinvariant. During runtime, the expression is periodically evaluated for each service instance of the specified Service Type and if the guaranteed state is violated, then a log entry will be created, which can then be used for audit purposes.


The thermometer, of Fahrenheit's scale, was observed at eight in the morning, at noon, at four in the afternoon, and at eight in the evening. The barometer, whose scale is French measure, was observed at eight in the morning, and at eight in the evening.


OF THE THESIS.....................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENT .............................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................... x LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... xvi


Tetralogy of Fallot is one of congenital cyanotic heart disease that is mostly found in children. The disorder has four features, a ventricular septal defect, aortic overriding, infundibulary stenotic, and hypertrophy right ventricular. Like other congenital heart disease, tetralogy of Fallot sometimes related to fatal complications, such as bacterial endocarditis which was related to dental infections. The management of oral and dental conditions is important to prevent bacterial endocarditis. This paper discussed the oral and dental conditions and its management in two cases of tetralogy of Fallot in children.


A residential building which had been subjected to an energy efficiency measures study had its indoor thermal climate investigated using two software approaches to understand how each approach would predict the outcome, using the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD). The computational fluid dynamics software (ANSYS CFX) and the building performance simulation (BPS) software (IDA ICE) were used to simulate the indoor thermal climate before and after the measures. The measures included additional insulation and changing the ventilation system. The results showed a difference in how the software packages handled the thermal radiation. The difference was also because CFX could calculate the indoor thermal climate of the whole interior. While the PPD values could remain similar between the CFX solutions, the area with dissatisfaction in the apartment was decreased when the building envelope was improved. These changes gave an improvement for the CFX solutions, which was not possible to predict with IDA ICE because only the central node was visible. The user should be aware of the shortcomings of BPS and building energy simulation software when evaluating the indoor thermal climate to predict changes. A coupling between BPS and CFX software should be considered when new measures or significant changes are planned.


The shear strength characteristics of rock are very concerned in related underground construction. In this paper, in situ direct shear test for the weathered silty mudstone of the direct rock mass in a large section tunnel is carried out, the shear strength parameters are obtained, and some laws on the strength characteristics of this rock are got, such as that the displacement corresponds to the maximum shear stress under the given normal is decreased with increasing of normal loading number. This work provides a reference for the study of rock strength theory and its application.


e16119 Background: The therapeutic strategy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after hepatectomy is limited. There is a significantly unmet clinical need for effective treatment options for these patients. This study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of regorafenib alone or combined with a PD-1 inhibitor as a second or further-line treatment for patients with recurrent HCC after hepatectomy. Methods: Patients receiving regorafenib alone or combined with a PD-1 inhibitor in Peking University People's Hospital from January 2019 to November 2022 were entered prospectively into a clinical database. Data were retrospectively analyzed. The major inclusion criteria were: histologically confirmed diagnosis of HCC; disease recurrence after radical hepatectomy; with tumor that cannot be re-resected; ECOG performance status score (PS) ≤2. Regorafenib was administered at the daily dose of 80-120 mg for more than 4 weeks. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint. The second outcomes included PFS, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and the incidence of drug-related adverse events (AEs). CTCAE v5.0 was used for evaluation of AEs. Results: Twenty-two patients were enrolled with a median age of 59. The hepatic function of all patients was mildly impaired (Child-Pugh A). Among all patients, 36.35% of cases were enrolled in Barcelona Clinic Liver Clinic (BCLC) A and the remainder were in BCLC B. Eight cases (36.36%) received regorafenib in combination with PD-1 inhibitor therapy and 14 cases received regorafenib treatment alone. Among all patients, 86.36% of the cases were treated with regorafenib as second-line therapy. Five patients (22.73%) had extrahepatic metastasis. The median PFS and overall survival (OS) were 11.66 (±10.20) months and 16.92 (±10.21) months, respectively. The 3-month PFS rate was 100%. The 6-month and 12-month PFS rates were 75% (95%CI: 58.49%-96.70%) and 53.33% (95%CI: 34.88%-81.50%), respectively. The results showed a significant difference in median PFS between patients receiving regorafenib as second-line therapy and third-line therapy [12.30 months (95%CI: 4.25-20.36) vs 4.30 months (95%CI: 3.50-5.10); P<0.001]. In addition, there is a significant difference in median PFS between patients with extrahepatic metastasis and those without extrahepatic metastasis [5.20 months (95%CI: 3.48-6.92) vs 18.20 months (95%CI: 5.09-31.31; P=0.003)]. The ORR and DCR were 18.18% and 81.82%. The most frequent AEs were hand-foot syndrome (40.91%), pain (18.18%), diarrhea (13.64%), and hypertension (13.64%). Most AEs were grade 1 or 2, with only 1 case having grade 3 AE. Conclusions: Regorafenib alone or combined with a PD-1 inhibitor showed significant clinical efficacy in controlling the disease progression of recurrent HCC.


Non Destructive Testing (NDT) plays a major role in pavement condition monitoring, assessment and evaluation, allowing continuous real time pavement data collection. Infrared Thermography (IRT) is an NDT technique increasingly being utilized for asphalt pavement evaluation. IRT can be defined as the science of the acquisition and analysis of data from non-contact thermal imaging systems. This paper focuses on illustrating the investigation of the applicability of the IRT technique as a means of pavement quality control and pavement monitoring. For this purpose in-situ surveys were performed using an IRT system on both under construction and in-service asphalt pavements. Thermal data was processed and analyzed leading to useful insights. The temperature differentials, for example, during pavement construction that are associated with asphalt layer quality were easily identified in mat surfaces; in addition IRT seemed to be an efficient tool for the detection of cracks and other surface defects of in-service asphalt pavements. Consequently it could be possible to use infrared thermography as an effective method for pavement quality control applications and the detection of pavement defects.


This investigation is carried out to simulate the in-cylinder non-reacting flow of a two stroke spark ignition internal combustion engine (SIE) with gasoline direct injection (GDI). Computer Aided Design (CAD) model was built based on the LUPOE-2D two stroke SIE geometries that had been used in experimental previous work. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis technique is used to predict in-cylinder flow turbulence levels, including root-mean square (RMS) turbulent velocity. The three dimensional domain is created using FLUENT-ANSYS 14.0. The mathematical model is validated against previous experimental data. The intake manifold inclination angles of 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 o are investigated of double intake manifold at engine speed of 1500 rpm. The results indicate that the highest RMS turbulent velocities are achieved at 30 o inclination angle of the inlet manifold at the crank angles of 24, 17, 10 o before top dead center BTDC and 0 o at top dead center TDC. Also, it is found that, the maximum RMSs occur at 0.18 of the radius of the cylinder at crank angle of 24 o BTDC but at 0.25 of the radius at crank angles of 17, 10 o BTDC and 0 o at TDC.


The article reviews the book "Practicing Servant-Leadership: Succeeding Through Trust, Bravery, and Forgiveness," edited by Larry Spears and Michelle Lawrence.


Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is a vector-borne viral disease affecting cattle and water buffalo. This disease causes huge economic losses to dairy farmers due to the drastic reduction in milk production. This study describes the first confirmed outbreak of LSD in cattle and water buffalo from the Gandaki province of Nepal. Suspected outbreak sites in Kaski and Tanahun district of Gandaki Province were visited and 42 samples from 16 animals (12 cattle and 4 water buffalo) from 9 farms showing clinical signs were sampled and tested for LSD at the Central Veterinary Laboratory using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Clinical features exhibited by affected animals and their farm characteristics were recorded. The result showed that all 16 animals were positive for LSD. The overall morbidity was 4.85% (95% CI= 3.01- 7.73%) with cattle (7.23%) having higher morbidity compared to water buffaloes (2.44%). However, none of the affected animals died. In total, 93.7% (n= 15/16) of the affected animals had a milk loss with an average milk reduction of 58.7%. The major clinical features observed were swollen lymph nodes (100%), nasal and lachrymal discharge (81.25%), nodular lesions in skin (75%), and fever (50%). Vectors were present in all 9 farms and 5 out of 9 farms had a history of the introduction of new animals. In conclusion, this is the first official confirmation of LSD in the Gandaki province of Nepal. As the potential socio-economic impact of this is high due to the loss of milk production, the Gandaki province government in collaboration with the federal government should develop an appropriate control strategy including vaccination. We suggest government to practice risk-based ring vaccination in susceptible cattle and buffaloes surrounding the confirmed cases. Besides, cattle and buffalo movement need to be regulated. Keywords: Capripoxvirus; Large ruminants; Outbreak investigation; Vector; Vaccines


Smart mobility systems, which include Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and smart energy systems, become more important. There is, however, lack of its platform studies. This paper proposes a sustainable information infrastructure project for smart mobility systems. The project pursues issues that establish an information infrastructure architecture and seamless development method chain for it. The project has mainly two features, (1) applying life-cycle-oriented methods, which are a cycle from system development to operations, to the real world, and (2) dealing with uncertainties when a system begins to be designed. This paper describes an overview of the project.


To explore Fujian Lacquer Art,the scholars often started it from Qing Dynasty,but the author talks about it from "Ancient Bodiless Lacquer"in Han dynasty,then discussed many problems deeply such as the difference between "Bodiless Lacquer"and "Ancient Bodiless Lacquer",the production of"Ningpo Varnish"and"Buddha Decoration"and transition history of their meanings,the relationship between"Fuxi(a kind of lacquer engraving)"and "Yinjin(a kind of succedaneum of lacquer engraving)",whether the "Thin Sheet"is made in the way of"Japanese Produce"or"Traditional Produce".


Introduction: The quality of work-life plays a significant role in employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. Due to their direct educational impacts, teachers play a unique role in nurturing future generations of society. This study aimed to investigate the quality of the work-life of teachers in Mehriz City. Methods: This descriptive practical study was carried out among 440 people as the study population. We selected 248 people randomly by cluster sampling method. The data collection tools included the Ilgan Quality of work-life Questionnaire. To analyze the data, we used descriptive and inferential statistics and SPSS software. Results: The findings showed that the quality of the work-life of teachers was at a desirable level, but the wages and benefits were at an unacceptable level. Conclusion: The findings of this study emphasized that the principal concern of the teachers in Mehriz was the issue of wages and benefits. Therefore, teachers not satisfied with their current salary cannot have ideal creativity, planning, and educational efficiency. Although the reward of a teacher's work is not just in the form of material rewards, the reality is that a decent wage is a necessity to live a dignified life.


ABSTRACT Writing assignments which allow lower division students to express their understanding of mathematics in their own terms provide a more informative view of student difficulties than those which require communication in formal mathematical terms. The former can reveal student insights, as well as student difficulties. A specific type of writing assignment designed to encourage the students' logical analysis skills is described. Some instructional consequences and practical concerns which arose from the use of writing as an assessment tool in the author's classes are considered.


Recent research deals more and more with the application of ultra high frequency (UHF) radio-frequency identification (RFID) on mobile robots. However, the sensing characteristics between the reader and the tag (i.e. detections and signal strength) are challenging to model due to the influence of environmental effects (e.g. tag density, reflection, diffraction, or absorption). In this paper, we address the problem of dynamic objects tracking with a mobile agent using the signal strength from UHF RFID tags attached to objects. Our solution estimates the positions of RFID tags under a Bayesian framework. More precisely, we combine a two stage dynamic motion model with the dual particle filter, to capture the dynamic motion of the object and to quickly recover from failures in tracking. This approach is then tested on a Scitos G5 mobile robot through various experiments.


This paper seeks to complement the extant literature on marketing the industrial town by adopting an overtly historical perspective, through the study of official town guides of an archetypal industrial town, Bury, in the north west of England. This longitudinal approach complements the more usual 'snapshot in time' approach, which provides more general overviews of practice. The changing representation of Bury is considered through an analysis of 20 editions the official handbook/guide to the town, dating from 1925 to date focusing on the stated purpose and rationale, the extent and nature of editorial content and the use of illustrations, maps and advertising.


Rhetorical genre theory, with its emphasis on the interaction between speaker, audience and c o text in the creation of genre, offers a powerful approac h to the study of literature by calling attention t o performative elements in literary works, even those not specific ally designated as "dramatic." Such an approach per ceives a literary work as active and experiential, providing readers with rhetorically embodies knowledge that ighlights the interrelationship between literary texts and hu man activity. This emphasis on rhetoric and perform ance in the construction of a literary work can create a sense of presence that accentuates connections between or ality and literature. In addition, rhetorical genre theory ha s the potential to yield insights beyond those addr essed in critical approaches more usually applied to literat ure, because it offers a broader spectrum of interp retative


An MOS integrated organ circuit compensates an audio frequency signal for variations in amplitude, attack and decay characteristics caused by process variations by adjusting a single variable reference voltage. The circuit intrinsically provides for the tracking of these characteristics, such that the attack and decay characteristics are calibrated by adjusting the variable reference voltage to provide a specified amplitude characteristic.


The aim of this work is to apply the homotopy perturbation method for solving the steady state equations of the exothermic decomposition of a combustible material obeying Arrhenius, Bimolecular, and Sensitised laws of reaction rates. These equations are formulated on some Class A geometries (an infinite cylinder, an infinite slab, and a sphere). We also investigate the effect of Frank-Kamenetskii parameter on bifurcation and thermal criticality by means of the Domb-Sykes graphical method.


In this paper,the main technical characteristics and production practice of the combi-caster are introduced and production practice shows that the technology and equipments of the combi-caster of Xiangtan Iron Steel Co.,Ltd can fully satisfy the production and process requirements of the slab and rectangle slab.By optimizing the processing parameters the object of high productivity,high quality and high efficiency can be achieved.


We present a fast and accurate method for reconstructing surfaces of revolution (SoR) on 3D data and its application to structural modeling of a cluttered scene in real-time. To estimate a SoR axis, we derive an approximately linear cost function for fast convergence. Also, we design a framework for reconstructing SoR on dense SLAM. In the experiment results, we show our method is accurate, robust to noise and runs in real-time.


2016 was another great year for cardiology education. There were many randomized trials that informed important clinical questions about treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD), heart failure, and primary prevention, and surprising findings on the history of the role of sugar in CAD. Several trials compared devices and procedures with medical therapy. For this Update, I chose articles that address relatively common clinical issues and have important messages for practicing clinicians. Prevention Studies Aspirin Has a Net Benefit for Primary Prevention of CVD in Middle-Aged Persons With Higher CVD Risk Dehmer SP Maciosek MV Flottemesch TJ et al Aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer: a decision analysis for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Ann Intern Med 2016 164 777 86 27064573 Background: The evidence on whether the benefits of aspirin use for prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) outweigh the risks has been mixed. Recent data examined these tradeoffs across age and sex groups. Findings: This study is a decision analysis using a CVD microsimulation model based on evidence reviews. Aspirin for primary prevention was assessed independently for men and women across four 10-year age bands (40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, and 70 to 79 years) and baseline 10-year CVD risk bands (ranging from 1% to 20%). The model excluded persons with a history of CVD and with elevated bleeding risk. Aspirin therapy improved overall quality of life (range, 7.4 to 107.9 quality-adjusted life-years per 1000 person-years) for most men and women when it was initiated at age 40 to 69 years for lifetime use, unless otherwise contraindicated. The benefit was concentrated in the higher-risk groups, with 10-year CVD risk greater than 10%. Cautions: The data were insufficient for the estimates of benefit by age group to be precise. Whether aspirin therapy should be initiated for persons older than 70 years was also not clear. Implications: This analysis suggests that clinicians should recommend low-dose aspirin starting at age 40 years for healthy persons, particularly those who have higher risk for CVDfor example, smokers or those with diabetes. A full discussion of risks and benefits should accompany the recommendation; data provided in this article can facilitate that discussion. Industry-Funded Researchers Suppressed Evidence of the Role of Sugar as a CAD Risk Factor Kearns CE Schmidt LA Glantz SA Sugar industry and coronary heart disease research: a historical analysis of internal industry documents. JAMA Intern Med 2016 176 1680 5 27617709 Background: There has been a long-standing belief that fat in the diet is a major risk factor for CAD. Little attention has been paid to the role of sugar as a CAD risk factor. Findings: Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, uncovered and reviewed documents from the Sugar Research Foundation, a sugar industryfunded group that was started in 1943. They found evidence that the foundation actively promoted low-fat diets to increase the market share of sugar. The foundation funded a researcher-led campaign to counteract evidence that sucrose elevates serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Its first project, a literature review published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1967, did not disclose the role of or funding by the sugar industry. Other projects funded by the foundation had limited disclosure or no disclosure, particularly before the beginnings of disclosure policies in the 1980s. Cautions: Researchers did not have access to all sugar industry documents. The findings may represent a limited or narrow sample. Implications: Sugar industrysponsored research downplayed early warning signals that sucrose consumption was a risk factor in CAD. This study should lead to greater efforts to focus on the role of sugar in CAD, help spur patients to reduce or eliminate added sugars, and activate us to advocate for evidence-based policies and guidelines that address potential harms of sugar. Interventions and Devices Patients With Heart Failure Not Due to Ischemia Do Not Benefit From ICD Implantation Kber L Thune JJ Nielsen JC et al DANISH Investigators Defibrillator implantation in patients with nonischemic systolic heart failure. N Engl J Med 2016 375 1221 30 27571011 Background: The benefit of prophylactic implantable cardioverterdefibrillators (ICDs) in patients with systolic heart failure that is not due to CAD has been based primarily on subgroup analyses. Management of heart failure has improved since the early landmark ICD trials, and many patients now receive cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Findings: This trial randomly assigned 1116 patients who had heart failure not from ischemic heart disease to receive either an ICD or usual care. In both groups, 58% of patients got CRT. Implantation of an ICD compared with usual care did not provide an overall survival benefit over a median follow-up of 67.6 months. The relative effect of an ICD did not differ between patients who received CRT and patients who did not. Adverse events associated with device implantation included a 5% infection rate in the ICD group and a 22% mortality rate. Cautions: This study enrolled all patients nationwide in Denmark who received an ICD. The demographic characteristics of the patients and indications for ICD implantation are similar to those in U.S. and other international studies. Implications: Because there are nontrivial harms of ICD implantation and no benefit, the practice of ICD implantation for nonischemic cardiomyopathy should be stopped immediately. CABG Plus Medical Therapy Improves Survival Compared With Medical Therapy Alone in Patients With CAD and Systolic Heart Failure Velazquez EJ Lee KL Jones RH et al STICHES Investigators Coronary-artery bypass surgery in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med 2016 374 1511 20 27040723 Background: The longer-term survival benefit of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) added to guideline-directed medical therapy in patients with CAD, heart failure, and severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction is unclear. Findings: This extension study of the STICH (Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure) trial randomly assigned 1212 patients with an ejection fraction less than 35% to receive CABG plus medical therapy or medical therapy alone. Median follow-up was 56 months. There were 99 sites in 22 countries. The rate of death from any cause over 10 years was lower by 16% (an 8percentage point absolute difference in the 10-year KaplanMeier rates) among patients who underwent CABG with medical therapy than among those who received medical therapy alone. The all-cause mortality advantage of CABG over medical therapy began to surface at 3 years and was present in multiple clinical and demographic subgroups. A more marked benefit was seen in sicker patients. Overall, CABG was associated with incremental median survival benefit of nearly 18 months and prevention of 1 death for every 14 patients treated. Cautions: Decisions about the appropriate treatment of CAD should include individualized discussion of the risks and benefits of CABG and shared decision making. Implications: This study confirms previous data that CABG has superior outcomes to medical therapy, particularly for the sickest patients with severe CAD and left ventricular dysfunction. It is sobering to note that despite optimal therapy, 60% of these patients died within 10 years. TAVR and SAVR Are Similar With Respect to Death or Disabling Stroke in Intermediate-Risk Patients at 2 Years' Follow-up Leon MB Smith CR Mack MJ et al PARTNER 2 Investigators Transcatheter or surgical aortic-valve replacement in intermediate-risk patients. N Engl J Med 2016 374 1609 20 27040324 Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was initially approved for use in inoperable patients with severe aortic stenosis, and it was then expanded for use in patients who are at high risk for surgical complications. Now that more TAVR operators and centers and newer valve designs are available, use has migrated into lower-risk patients as well, in the absence of randomized trial data for these groups. Findings: The PARTNER 2 (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves 2) trial enrolled 2032 symptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis and randomly assigned them to undergo either TAVR with the newer SAPIEN XT valve (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Patients were selected to have a Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk score of 4% at 30 days, or less if they had coexisting conditions not represented in the risk model. There was no important or statistically significant difference between the groups in the primary end point of death or disabling stroke at the end of 2 years of follow-up (19.3% with TAVR vs. 21.1% with SAVR). The rate of major vascular complications was higher in the TAVR group than the SAVR group (7.9% vs. 5.0%). Cautions: The trial was designed and monitored by the sponsor, Edwards Lifesciences. The sponsor participated in the selection of the trial sites, collection of the data, and data monitoring, which introduces multiple possibilities for bias in the trial and results. In addition, follow-up longer than 2 years is needed, particularly in lower-risk groups who are expected to live long after intervention. Implications: TAVR may be noninferior to SAVR at 2 years for patients at intermediate surgical risk. Data on longer-term durability of the TAVR valve are needed to better advise low- and intermediate-risk patients and make clinical decisions. CVD: Risk and Prevention Aggressive Lowering of LDL-C Levels Offers No Benefit on Major Adverse Cardiac Events Leibowitz M Karpati T Cohen-Stavi CJ et al Association between achieved low-density lipoprotein levels and major adverse cardiac events in patients with stable ischemic heart disease taking statin treatment. JA


Crime analysis is an act implementation function that includes organized investigation for increasing clarifications to crime problems, and articulating crime stoppage outlines. The main part of crime analysis process is the quantitative social science data analysis methods, though qualitative methods for instance inspecting police report tales also performance a character. This paper analyses US crime data by applying multivariate factor analysis techniques that was engaged to describe the association between the crimes and to define the classification of the crimes variables. The outcome has exposed a strong positive association among EX0, EX1 and W variables; strong negative association between X and W variables as well as others four variables, ED with W revealed moderate positive correlation as well as ED with X demonstrated moderate negative correlation. The experimental results of various factors analysis methods to form three groups, group one consist of EX0, EX1, W, R and ED variables, group two consist of U1, U2, M, N and LF variables, group three consist of Age, NW, S and X variables are depicted various table and graphs. The factor analyses have recommended recollecting 4 elements that describe approximately 84.40 % of the entire unpredictability of crime data.


Abstract
 Many police organisations employ and rely on public servants to complete specialised tasks with their organisations. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) regularly hires public servants known as Detachment Services Assistants (DSAs) to take on various support roles. As part of DSAs' many clerical and administrative responsibilities, these workers must often perform emotional labour across different job tasks, which in turn, can be a personal yet occupationally mandated source of stress and strain. In the current study, we draw from semi-structured interviews with DSAs (n = 54) to investigate the different situations in which DSAs undertake emotional labour, the various styles of emotional labour DSAs perform, and the negative toll emotional labour places on DSAs in their workplace. Our research aims to contribute to the broader emotional labour literature on policing and the niche police literature on public servants, a form of civilian staff, employed by the RCMP.


Desertification in areas surrounding Lake Baringo in the early 1970's prompted introduction of Prosopis juliflora . The introduction and subsequent invasion of Prosopis juliflora has over the years attracted attention due to its negative impacts. Despite all the misconception surrounding its introduction Prosopis juliflora produces a variety of valuable goods and services. The study was conducted in Marigat Sub County in Baringo County to determine the economic contribution of Prosopis juliflora enterprises to household incomes and employment. The study involved administration of a structured questionnaire to 63 randomly selected members of the six Charcoal Producers Associations. The data was entered and analysed using SPSS statistical software. Descriptive statistics was used to establish how adoption of Prosopis enterprises is contributing to: reducing invasion, livelihoods and income. Findings indicated that all sampled respondents are involved in Prosopis charcoal production as the major enterprise; while 54% deal in fencing and construction poles, 54% pods, 48% honey, 44% firewood 41% and 35% timber. Incomes from charcoal were about Ksh 93.7 million in 2016. Earnings per annum from other Prosopis products namely pods, fencing/construction poles and honey totalled Ksh 12.2 million accounting for 12.9% of the total earnings. Prosopis charcoal market is dominated by brokers. Lack of reliable market (39.3%), price fluctuation (27.1%), poor state of roads during rainy season (9.3%) and exploitation by middlemen were the main challenges experienced in marketing Prosopis products. From the study adoption and utilisation of Prosopis products is contributing significantly to livelihoods and income. However utilization of the species has not reduced its invasiveness. Keywords: Charcoal, Desertification, livelihoods, invasive species, Prosopis juliflora DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-10-09 Publication date :May 31 st 2019


peritoneoscope development has brought the impact for the surgical department disease tradition diagnosis and the treatment,passed through the television peritoneoscope gallbladder excision method for the first time from French Lyons's Doctor Mouret after 1987,the peritoneoscope surgery because its method was simple,was advantageous for grasps,damages slightly,restores and so on the characteristic quickly,could in the world scope the rapid popularization.My courtyard surgical department also developed the television in 1998 to regard the peritoneoscope gallbladder excision method(LC),accumulated the certain experience and has obtained the satisfactory curative effect.


The object of the work was to examine the case of linking emotional intelligence to nurses' performance. The research was quantitative and was done on a sample of 98 nurses in a maternity hospital in Athens. On average, the sample had a positive and consistent response to the dimension of emotional intelligence of the nursing staff, while the same was true with the dimension of the evaluation of the performance of the nursing staff which was positive. The two dimensions had a statistically significant and low positive relationship with each other, a finding that means that when emotional intelligence increases, performance appraisal increases and vice versa, to a low degree determined by the size of their correlation index (rho = 0 , 26). In any case, it is important that the management of a health unit be able to limit the emotional charge of nurses. In this way the working efficiency of the nurses can be maximized.


A liquid developer for use in electrophotography, comprising a copolymerically grafted pigment toner dispersed in a carrier liquid consisting of a paraffinic or an isoparaffinic hydrocar bon having a high-electric resistance and a low-dielectric con stant, said toner being prepared by subjecting the particles of at least two kinds of pigments each having a benzenoid ring to graft copolymerization with at least three kinds of unsaturated compounds each being capable of contributing to the stable regulation of the polarity of said particles of pigments, their uniform dispersion in the carrier liquid and the satisfactory ad hesion of the particles onto the surface of electrophotographic copying papers thereby chemically uniting said compounds directly to said particles of pigments.


By conjugating carbazole moiety to the different positions of the rigid skeleton 1,2-diphenyl-1H-phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazole, a series of hybrid bipolar phosphorescent hosts was synthesized, and their photophysical properties were investigated. The introduction of a rigid phenanthroimidazole moiety greatly improves their morphological stability, with high decomposition temperatures (Td) and high glass transition temperatures (Tg) in the range of 394–417 and 113–243 °C, respectively. The highly efficient green and orange phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) have been achieved by employing these compounds as the phosphorescent hosts. For the device of ITO/MoO3 (10 nm)/NPB (80 nm)/TCTA (5 nm)/mPhBINCP:9 wt % Ir(ppy)3 (20 nm)/TmPyPB (45 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm), a maximum luminous efficiency (ηc,max) of 77.6 cd/A, maximum power efficiency (ηp,max) of 80.3 lm/W, and maximum external quantum efficiency (ηEQE,max) of 21% were obtained. Furthermore, these hosts are also applicable for the oran...


Compared with common airliners, High/Medium
Altitude Long Endurance (HALE/MALE) RPAS are lighter and
have larger wingspan. Therefore RPAS will be extremely sensitive
to vortex interactions with larger airliners, not only during
departures and arrivals, but also at medium and high altitudes
during the en-route phase. The extent of this sensitivity shall
be investigated in order to determine safe levels of separation
and come up with feasible maneuvers to avoid the effect of
wake vortex under the assumption that the RPAS may become
unrecoverable by the autopilot. For this reason, the objective
of this paper is to model the generation of en-route vortex
and quantify its impact into the airworthiness of a potentially
conflicting RPAS. To accomplish this objective, a wake vortex
generation and encounter model will be created as a first step
to define the airliner-RPAS separation requirements due to the
airliner's vortex. Then, vortex separation requirements will be
compared to those usually employed for separation assurance.
Conclusion will show that some current separation standards
are not conservative enough when the RPAS faces an airliner
wake vortex.


In this paper there is telling about a easy and quick algorithm for recognition of Punjabi script which included both character and number. This algorithm is designed for multiple fonts because the fonts used in newspaper, magazines and books are different. We apply morphological operations on binary images. There is no need of any knowledge of phase or any kind of memory. Main advantage of this algorithm is its correctness to identify Punjabi characters and number. Only a very few work can be traced for character recognition of Indian scripts especially for the North Indian scripts like Punjabi. Input to the system is the scanned images from newspaper, magazines and old books.


The Shaker locus of Drosophila melanogaster encodes a family of A‐type potassium channel subunits. Shaker mutants behave as antimorphs in gene dosage tests. This behaviour is due to the production of truncated A‐channel subunits. We propose that they interfere with the function of their normal counterpart by forming multimeric A‐channel structures. This hypothesis was tested by constructing transgenic flies carrying a heat‐inducible gene encoding a truncated A‐type potassium channel subunit together with a normal wild type doses of A‐type potassium channel subunits. The altered subunit leads at larval, pupal or adult stages to the transformation of wild type into Shaker flies. The transformed flies exhibited a heat‐inducible abnormal leg shaking behaviour and a heat‐inducible facilitated neurotransmitter release at larval neuromuscular junctions. By the overexpression of an aberrant A‐channel subunit the normal behaviour of transgenic D. melanogaster can be altered in a predictable way.


The results are discussed of a high-precision laboratory determination of the rotational constants and transition frequencies in the ground vibrational state of the linear molecule cyanoacetylene, discovered in the direction of the galactic center by Turner (1971). The values obtained make it possible to determine more precisely the interstellar cyanoacetylene velocities and to simplify the identification of additional interstellar rotational transitions.


We examine the gravitational lens hypothesis for the nearly perfect ring around the elliptical galaxy 373 in cluster A2218. We first investigate analytically the variation of the mean radius and thickness along the circumference of a ring formed around a galaxy in a cluster. If the velocity dispersion of G373 is the one inferred from its luminosity (≤220 km s −1 ), variations can be small only if the shear induced by the gravitational field of the cluster in the area of the ring is very small. This constrains the cluster to a relatively large core and small ellipticity. In addition, the cluster should contain a small clump of matter not traced by isophotes. Numerical modeling confirms the results of the analytical investigation


Here are two good books by British pediatricians They interest the American reader, but they also puzzle him. He recognizes in them the breadth of experience and the clinical skill he has so often noted on the ward rounds and in the writings of his British colleagues. He wishes he found a little more evidence of these qualities in the American medical literature. But he wonders also whether the British medical student may be tempted to learn about sick children from such books alone, and how much the British doctor uses such books in the diagnosis and treatment of his pediatric patients.


This study examines the entrepreneurial orientation among university students in the Sindh Province of Pakistan. Specifically, it aims to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and university education. For this purpose, this study takes into consideration demographic characteristics, work history, role models and the role of university education. A that demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and religion have no significant relationship on entrepreneurial orientation of students. On the other hand, business education at university greatly influences the career choices of students.


Energy levels of three Argon isotopes with mass numbers 36, 37 and 38 are calculated. Calculations were carried out in the SD model space with 13 different potentials using the shell model code OXBASH by applying spin-parity of valance nucleons. OXBASH is a computing code for carrying out calculation of nuclear structure based on shell model. We compared calculated energy levels with experimental results and find the best energy and potential for each isotope.


Abstract New measurements of the auto-ionization spectrum of YbI were performed using a thermionic diode detector and a source of tunable VUV light based on a four-wave mixing scheme. In addition to a higher resolution than previous results our data provide much more reliable information on relative intensities and on the lineshapes of the auto-ionizing profiles. The latter reveal interesting interfaces due to interacting resonances. We present examples from a portion of the spectrum which includes single excitation manifolds built on an open 4f subshell and overlapping double-excitations of valence electrons in the wavelength range between 1391 A and 1415 A. Our data demonstrate a great improvement compared with earlier measurements.


Progressive arthritis can occur in association with massive tears of the rotator cuff. Altered joint kinematics are commonly proposed as the principle causative factor but this does not explain the absence of arthropathy in some patients. We have investigated the role of the ANKH gene in patients with cuff tear arthropathy. The transmembrane protein ANKH promotes intracellular to extracellular inorganic pyrophosphate channelling which regulates calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate and hydroxyapatite crystal deposition. Genomic DNA was prepared from peripheral blood leucocytes from 20 patients with cuff tear arthropathy diagnosed clinically and radiologically and 24 healthy matched controls. All 12 exons and exon-intron boundaries from the ANKH gene were PCR amplified and sequenced with BigDye version 3.1 terminator kit (ABI), and analysed using ABI PRISM ® 3100 Genetic Analyser. We have identified 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including 4 that have previously been identified in patients with chondrocalcinosis. These are in exon 2 (GCC†'GCT 294), intron 2 (G†'A +8), exon 8 (GCA†'GCG 963) and intron 8 (T†'G +15). We also identified an A†'G variant in 3′-UTR, 30 base pairs after the stop codon which has not been reported before in crystal deposition diseases, and is also not seen in any of the healthy controls. Further elucidation is necessary to demonstrate a causal relationship between these ANKH mutations and cuff tear arthropathy, which will add to our understanding of pathogenic mechanisms in this condition.


In this paper, we propose a novel and simple method for people and vehicles classification in far distance video surveillance. In this approach, moving objects are firstly segmented from background using a background subtraction technique. Secondly, edges of moving objects are extracted using canny operator. Then straight lines of edges of moving objects are extracted by Hough transform and feature based on Hough line feature (HouLR) for classification is constructed. Finally, moving objects are classified into people or vehicle by HouLR feature. We test our method on several videos in different scenes. The experimental results show that our approach is simple and fast, and has high classification accuracy, not only can distinguish single person from vehicle but also can distinguish group of people from vehicle. The proposed method needs no advance scene calibration, no object tracking and no sample training, which is easy to transplant to other scene.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the peer-led intervention, "Stay, Play, Talk" on three target social skills with elementary aged children with autism. The target skills are as follows: 1) initiating a greeting by either waving or saying, "hi"; 2) waiting his/her turn while playing a structured game/activity; and 3) staying close to a peer during a 10 minute free play period. A multiple probe across behaviors combined with a multiple probe across participants demonstrated that "Stay, Play, Talk" as an effective intervention for social skills on three participants served in an autism classroom. Additionally, this study examined maintenance and generalization of learned skills. Results indicate that all three participants acquired, maintained and generalized mastery criteria for selected social skills with peers as the instructors. EFFECTS OF "STAY, PLAY, TALK" 2 Using Peer-Led Interventions to Teach Social Skills to Students with ASD As of March 2014, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects 1 in 68 people. This statistic has risen drastically from 1 in 150 in year 2000 and 1 in 88 in year 2012 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). These staggering statistics have a major impact on the educational system. As of 2011, 406, 957 students with ASD between ages 6 and 21 are being served under IDEA (Technical Assistance and Dissemination Network, 2014). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) defines autism as having persistent deficits in the following two areas: (a) social communication and social interactions and (b) restricted, repetitive behaviors, activities or interests (i.e., stereotypical behaviors, difficulties with changes in routine, fixated interests, hyper or hypo sensory issues). The following criteria must also be met in order to have a diagnosis of autism: (a) symptoms present early in development; (b) clinically significant impairment in social, occupational or other functioning and (c) not better explained by intellectual disability (i.e., social communication is below expected development) (AutismSpeaks, 2014). The saying, "If you have met one person with autism, you have only met one person with autism" stands true being that the people diagnosed with autism make up a heterogeneous group composed of more differences than similarities (Laushey & Heflin, 2000). However, a deficit of social communication and social interactions is one common feature connecting all of the individuals with the ASD diagnosis. The lack of knowing how to socially interact with another person may cause a student with autism to be socially isolated even near or directly beside another student who may be typically developing (Laushey & Heflin, 2000). In order to avoid social situations, students with autism may leave or demonstrate inappropriate behaviors (e.g., EFFECTS OF "STAY, PLAY, TALK" 3 aggression, self-injury, disruption, etc.), limiting or eliminating the opportunity for social interactions to occur (Gonzalez-Lopez & Kamps, 1997). Low communication skills directly affects the ability to communicate socially to same aged, typically developing peers for students with autism, especially as the two groups get older and speaking with another person becomes the main source of social interaction and class participation (Hughes et. al., 2011). In addition to avoiding situations and low communication skills, students with autism also demonstrate lower imitation skills, fewer appropriate play acts and limited time with toys compared to those children without autism (Harper, Symon, & Frea, 2008). Although all three characteristics of ASD are detrimental to a student's personal and social development, a lack of appropriate social skills makes it difficult for students with ASD to make, much less keep, meaningful relationships. Thus the role of teaching these appropriate skills is that much more important (Laushey & Heflin, 2000). Students with autism do not learn skills without explicit instruction. In addition, students with autism do not naturally learn skills through observation of peers. Knowing those two facts about how students with autism learn, it is important to directly teach social skills because if such skills are not taught to the students, delays and deficits will continue throughout life. The earlier these skills are taught, the better for students with autism. Receiving early intervention for deficits is key for students with disabilities (SWD) and even more important for students with autism on their deficits in social communication and social interactions. The lack of appropriate social skills, if not addressed at a young age, not only effects their development in communication and social interactions throughout their entire life but also further separates the students with autism from their typically functioning peers (Hwang & Hughes, 2000). EFFECTS OF "STAY, PLAY, TALK" 4 Benefits to teaching individuals with ASD appropriate social skills are individualized. Increases in positive interactions between students with autism and typically developing occurred by the following: (a) increased length of interaction (Hughes et. al., 2013); (b) increased initiations of social interactions (Hughes et. al., 2013); (c) increased turn taking (Laushey & Heflin, 2000); and (d) increased social interactions with siblings in the home setting (Bass & Mulick, 2007). Rogers (2000) reported an increase in appropriate social behaviors that were not directly taught to the students, thus making these social skills pivotal. Unfortunately, there is a gap in the literature with generalizing learned social skills from school to home. Studies seem to either teach at home or teach at school but do not combine the two. Adding this evidence to the research would strengthen the literature. In order to achieve these benefits previously discussed, students with ASD need to be placed in situations that will allow for appropriate reciprocal social interactions to take place. Due to the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, students with disabilities must be educated in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), defined as the regular education classroom with supports as needed, unless the individualized education program (IEP) states differently (Wrightslaw, 2014). Because of this law within IDEA, more and more SWD are being included in the general education setting, thus creating the educational term, "inclusion". The amount of inclusion in the general educational setting depends on an IEP, tailored specifically for each student with a disability. For instance, some students may only be included for special areas with adult assistance while other students are in general education classes all day with little support given as needed. The IEP team determines the amount of time and support given to the individual. The driving force behind inclusion is accessing to the general education curriculum. However, some students with autism, more specifically moderate to severe autism, receive EFFECTS OF "STAY, PLAY, TALK" 5 inclusion services for a benefit of increasing the amount of natural opportunities for social interactions between SWD and students without disabilities. Although this benefit is promising and needed for students with autism, further social isolation occurs in the general education setting if the following tasks are not performed: (a) SWD directly taught social skills needed for interactions; and (b) students without disabilities taught how to appropriately initiate and maintain social interactions with SWD (Bass & Mulick, 2007). Since students with autism are not intrinsically motivated by social interactions, it is imperative that typically developing peers know how and when to interact with the students with autism (Harper, Symon, & Frea, 2008). Simply putting the SWD and typically developing peer in the same room and waiting for natural interactions to occur does not work (Laushey & Heflin, 2000). When typically developing peers are not directly taught how to interact with SWD, the interactions that do occur are not natural, that is, they are teacher initiated and teacher maintained, which defeats the purpose of the SWD participating in the inclusive setting. If the teacher does not initiate the interaction, SWD are typically socially isolated from the peers, seen as different and unable to respond or participate. Given the needs previously mentioned, researchers have started to investigate the effects of using typically developing peers as the teaching agent rather than an adult. Perhaps the increase of students with disabilities being included in the general education setting has also increased the number of studies examining the effects of peer-led social skills instruction. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of typically developing peers to lead instruction to teach students with autism appropriate social skills. The following review of literature targets only interventions that used peers as the instructor and focused on increasing one or more social skills in students with autism. Since students with autism do not instinctively connect with their peers, instruction must begin with typically developing peers for natural social interactions to occur (DiSalvo & Oswald, 2002). EFFECTS OF "STAY, PLAY, TALK" 6 Review of Literature There is a wide-variety of research articles published using peers as agents to increase appropriate social interactions. To accomplish the purpose of this literature review, first, the level of peer involvement will be discussed. Next, independent and dependent measures will be mentioned that have been used within peer-led instruction. And last, the specific intervention, ''Stay, Play, Talk'' will be discussed in detail, including two current research articles. Peer Involvement Interventions that teach social skills


___________________________________________________________________ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) is an approach that integrated Science, Technology, Engineer and Mathematics in students' learning experience. This integration means to let students learn from the real problems that emerged in their real life and become problem solver. This study focused on STEM as an approach with one disciplinary and interdisciplinary subject. The objectives of this study are to analyze teachers' perception towards the implementation of STEM in English language teaching, to explain teacher's lesson plan in implementing STEM and to explain the implementation of STEM approach in English Classroom practices. By applying qualitative research approach, the researchers used questionnaire, interview and observation as the instruments for collecting the data. The results show that teachers have good perception on STEM. They believed that STEM could promote students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. In terms of integrating STEM into lesson plans, teachers used problem-based learning and project-based learning as the teaching methods. During the classroom practices, teachers combined more than two elements of STEM. They let students to discuss about science-based material by using social media and some applications. It encouraged students to create a construction of the problem solving idea (Engineer). This study states the implementation of STEM in English language teaching particularly both in planning and also classroom practices, which never been studied before. It, hopefully, will give a clear picture of how to implement STEM in English language teaching effectively


Responses of plantlets of two potato cultivars to NaCl stress at 0-80 mmol concentration were investigated under in vitro conditions in terms of shoot growth, chlorophyll, proline and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, and antioxidant enzyme activities. With the increase of NaCl concentrations and the time of exposure, the shoot length decreased significantly for two cultivars tested. Compared to cultivar Zhihuabai, Jingshi-2, plantlets were more inhibited in terms of shoot, fresh weight, root length and number of roots. After 3 weeks of salt stress, the content of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll, and carotenoid of shoot in plantlets were reduced significantly at higher NaCl concentrations (40-80 mmol). Salinity applied from 20 to 80 mmol progressively increased proline and MDA levels in shoot of both cultivars. The amount and rate of accumulations of MDA and proline were higher in cultivar. Tingshi-2 than Zihuabai, suggesting a higher degree of lipid peroxidation in Jingshi-2 due to salt stress, low salinity level (20 mmol) led to a significant increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) activities but high concentration made them decreased in both cultivars. Zihuabai exhibited higher activities of SOD and POD in NaCl treated plantlets, and more tolerant to salt stress than Jingshi-2 under in Vitro conditions, suggesting its possible utilization in the selection of salinity tolerant genotypes in the field conditions.


Data as well as information is the most valuable tools used for academic effectiveness and for the organization to achieve its aim and objectives. Data is very essential and the cognitive means to collect and organize this data cannot be achieved without human intelligence. In the contemporary society, the means for reliability, accuracy, effectiveness and for a better recognition of an organization has to do with the reliable information and the means to which data can be collected and organized for future use and for the effective management of the organization. Data intelligence guarantees the integral and sustainable development in all aspect of human endeavors; Science and Technologyy, Arts and Humanities and in every other aspect of human development, data intelligence serves as the master key for decision making. This paper critically reviews the necessity of data intelligence and its application areas in harmony with the effectiveness of academic and educational institutions. This work concludes that data intelligence is integral to the effectiveness of any organization including educational institutions and no organizational problem can be tackled without data intelligence. It is recommended that data intelligence should be applied in the Nigeria educational system and machine learning techniques be applied so as to derive meaning from available data banks. This work developed a framework for application of data intelligence in educational system


Abstract Objective To evaluate trials of drugs that target amyloid to determine whether reductions in amyloid levels are likely to improve cognition. Design Instrumental variable meta-analysis. Setting 14 randomized controlled trials of drugs for the prevention or treatment of Alzheimer's disease that targeted an amyloid mechanism, identified from ClinicalTrials.gov. Population Adults enrolled in randomized controlled trials of amyloid targeting drugs. Inclusion criteria for trials vary, but typically include adults aged 50 years or older with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease, and amyloid positivity at baseline. Main outcome measures Analyses included trials for which information could be obtained on both change in brain amyloid levels measured with amyloid positron emission tomography and change in at least one cognitive test score reported for each randomization arm. Results Pooled results from the 14 randomized controlled trials were more precise than estimates from any single trial. The pooled estimate for the effect of reducing amyloid levels by 0.1 standardized uptake value ratio units was an improvement in the mini-mental state examination score of 0.03 (95% confidence interval −0.06 to 0.1) points. This study provides a web application that allows for the re-estimation of the results when new data become available and illustrates the magnitude of the new evidence that would be necessary to achieve a pooled estimate supporting the benefit of reducing amyloid levels. Conclusions Pooled evidence from available trials reporting both reduction in amyloid levels and change in cognition suggests that amyloid reduction strategies do not substantially improve cognition.