The goal of this research was to investigate the effects of ZnO–TiO2 and its nanocomposites, on the physical, mechanical, and ultraviolet protection of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays is a major cause of the degradation of the quality and optical properties of materials in addition to skin cancer; therefore, research on UV-blocking materials that are safe and have fewer side effects than currently available products is being actively conducted. In this study, a material with UV-blocking capability was synthesized while ensuring the transparency of ZnO and TiO2. ZnO–TiO2 and its various composites were successfully synthesized via a hydrothermal method followed by ball milling and their properties were systematically analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and water contact angle measurements. Furthermore, a simple dip-coating method was employed to prepare transparent polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films coated with the composites, which were subsequently investigated for UV-blocking properties by exposing them to UV irradiation. The hydroxyl groups of ZnO and TiO2, as representative inorganic sunblock components, were removed by using 3-chloropropyl trimethoxy silane as a coupling agent to improve their wettability in an organic solvent as well as their dispersibility and stability. The addition of a small amount of Tinuvin® allowed the hybrid organic and inorganic components to exhibit transparent UV-blocking characteristics, with a UV transmittance of ≤20% and 90% visible transmittance. These results, thus, serve as a basis for contributing to applications in the field of packaging, health, and hygiene industries.


This experiment was carried out as a part of the research on the speedy synthetic treatments of neurathenia. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of the patients' memory disorder by an objective method and to find out the extents of their recoveries after the speedy synthetic treatments. In the experiments, the patients were required to recall and recognize the pictures after presentation for minutes. The patients were also asked about their memory. The result off this study showed that the extents of the patients' memory disorder depended, on the severity of their symptoms of neurathenia. Due to the individual difference in effectiveness of the treatments, after the treatments, different levels of improvement in memory were observed. By strengthening the patients' belief in the effectiveness of the treatments, better effects of the treatments Were obtained.The characteristics of the patients' memory as revealed in this study were: the reduction in the impressibility and the lack of systematization in their memory and the slow down in their reaction to the stimuli presented to them.


Affordable rental housing design and architectural practices have had a limited exposure and relationship in New York. The main design choices for both planners and architects have been to forge links through sustainable design and building formats. The three cases we highlight offer insights into both the varied forms of financial and policy assistance that have been required to create more innovative designs, but to also illustrate the limits and constraints which have prevented architects and planners from playing more eminent roles in creating better housing opportunities, with more innovative designs, for lower income New Yorkers. The limits of case studies are apparent as are the limited financing options to offer hope of better, more progressive legacies in the future.


The transmission spectrum of the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b (T eq ∼ 4000 K) exhibits absorption by several metal species. We searched for atomic and molecular lines in its emission spectrum by observing partial phase curves with the Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Echelle Spectrographs (R ∼ 80,000–95,000). We find evidence for emission by Si i in the atmosphere of KELT-9b for the first time. Additionally we find evidence for emission by Mg i and Ca ii, which were previously detected in transmission, and confirmed earlier detections of Fe i emission. Conversely, we find no evidence for dayside emission from Al i, Ca i, Cr i, FeH, Fe ii, K i, Li i, Mg ii, Na i, OH, Ti i, TiO, V i, V ii, VO, and Y i. By employing likelihood mapping, we find indications of there being little variation in emission line contrast between the day- and nightsides—suggesting that KELT-9b may harbor iron emission on its nightside. Our results demonstrate that high-resolution ground-based emission spectroscopy can provide valuable insights into exoplanet atmospheres.


An experiment to explore the method realizing a concatenative Chinese TTS accommodating isolated English words is presented. The experiment was based on an existing concatenative Mandarin TTS system, developed in Motorola China Research Center. The experimental system employs an English word synthesizer based on the concatenation of speech segments stored in an English corpus. The original English corpus contains isolated words uttered by a professional English speaker. The Chinese speaker who uttered the Mandarin TTS speech corpus uttered the same set of English words. The English word corpus uttered by the English speaker was then modified by the English word corpus uttered by the Mandarin speaker, on a word-byword basis. A voice conversion technique is applied to modify the English word corpus. The voice conversion is focused on the voiced phones. The conversion process is basically a pitch scaling and spectral envelope scaling based on a phone level average. 1. INDTRODUCTION Recent Chinese TTS systems tend to accommodate Chinese text mixed with isolated English words. The typical way for doing so is to allow a system alternating between two acoustically independent engines, with one serving Chinese text and the other serving English words. An obvious drawback of this approach is that the alternate voice can result in an unpleasant audio effect. In this paper, we present a new method to tackle the voice discontinuity problem based on a voice conversion technique. The proposed method combines a concatenative Mandarin TTS system with an English isolated word synthesizer. The voice of the English synthesizer was converted to the voice of the Mandarin system, allowing users to perceive a single speaker voice in both Chinese and English read-out. Our experiment was based on the existing concatenative Mandarin TTS system, MRhyker, developed in Motorola China Research Center [1]. Accompanied with MRhyker is an English word synthesizer based on the concatenation of speech segments stored in an English corpus. Originally, the English speech corpus contained about 2,000 words (referred to as EE-corpus) uttered by a professional English speaker. The Chinese speaker who uttered the MRhyker speech corpus uttered the same set of words used in the EE-corpus, creating a corpus, called CEcorpus. The EE-corpus was then modified by the CE-corpus, on a word-by-word basis. A voice conversion technique is applied to modify EE-corpus using CE-corpus. Considering that speaker feature is mainly conveyed in the voiced part of speech, the conversion is needed only on the voiced phones (V-phones). The conversion process is basically a pitch scaling and spectral envelope scaling based on a phone level average. To demonstrate the conversion effect, we applied parametric speech coding to speech segments in all corpora. The coding scheme used in the experiment is the harmonic vector excitation coding (HVXC) [2]. We detected V-phones in the EE-corpus and CE-corpus, respectively, and grouped them into pairs on a word-by-word and phone-by-phone basis. The mean LSF vector, mean pitch value, and spectral mean of LP residual signal of the V-phone pairs are analyzed. The V-phones of EE-corpus are then modified by scaling the mid-term mean values so that they have identical mid-term means as their counterparts of the CE-corpus have. As a result, the modified V-phones keep the temporal dynamics of the English speaker, while they sound like uttered by the Mandarin speaker. The experiment shows some promise that a single speaker bilingual TTS can be realized, even though a real single speaker bilingual corpus is not available. Particularly, because the MRhyker is an embeddable concatenative Chinese TTS system, the present method gives a promising solution to the embedded single speaker bi-lingual TTS. 2. THE EXPERIMENT FRAMEWORK The experiment was based on the existing concatenative Mandarin TTS system, MRhyker [1], developed in Motorola China Research Center. The entire experimental flowchart consists of four major parts, English/Chinese separator, Chinese concatenative acoustic parameter arrays generator, isolated English word acoustic parameter arrays generator and concatenative waveforms synthesizer. The flowchart is shown in figure-1. The mixed English words are detected from the input text with the English/Chinese separator module. The Chinese text is processed to select the acoustic units following the major procedures of MRhyker. This part results in the acoustic parameter arrays for concatenation for the Chinese text. The acoustic parameter arrays for concatenation for English word are also selected in parallel. At the stage of concatenation, the acoustic parameters arrays of the Chinese text and the isolated English word are concatenated and the output waveforms of the full text are then synthesized with the concatenative waveforms synthesizer. ! " ISCA Archive #$$ % ! % $ &


Public policy design and implementation is a complex process, and so decision makers try to monitor all of the policy lifecycle stages in a particular policy domain. However, the question of coherent integration of various policy activities arises, including agenda-setting, ex-ante evaluation, formulation, decision-making, implementation, ex-post evaluation of individual policies, sector-specific ones, and even horizontal ones. Therefore, it is important to investigate and understand the reasons why an individual country, such as Slovenia, does not exploit all potential aspects of carrying out policy activities in a systematic and coherent manner. This article explores and analyzes Slovenian practice in policy design based on an in-depth empirical study among key public policyholders and decision makers. Furthermore, the authors identify the key success factors that facilitate or inhibit the development and progress of public policies, programs, and projects (PPPP) in Slovenia. The key findings indicate a particular lack of a professional policy unit to monitor the process holistically and the absence of ex-post evaluation. A need for a systemic solution in public policy design is established, which would merge different authorities' efforts, epistemic communities, and the public in developing a structural multilevel model for good public governance. 1 Corresponding author: dr. Jernej Mencinger, firstname.lastname@example.com. This article is a result of the project Development of the model for monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects in public sector, No J5-7557. The authors acknowledge the project was financially supported by the Slovenian Research Agency. More: http://atena-kronos.si/en/. Mencinger, J., Kovač, P., Jukić, T., Vintar, M. (2017). Public Policy Design and Implementation in Slovenia. International Public Administration Review, 15(3-4), 9–39 International Public Administration Review, Vol. 15, No. 3-4/2017 10 Jernej Mencinger, Polonca Kovač, Tina Jukić, Mirko Vintar


Influenza viruses circulating in animals pose threats to human health. Humans can be infected with influenza viruses from animal sources, such as pigs and birds. H5N1 also called bird flu is one of recent strain of influenza which causes death in birds as well as in human. Although human to human transmission of this disease is not clearly reported. The primary risk factor for human infection appears to be direct or indirect exposure to infected live or dead animals or contaminated environments. Current influenza virus vaccines protect mostly against one particular strain. Hence great challenge in the field of influenza virus research is to design a universal vaccine. In our study we have considered the conserved peptide of hemagglutinin protein (HA) of H5N1 Virus to predict the epitope. Nine conserved peptide sequences from 163 HA protein sequences were obtained. Thirty and eleven epitopes were predicted for MHC Class I T and B cell respectively based on immuninformatics approach. Seven and two immunogenic peptides were generated by considering the overlapping epitopes MHC Class I T and B cell respectively. These immunogenic peptides can be validated for their immunogenic response in the in-vitro system which can be an interesting candidate for vaccine design against the H5N1 influenza virus vaccine.


Since 1967, the Winter Simulation Conference has been a forum for the introduction of innovative approaches to effectively analyze discrete-event simulation experiments. The goal of this panel is to bring together key contributors to analysis methodology research in order to clarify areas that they think are essentially complete, and identify areas that need more work. In doing so, we hope to help provide direction to younger researchers looking for the "right" problems to work on.


Aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) heterostructure devices have proven to be highly effective for high‐frequency power amplifiers and power switching applications with improved performance compared to those made with traditional silicon technology and other advanced semiconductor technologies. The development of enhancement‐mode (E‐mode) AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and metal–insulator–semiconductor HEMTs (MIS‐HEMTs) has been a focus in recent years due to their potential applications. Arising from the concept of a flash‐memory‐like hybrid ferroelectric charge storage structure, the high‐performance hybrid ferroelectric charge storage gate (FEG) GaN HEMT has gradually gained a great deal of attention due to the concept being a useful and versatile tool to realize E‐mode operations. This article attempts to review the latest progresses in this technology, including alternative improvements and device characteristics. Future challenges for the E‐mode FEG‐HEMT are also discussed.


A new and cost effective technique is presented for remote laboratory access (RLA). The technique was developed to serve students in digital hardware design courses through the Internet. The technique is based on software and uses the client-server methodology to establish communication between a user and a server PC that is located in a lab with an FPGA board attached. The technique provides an integrated system of multiple servers and clients so that each client receives information from the servers, including: server availability, FPGA board types and services provided, and lab equipment available through the graphical user interface (GUI). Presently, a set of eight remote access servers are in service at Northern Illinois University, where they have been tested for three semesters. The proposed RLA technique is dynamic; adding new features to the system is only bounded by the capability of the FPGA hardware.


A relatively new x-ray imaging technique, xerography, gives very detailed, high contrast images. It is particularly useful in detecting texture changes associated with early breast cancer. We describe a process of digitally scanning photographs of these xeromammograms. Normalization of the data representing the breast images is necessary to later classification; four methods were used for our study. The visual appearance of certain abnormal texture is described and used to motivate our statistical measures of texture. One group of measurements is derived from density value histograms; a second group depends on a density value co-occurrence matrix; a third group computes statistics from a gradient of the image; the last group analyzes the number of connected paths in the image. Nineteen features are collected from these measurements and are evaluated by using them to classify abnormal from normal tissue in a set of four test cases.


Abstract A formal synthesis of pseudolaric acid B, a diterpene isolated from the root bark of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gordon (Pinaceae), to Trost's synthetic intermediate was achieved in 17 steps from a known ketone. Key features of this synthesis include a Claisen rearrangement and iodoetherification to construct quaternary stereocenters and ring-closing metathesis to form the seven-membered ring.


We developed the electric switch 3DCAD system (SHCAD) and Assembly Computer Aided Process Planning (ACAPP) from the point of integrating view. It runs on windows and was developed in Visual C++ language using Autodesk's Mechanical Desktop (MDT) and Discreet's 3ds max software. It Integrates 3D solid modeling and simulating assembly, automatic computing force (or moment) characteristics of moving system, interface design of UG, Pro/E solidworks-plus and ACAPP (Assembly Computer Aided Process Planning) etc, in ones. By means of software provided by the SHCAD system , so that the design effect and ability can greatly be improved.


Surgery remains the mainstay in treatment of leiomyoma uteri. Recently, attempts at medical therapy alone or combined therapy have been proposed. As one attempts to combine medical and surgical treatment of leiomyomas, several aspects are important to consider: (1) What are the treatment indications for leiomyomas?; (2) do gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists or other agents reduce uterine and fibroid volume?; (3) what is the optimal treatment period prior to surgical intervention?; (4) how do the abdominal and vaginal routes for hysterectomy compare?; and (5) can the medical and surgical approaches be combined to increase the number of patients who are candidates for vaginal hysterectomy?


Bihar is a state that faces the highest level of malnutrition in India, leading to a lot of serious health problems. This study was taken up to better understand the malnutrition factors in Bihar by assessing and comparing results of two clustering algorithms. Unstructured data was obtained from Government reports, pertaining to malnutrition indices, demographic, social and medical factors that cause malnutrition. In the first stage the variables from non-clustered data was correlated with malnutrition indices. Further on, the data was broken into clusters. This was carried out by the Rapid Miner Studio using k-means and Hierarchical agglomerative clustering. Subsequently, each cluster was again analyzed using the software and the correlation results were compared. Significant variation was observed in most of the correlations in the data sets obtained by executing the two algorithms. Choosing a more suitable algorithm that best represents malnutrition in Bihar would thus be very useful. This has significant implications in policy making for malnutrition control, through identifying the most relevant variables/factors responsible.


Abstract Diverse 11R,13-dihydroamino and 1,10β-epoxy-11R,13-dihydroamino analogs of ludartin were synthesized using a highly diastereoselective Michael addition and epoxidation reaction. The semisynthetic analogs were characterized using rigorous spectral data analysis. All the compounds were subjected to sulphorhodamine B cytotoxicity screening against a panel of three breast cancer cells, viz., T47D, MCF-7, and MDA-MB 231. Among the synthesized analogs, compounds 11, 19, and 20 proved to be active against the breast cancer cell lines. Compound 11 represents an epoxy analog of arglabin (5), which is a noteworthy and clinically significant antitumor agent and exhibited an IC50s of 0.75 µM and 1.20 µM against MCF-7 and MDA MB-231 cell lines, respectively. Compounds 19 and 20 displayed selectivity among the three breast cancer cell lines and were active against MCF-7 cell lines only displaying IC50s of 1.00 and 1.21 µM, respectively. This study provides initial structure-activity relationship data on ludartin and its analogs against breast cancer cell lines based on the previous literature reports of ludartin as an aromatase inhibitor.


The utility model discloses a blind-spot detection warning device for an automobile, which comprises at least one ultrasonic probe used for detecting whether an object exists or not and assembled at the outside of the automobile, a radar main machine used for receiving the signal of the ultrasonic probe and performing data processing and connected with the ultrasonic probe, and a warning device used for sending the warning effect and connected with the radar main machine. The blind-spot detection warning device has the advantages that the detection range is broad, the blind area coverage is high, and the problem existing in the background technology that the traffic accident is caused because the dangerous situation of the automobile blind-spot is not found in time can be overcome.


This paper presents newly developed guidelines for prosodic annotation of German as a consensus system agreed upon by German intonologists. The DIMA system is rooted in the framework of autosegmental-metrical phonology. One important goal of the consensus is to make exchanging data between groups easier since German intonation is currently annotated according to different models. To this end, we aim to provide guidelines that are easy to learn. The guidelines were evaluated running an inter-annotator reliability study on three different speech styles (read speech, monologue and dialogue). The overall high κ between 0.76 and 0.89 (depending on the speech style) shows that the DIMA conventions can be applied successfully.


In 2008, the XVII Portuguese Constitutional Government launched the 'e.escolinha' programme, within the Technological Plan for Education, which set out the distribution of a computer, called 'Magalhães', designed for children attending the 1st cycle of basic education. Suspended in 2011 by the XIX Government, this programme has allowed, however, almost 500 000 children to have access to a personal computer. It was expected that this political measure would "revolutionise" the national education system by bringing changes to the pedagogical practices of teachers and the learning processes of children and by achieving educational success, in general. Based on documental analysis and on a set of interviews with key decision-makers in conceiving, implementing and monitoring this governmental initiative, the fi rst part of this chapter presents and analyses the 'e.escolinha' initiative and the policies behind that governmental programme, seeking to disassemble those objectives and provide some insights into the relationship between discourses, rhetoric, and reality. After that, the chapter focuses on children's uses and practices with Digital-Literacy.indb 29 14-02-2015 09:49:21 30 the 'Magalhães' laptop, at school and at home. Based on the results of questionnaires fi lled in by approximately 1500 children from 32 First Cycle public schools of the municipality of Braga (north of Portugal) and also from questionnaires applied to their parents and teachers, this chapter intends to analyse the real impact of this initiative for children, family and school. It also seeks to discuss the contribution of this educational policy to children's digital literacy and also to their own and their families' social and digital inclusion. To understand if it represented an added value to teachers' pedagogical practice is another of its aims. The fi ndings point out a major focus on technology and access rather than on uses and competences or even on social, educational and cultural change. In fact, a major conclusion is the existence of a strong gap between the policy and the practices, typical of a top-down policy design. This study is an integrant part of a research project titled "Navigating with 'Magalhães': Study on the Impact of Digital Media in Schoolchildren" conducted at the University of Minho, Portugal, fi nanced by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [PTDC/CCI-COM/101381/2008] and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund [COMPETE: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-009056].


This paper presents an approach of lip movement features extraction and recognition based on chroma analysis.By the lip chromatic filter,enhanced lip movement images are obtained.The contours are described and feature parameters are extracted using deformable templates.Sequence images of lip movement with the features have been recognized by employing the HMM model.This method is quite robust to illumination and speaker independent,and it is fit for realistic surroundings under natural condition.It works out the problem of high resolution on object contours which deformable template needs,and makes itself more practicable.All lip movement recognition experiments are based on visual information alone (without using acoustic information),the experimental set is limited within single Chinese vowels,and the accuracy rate of recognition gets up to 95 8%.


High-grade brain tumours have a poor prognosis, indeed as few as 16% of patients with glioblastoma survive 2 years post diagnosis. Over half of glioblastoma incidence is in the productive years of life, when in employment and often with young children. Thus, even a small improvement in the outcome of treatment can result in significant benefit not just to patients, but also to the community and to the economy. Unlike other cancer sites (such as breast and prostate) treatments in this area have been slow to evolve. The use of temozolomide and more conformal radiotherapy techniques has certainly improved survival. There are several new potential treatments but due to the heterogeneous and phenotypically variable nature of glioblastoma, these are unlikely to provide a significant benefit for many of the patients diagnosed. New treatments are expensive for pharmaceutical companies to develop and for governments to fund. Many novel agents do not even make it to phase III studies, and new methods of rapidly screening potential agents are urgently needed. We believe new methods of brain imaging constitute a rapid and clinically valid method both to assess treatment and to provide information on which patients are most likely to benefit. The hypothesis of one mutation being useful in treating a tumour has been revolutionary for some less complex tumours. However, it is unlikely to provide long-term gains with glioblastoma. This is partly because the stromal environment and the random de-differentiation of stem cells and their biology are complex. But clustering analysis now suggests that the clinical entity of glioblastoma can be molecularly divided into at least six main groups. This presents difficulties for performing clinical trials. A further issue that hinders development in glioblastoma is that it constitutes only 1% of the total tumour burden. Most cancer treatment centres in Australia and New Zealand are unlikely to treat more than 40 glioblastoma patients a year, presenting a problem for trials with very tight eligibility. This is especially so when the small number has to be analysed according to the groups of genetic characteristics associated with different survival. Similarly, 'salvage' therapy trials present problems as the clinical state of patients decline rapidly. In addition, in all new cancer therapy development the drug discovery process is expensive and slow. Specifically with glioblastoma, there have been no new systemic agents for a large period of time apart from temozolomide. With the survival at 2 years of 16% the 10 years plus of potential drug development is too long. Patients rarely survive long enough to have a second attempt at radical treatment. As existing radiological response criteria using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (e.g. McDonald criteria) are difficult to interpret for a prolonged period after glioblastoma treatment (reducing the ability to assess responses to treatment), rapid and accurate surrogate markers that correlate with survival are needed here. Functional (metabolic) imaging with positron emission tomography (PET) is one such potential methodology. PET can look at multiple facets of tumour biology with exquisite resolution and with tracers present in picomolar concentrations. Concurrent MRI may provide even more useful information as we learn more about how to interpret the images. This metabolic imaging is helpful in a number of ways. First, it informs us when a tumour is undergoing genetic changes, enabling treatment to be changed early. It also enables mechanisms of tumour resistance to be investigated, such as tumour hypoxia using Fmisonidazole. It can help in identifying reducing treatment resistance, therefore enabling a change in therapy. This is important as it is known from other tumour sites (such as non-small cell lung cancer) that resistance to single-agent targeted therapy develops increasingly quickly as patients move from firstto second-line therapy. Metabolic imaging could enable us to study the effects of novel treatment regimens such as the use of multiple agents earlier in treatment or in combination, or at different times during the treatment cycle, enabling an expedited drug discovery, phase I and phase II trial stages. If this surrogate outcome is directly correlated with clinical outcomes, imaging could also reduce the need for expensive and hard to recruit phase III clinical trials. However the acceptance of a surrogate outcome for a novel agent would have to meet the rigorous requirements of regulatory authorities to enable registration, although this may be different for repurposing of older agents. It is thus still likely that although the imaging correlates with survival, the measure of success required to enable registration would remain patient outcomes. bs_bs_banner


Spondyloarthropathies are chronic inflammatory diseases with predominant axial involvement. Early diagnosis is a major challenge for physicians. Misdiagnosis and diagnostic delays lead to unnecessary paraclinical investigations, inadequate treatment and to poor outcomes including functional impairment and quality of life.We assess the diagnostic delay in spondyloarthritis and identify factors associated with it.A retrospective study including patients diagnosed with spondyloarthritis between 2004 and 2020 according to ASAS 2010 criteria.Diagnostic delay was defined as period between the first symptom and diagnosis establishment. The potential factors predicting the diagnostic delay were explored through univariable and multivariable linear regression analysis, included epidemiological characteristics (age, gender, educational level, socio-economic level), clinical and biological presentation and sacroiliitis (radiographic or in MRI). Events occurring before the diagnostic were also analyzed.The study included 276 patients: 146 males (53%) and 130 females (47%) with a sex ratio of 1.1 and the mean age at the diagnostic was 38.87 years. Comorbidities included smoking (33 patients), cardiopathy (3 patients), hypertension (19 patients), diabetes (14 patients) and peptic ulcer (5 patients). The mean duration of symptoms was 2.6 years, and average diagnostic delay was 6.5 years with a median of 2.1 years. In univariable and multivariable linear regression analysis, low socio-economic level (p =0.023) and low educational level (p=0.042) were statistically significant parameters associated with a delayed diagnosis. There was no statistically significant association between the delay of diagnosis and age, clinical presentation or sacroiliitis (radiographic or in MRI). The use of traditional and herbal treatments before consulting a rheumatologist was also associated with a longer delayed diagnosis.Spondyloarthropathies have a delayed diagnosis. This delay, also found in other studies, is responsible for persistent disease activity and important functional consequences. In our context, low socio-economic level, low educational level, and the use of traditional unconventional treatment are factors associated with a delayed diagnosis.[1]Sorensen J, Hetland ML. Diagnostic delay in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis: results from the Danish nationwide DANBIO registry. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015 Mar;74(3):e12.[2]Aggarwal R, Malaviya AN. Diagnosis delay in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: factors and outcomes--an Indian perspective. Clin Rheumatol. 2009 Mar;28(3):327-31.[3]Wendling D, Claudepierre P, Prati C. Early diagnosis and management are crucial in spondyloarthritis. Joint Bone Spine. 2013 Dec;80(6):582-5.[4]Garrido-Cumbrera M, Navarro-Compán V, Bundy C, Mahapatra R, Makri S, Correa-Fernández J, et al. Identifying Parameters Associated with Delayed Diagnosis in Axial Spondyloarthritis: Data from the European Map of Axial Spondyloarthritis. Rheumatology (Oxford). 10.1093/rheumatology/keab369[5]Redeker I, Callhoff J, Hoffmann F, Haibel H, Sieper J, Zink A, et al. Determinants of diagnostic delay in axial spondyloarthritis: an analysis based on linked claims and patient-reported survey data. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2019 09 1;58(9):1634-8.None declared


This paper was written as a response to an unprecedented series of lethal attacks against Roma in 2008 and 2009 in Hungary. The issues raised in the paper, however, touch on a broader set of questions. The following pages convey the frustration of a Central East European human rights lawyer facing the misdirection and misinterpretation of the constitutional role of certain human rights principles and arguments, which (i) disarm crucial defence mechanisms constitutional democracies have and need to mobilise countering anti-democratic extremist movements, and (ii) practically prevent efficient legal action against discrimination and obstruct combating hate crimes in particular. I argue that the lack of readjustment of both the legislative formulation and the practical interpretation of a number of classic human rights (such as free speech, freedom of assembly, protection of informational privacy), which were essential tools and both symbolic as well as practical achievements in the process of the political transition, seriously threaten the functioning of the new and fragile liberal democracies in the CEE region.


The Power system stability or stabilization is defined as the ability of power system to preserve its steady stability. Existing power systems are being operate but their stability limited because of economic and environmental circumstances. For maintaining a stability and security operation of a power system is therefore a very important and challenging issue. For example the Indian navy is looking for methods to maximize the survivability of combat ships during battle conditions. Now for salving this problem the FACTS devices play an important role in improving the transient stability, increasing transmission capacity and damping low frequency oscillations. A ship- board power distribution is also a major problem during long trip. In this paper, a flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) device-SVC is used in a two area power system for improving the transient stability. FACTS Increase the reliability of AC grids and reduce power delivery costs.


This essay addresses the question of how multilingualism can be simulated in the foreign-language classroom and offers a critical examination of communicative language teaching as well as proposals for rethinking language pedagogy in order to foster the development of translingual and transcultural competence as framed by the 2007 MLA ad hoc committee report. The pedagogical proposals derive from an analysis of three aspects of a group of students' multilingual being while studying abroad in Germany: day-to-day language choice, uses of digital media, and participation in social networks. Insights from this multiple-case ethnographic study are brought to bear in formulating implications and proposals for foreign-language teaching in the U.S. university setting.


The ATI-LINCO is an interdisciplinary national research project leaded by the Research Group "Evaluación Educativa y Orientación" ("Educational Assessment and Guidance") at the University Institute of Educational Sciences (IUCE, University of Salamanca, Spain). Its focus calls the attention on key skills assessment, training of Secondary school teachers in Basic competences and the implementation of innovation processes. In the first project (SEJ2006-10700) the research interest aimed at the assessment of Basic Competencies in high school students, obtaining enough evidence as to move on a second project (EDU2009-08753). In this second attempt, the research questions about the assessment and training of secondary school teachers were divided into two basic skills: Proceedings of the TEEM'13 Track on Knowledge Society Related Projects 38 information literacy and conflict resolution competences. Finally with the ATI-LINCO project, the interest is to reverse the results of the evaluation and training on innovation processes in the secondary school setting. The Project themes are: skills assessment, teacher training, Innovation in secondary education, information literacy, conflict resolution and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as integrate tools supporting the entire project. The research methodology is different and adapted to each of the objectives proposed. On the one hand, our goal is to continue with the diagnosis of student key skills, that support learning. On the other hand, we propose an experimental design to test the ICT effectiveness in a training program for skill development in teacher training schools. On the other hand, we intend to frame an educational innovation project based on Basic Competencies through an interactive process of action-research. The ultimate goal, therefore, is contributing to improve the quality of the Spanish Educational System in Secondary Education


Professionalism of construction workers is one of the keys to the success of infrastructure development projects. The professionalism of the workforce is demonstrated through the possession of expertise competence certificate (SKA) and/or certificates of skills (SKT) issued formally through competency tests by the National Construction Cervices Development Agency (LPJKN). The magnitude of the national skilled manpower needs has not been able to meet the availability of professional workforce. Strategies to develop the quality of resources require sufficient information on the characteristics of the resources themselves, facilities, constraints, stakeholder support, regulations, and socioeconomic as well as cultural conditions. The problems faced by Indonesia in improving the competitiveness of skilled construction workers are (1) how the level of professionalism of skill workers in construction field, (2) what the constrains on improving the quality of skilled construction workers,and(3) how the appropria...


in the control group (41% and 20.4%, respectively; p=0.0007). We identified an association of the T allele with some clinical, laboratory, and immunological disorders in SLE: arthritis (OR 3.9, p=0.0002), acute cutaneous lupus (OR 2.47, p=0.003), nonscarring alopecia (OR 3.12, p=0.002), renal involvement (OR 2.42, p=0.022), leucopenia (OR 2.72, p=0.003), thrombocytopenia (OR 4.88, p=0.002), anti-dsDNA (OR 2.82, p=0.0006), hypocomplementemia (OR 2.34, p=0.012), positive direct Coombs test (OR 3.38, p=0.002). Conclusion: Our pilot study confirmed that the STAT4 rs7574865 G/T polymorphism was associated with the risk of SLE in children and some of SLE manifestations.


If one listens in the library and archives communities to the whispers and rumors about the I-School movement, the sense one has about what is going on is that this is just another effort to move away from the traditional library school, merely another phase in the natural evolution of a portion of these schools into something far different than what the library science pioneers ever envisioned. Before the I-School movement was here, however, other aspects of these historic schools were evolving, such as can be seen in the history of graduate archival education having a place in the library and later library and information science programs. However, in this session we take a somewhat different tack, arguing that older areas of studies such as archival studies are essential to the future of I-Schools, particularly as these schools tackle the increasingly complex issues confronting a digital society. This session will consist of a preliminary paper co-written by leaders in archival studies and the concept of I-Schools (Richard J. Cox and Ron Larsen respectively) with two different commentators on the Cox-Larsen presentation who bring different perspectives to this topic. The paper will discuss the mission and history of I-Schools, the mission and history of archival studies, the basic elements and concepts of archival studies which are critical to I-Schools (curation and preservation of primary and secondary sources that are born-digital, the life cycle/continuum concept of records, the preservation imperative, cultural and humanistic perspectives, public and institutional memory, and the evolving notion of records in the digital era), and matters of the changing nature of personal and institutional archives which may be best fit into an ISchool curriculum and mission (e.g., the implications of new portable digital technologies on issues such as the creation, maintenance, and use of records and information sources deemed to possess long-term archival value).


IN a previous paper' the writer has attempted to show that the genus Stomias can not be regarded as directly related to the various other genera usually referred to the family Stomiatidae (and to the families Astronesthidae and Idiacanthidae) and a new family, Melanostomiatidae, and suborder, Gymnophotodermi, were therefore introduced for these latter forms, while the suggestion was made that the family Stomiatidae should be limited to the genera Stomnias and Macrostomias, only, and excluded from the suborder Gymnophotodermi. This suggestion has not been followed by Regan and Trewavas in their more recent treatise on the same systematic group of fishes,' but in their discussion of the anatomy of the Stomiatidae (as the family is interpreted by them) we nevertheless find the arguments already previously advanced by the present writer in favor of a separation of the genus Stomias strongly confirmed in the statement: "Stomias is distinguished from the other genera especially by two features, one primitive, the presence of scales, and the other in this group a specialized character, the praemaxillaries free from the maxillaries" (Regan and Trewavas, loc. cit., p. 38). The writer will therefore merely again point out that it is contrary to the principles of a natural classification to combine within one systematic unit various groups of forms expressing crossing tendencies of phylogenetic differentiation in their comparative morphology, i.e., which show a mixture of primitivity and specialization in relation to each other, instead of consistent primitivity, on one hand, coupled with a consistently more specialized anatomy on the other. It is therefore again suggested that the Astronesthidae and the Melanostomiatidae' be combined in the suborder Gymnophotodermi, as previously proposed, while the Stomiatidae, sensu stricto, be limited as above indicated and referred to a separate suborder, for which the name ofLepidophotodermi is herewith suggested. The Lepidophotodermi, may at least provisionally, also be made to include the Chauliodontidae, although the position of this family relative to the other stomiatoids seems rather uncertain. A third suborder, the Heterophotodermi, could then embrace the Gonostomatidae and the Sternoptychiidae.


The objectives of the present study were to study relationship of Imposter Phenomenon withself-concept, social support and self-esteem and to identify the self-concept, social supportand self-esteem as the predictors of imposter phenomenon among the male students ofHimachal Pradesh University. It is found from the study that, there is significant relationshipbetween Imposter Phenomenon with self-concept, social support and self-esteem among themale students of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. However, self-concept was the bestpredictor of imposter phenomenon in case of male students of Himachal Pradesh University.


We propose a method to distinguish causal influence from hidden confounding in the following scenario: given a target variable Y, potential causal drivers X, and a large number of background features, we propose a novel criterion for identifying causal relationship based on the stability of regression coefficients of X on Y with respect to selecting different background features. To this end, we propose a statistic V measuring the coefficient's variability. We prove, subject to a symmetry assumption for the background influence, that V converges to zero if and only if X contains no causal drivers. In experiments with simulated data, the method outperforms state of the art algorithms. Further, we report encouraging results for real-world data. Our approach aligns with the general belief that causal insights admit better generalization of statistical associations across environments, and justifies similar existing heuristic approaches from the literature.


Great Wass Island in Maine supports a large population of Pinus banksiana Lamb. (jack pine) at its southern range boundary. Nearly monospecific stands occur on outcrops and coastal plateau bogs. In contrast to typical populations of this species, six stands exhibited old trees, multiaged structure, and continuous but pulsed establishment despite a lack of widespread fire. Unfavorable soil conditions appear to explain the presence of self-perpetuating populations in this study area, across the geographic range for P. banksiana, and for similar shade-intolerant pine species. Pinus banksiana stands on outcrops exhibited synchronous age structure peaks and included many trees over 150 years old. In contrast, coastal plateau bog stands were younger, were not synchronized in terms of age structure, and contained few large dead trees, suggesting turn-of-the-20th century invasion of these bogs. Analysis of historical aerial photographs furthermore reveals substantial infilling of bogs by P. banksiana since 1940. ...


AbstractFamilial medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a well-known syndrome, however, familial papillary thyroid carcinoma has been documented infrequently in brief reports and family members diagnosed with this disease usually involve a small number of patients. In this issue of the journal, Dr. Harris and colleagues report two members of a family with papillary thyroid carcinoma: a mother and her young daughter who presented with metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. The authors suggest that the occurrence of the neoplasm at an advanced stage in closely related individuals early in life may be due to an underlying genetic abnormality. The mother, 17 years earlier at the age of 22, received brief treatment with localized posterior scalp irradiation for tinea capitis with her face and neck heavily shielded? However, I am not certain how the shielding was done, especially since thyroid carcinoma may arise in a thyroid which received a small amount of radiation. We have previously reported that lead shiel...


Pointing to the status of bad operation condition, higher fault, higher consumption of spare part and big maintenance, etc, the raw material plant of Jigang has done transforming to 76 type belt conveyor which was replacing 76 type roller rack by DTⅡ type automatic centering roller racks with double way changeable slot-angle. As a result, it solves the problems of belt deviation and leakage of material, reduces the operation resistance of belt and operation cost, realizes automatic deviation correction of the belt. After transforming the direct economic benefit of 0.137 million yuan can be obtain from per-kilometer belt every year.


In view of the global trend of growing urbanization, especially in the developing countries, the concept of smart cities is becoming critical in framing the thinking of policy makers, government officials, decision makers, local authorities and general public. On the other hand, Smart Cities have already become a reality in many parts of the developed world. In this context, this paper surveys the existing frameworks for smart cities to provide a guideline for formulating frameworks for smart cities in the developing countries. The contributions of this paper are twofold. (1) survey and analysis of some of the prominent smart city frameworks, (2) brief review of ongoing initiatives for the development of smart cities in India. It is observed that, certain modifications are needed to map the existing frameworks to suit the requirements of specific cities, on a case to case basis.


With the increasing volume of location-annotated content from various social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare, we now have real-time access to people's daily documentation of local activities, interests and attention. In this demo paper, we present CityBeat, a real-time visualization of hyper-local social media content for cities. The main objective of CityBeat is to provide users -- with a specific focus on journalists -- with information about the city's ongoings, and alert them to unusual activities. The system collects a stream of geo-tagged photos as input, uses time series analysis and classification techniques to detect hyper-local events, and compute trends and statistics. The demo includes a visualization of this information that is designed to be installed on a large-screen in a newsroom, as an ambient display.


The Cereals and Legumes Asia Network (CLAN) was formed in 1992 by merging the erstwhile Asian Grain Legumes Network (AGLN) and the Cooperative Cereals Research Network (CCRN). CLAN's overall goal is to improve the well-being of Asian farmers and consumers by improving the productivity and sustainable production of sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut.
The sixth CLAN Steering Committee Meeting held in December 1999, marked the termination of the 12-year period of funding support from the Asian Development Bank. At that meeting, member countries agreed to continue network research and development activities with funding from national programs. APAARI and ICRISAT were requested to provide support funding for coordination, capacity building and exchange of genetic materials and information. APAARI has provided limited funding support, augmenting ICRISAT's contribution, which is derived both from core funding and from bilateral and multilateral projects.


The basic properties of high-current-density Josephson tunnel junctions are calculated from the microscopic theory taking into account a finite width 2δ of the Riedel peak. The calculated I-V curves for the finite values of the normalized capacitance β c , the Riedel peak halfwidth δ, and the parameter α of pair current suppression are in good agreement with published experimental results for the high-current-density tunnel junctions Pb(In)-oxide-Pb. The hysteresis parameter I R /I c calculated from the microscopic theory as a function of the normalized capacitance β c is compared with the dependence following from the RSJ and the RSJN models. In addition, the low-frequency spectral density S v (0) of the voltage fluctuations across the junction is numerically found and compared with that following from the simple shot-noise model.


Fluorosis is an endemic problem in Rajasthan, out of 32 districts (PHED Habitation survey 1997-98); Jodhpur is one of the worst affected areas. The purpose of the study was to assess fluorosis and its public health impact. Emphasis is laid on dental fluorosis because dental tissues are affected at an early stage and it makes a person socially and culturally crippled. Study was designed with both cross-sectional and retrospective component; sample for this study was collected from Jodhpur Dental College, which is situated in village, Narnadi, in outskirts of Jodhpur city. Majority of population reported to dental OPD were affected by fluorosis. Significant number of population had mild to moderate form of dental fluorosis. Females seem to have more socio-psychological impact of fluorosis than males. Majority of population affected by dental fluorosis have never been to dentist/medical professional for their problem. This shows lack of awareness and poor access to health care. Females seem to have more physical manifestations than males among the reported cases. Fluorosis in Rajasthan is continuing as a serious public health problem, it appears the measures taken to prevent fluorosis are inadequate. At later stage of fluorosis, the hard tissue changes are irreversible and are difficult to treat, and in dental fluorosis the rehabilitation treatment is very costly. Preventive measures, health education and treatment of fluorosis at an early age are the only measures to prevent health hazards of fluorosis.


When annual average PM2.5 (fine particulate matter sized 2.5 microns and less) data for 2005 became available in April 2006 and the 3-yr average PM2.5 concentration in an area just north of the Houston Ship Channel reached 15.0 µg/m3, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) initiated daily collection of quartz fiber as well as Teflon PM2.5 filter samples for chemical speciation analysis. The purpose of the chemical speciation analysis was to use the speciation data, together with meteorological data and hourly TEOM (tapered element oscillating microbalance) PM2.5 mass data, to identify the causes of the high PM2.5 concentrations affecting the monitoring site and the neighborhood. The ultimate purpose was to target emission reduction efforts to sources contributing to the high measured PM2.5 concentrations. After a year of data collection, it was recognized that a specific source, unpaved driveways and loading areas along the Ship Channel and dirt tracked onto Clinton Drive, the main artery running east-west north of the Ship Channel, were the primary cause for the Clinton Drive site's measuring PM2.5 concentrations significantly higher than other sites in Houston. The source characterization and remediation steps that have led to sustained reduced concentrations are described in this paper. Implications: With PM2.5 exceedances it can be essential to have or develop chemical speciation data as part of the process of identifying the source types causing exceedances of an annual standard. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis proved to be a powerful tool that identified the two locally emitted species contributing to exceedances, which did not occur at other sites in the region. They were calcium sulfate (gypsum), an industrial by-product, and soil minerals. Other data analysis approaches were necessary to distinguish North African dust events, which PMF failed to identify.


The purpose of this study was to find out how caregivers experienced their psychosocial work environment at three municipal homes for old people. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) was used in order to study different dimensions of the work environment, and questions about health, sickness presence and sick leave were included. The questionnaire was answered by 86 out of 112 participating caregivers (77%). The results showed that the caregivers experienced high demands at work. The degree of feedback and influence at work was low, but they reported that their work was highly meaningful and that they usually received social support at work. There were a number of associations between experienced health, sickness presence and the studied dimensions of the work environment. However, few associations were found between estimated days of sick leave and these dimensions.


Mechanical joint often has a significant effect on the dynamical behavior of high-speed horizontal machining center.Identifying the dynamic parameters of the joints correctly is a prerequisite to establish its precise dynamic model.The method based on frequency response function(FRF) to identify the characteristic parameters of bolted joints and make some researches on the equivalent way was proposed by combining theoretical derivation with experimental research,which defined identification formula and sensitivity,and the experimental data was selected by sensitivity which could extract the favorable data and suppress the unfavorable data.On this basis,the inconsistent equation containing identification formula was established,and the equivalent dynamic parameters were obtained through solving the inconsistent equation by means of the least square sense.In the end,this method was applied to one experiment based on LMS system,and the result showed that it significantly improved the identification and equivalence precision.


The financial crisis that began on 17 August 1998 confirmed any fears that we might have had as to the robustness of the Russian banking system and more generally its financial system. It also pointed up the organic link between the confidence essential to the working of the banking system and the State's ability to guarantee the legality of it. Although improvements have been seen since then, the fundamental issue remains. International bodies have often asked questions about the issue in Russia of the rela-


An extended study on the solubility of the carbohydrates glucose, fructose, sucrose and lactose in twenty eight different ionic liquids (ILs) was performed. These ILs were based on the combination of tetraalkylammonium, tetraalkylphosphonium, 1-methyl-3-alkylimidazolium and dimethyl-tetraalkylguanidinium cations containing alkyl and ether pendant substituent groups, and anions of chloride, dicyanamide, saccharine, acesulfame, acetate or thiocyanate. It was possible to achieve solubilities, at 35 °C, of each carbohydrate up to 43.9, 49.0, 17.1 and 16.6% (g of carbohydrate per 100 g of IL), respectively. The possibility to extract carbohydrates from an aqueous phase by hydrophobic ILs was also demonstrated. Besides, some selectivity for a mixture of two carbohydrates was also observed.


Background
Murine models of atherosclerosis have been invaluable to gain mechanistic understanding of this chronic disease. Induction of atherosclerosis with relative ease in ApoE-/- and Ldlr-/- mice fed a Western-type diet to cause hyperlipidaemia has provided researchers with popular tools to manipulate and characterise the action of genes that affect atherogenesis. Seminal studies and reviews have discussed key phenotypic differences between different models and "target levels of hyperlipidaemia" have also been published. However, despite widespread use of these models and firm beliefs about differences in severity between them, there has been no meta-analysis and critical appraisal of published literature reporting phenotypes of murine atherosclerosis, focusing on the degree of hyperlipidaemia and aortic atheroma burden.

Methods and Results
A systematic search in PubMed and Web of Knowledge with the key words: "atherosclerosis", "western diet" and "mice" identified 483 studies between 2006-2018. These reports used ApoE-/-, Ldlr-/- or proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 overexpressing- adeno-associated virus (PCSK9-AAV8) models of experimental atherosclerosis (including bone marrow transplants, BMT), induced by western-diet (WD) feeding. We chose to assess standard WD (0.2% cholesterol) as it is the most widely used diet in atherosclerosis studies 1. These publications were filtered based on the content of their abstracts; those that described experiments of experimental atherosclerosis (204 papers) were considered for further assessment. Of these, articles that reported at least two of the following measures were included in the main analysis to allow for correlative comparisons; lesion area in the aortic root (numerical values and not %), % en face Oil-Red O staining in the whole aorta, total plasma cholesterol and triglyceride (mg/dL) levels. These criteria yielded 144 research articles (22 used BMT of either model, 75 used ApoE-/-, 27 used Ldlr-/-, 10 used both BMT and single ApoE-/- or Ldlr-/-, 2 used PCSK9, the remaining 8 studies used mixed models BMT) where the mice were fed a diet for 4-28 weeks.


Abstract 2270 Poster Board II-247 Central nervous system (CNS) toxicity after HCT is an uncommon, but serious cause of transplant related mortality. Recently, toxic leukoencephalopathy is better defined using advanced MRI techniques. We reviewed all the medical records of HCT recipients (2000-2007) who received Flu-containing conditioning regimens in our institution and developed sever central nervous toxicity. We asked a specialized neuroradiologist to review their brain imagines blindly from patients9 outcomes. From our database review, cases were excluded if neurologic symptoms were related to peripheral neuropathy, CNS infection, intracranial bleeding, stroke, CNS malignancy, sedative medication effect, or metabolic disturbance. We were able to identify 39 cases of sever leukoencephalopathy out of total1596 transplants and we described 3 distinct Flu-associated clinical syndromes with unique clinical and radiographic characteristics. Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES, n=17, 1.1%) presented with seizures, persistent headache, or visual changes along with varying compromise in mental status. Acute Toxic Leukoencephalopathy, (ATL, n=11, 0.7%) resulted mainly in cognitive dysfunction, decreased levels of consciousness, and some vision changes. A third distinct Leukoencephalopathy syndrome (LS, n=11, 0.7%) presented similarly to ATL but with less specific and chronic-appearing deep white matter changes on MRI. PRES favors the cortex/subcortical white matter (SCWM) in the early phases and ATL/LS favor the deep periventricular white matter (PVWM) in the early stages, these two entities can usually be distinguished from each other utilizing the combination of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and diffusion-weighted images (DWI) MRI techniques (Typically diffusion is reduced in ATL and normal in PRES). Other associated features included: younger age in PRES (median 20 years vs. 55 in ATL and 42 in LS). ATL and LS can be reversible, but to a lesser degree than PRES. PRES developed later (median 77 days post HCT) compared to 30 and 31 days for ATL and LS. Patients who developed ATL had shorter overall survivals than patients with PRES and LS patients (Median overall survival was 6.9 month for PRES compared to 2 months in ATL). ATL/LS compared to PRES were more likely to present with cognitive dysfunction than seizure (refer to table). Flu-associated ATL/LS may be more common in older patients, those with renal dysfunction, prior CNS radiation or chemotherapy, and in patients received higher dose of Flu compared to PRES. Our review suggests Brian MRI with Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can add considerable diagnostic and prognostic information. Prospective Flu pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic studies may be needed to determine the most appropriate Flu dosing to avoid neurotoxicity. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


We present the 2.12 yum narrow-band image of the Hubble Deep Field North taken with the nearinfrared camera (CISCO) on the Subaru telescope. Among five targets whose Ha or [O III] emission lines are redshifted into our narrow-band range expected from their spectroscopic redshift, four of them have strong emission lines, especially for the two [O III] emission-line objects. The remaining one target shows no Ha emission in spite of its bright rest-UV luminosity, indicating that this object is already under the post-starburst phase. The volume-averaged SFR derived from the detected two Ha emission is roughly consistent with that evaluated from the rest-UV continuum.


Cyber incidents can disrupt regular mode of information and telecommunication systems functioning and to cause the substantial material and image losses for the company. One of the approaches in incident management is the use of the theory of network-centric management for cyber incidents monitoring, but is not formalized stage of forming basic rules set. In this regard, in this work developed the method for rules set forming of cyber incidents extrapolation in network-centric monitoring, which allows to automate and increase accuracy operation of network-centric systems for information and telecommunication systems monitoring by determining possible types of cyber attacks and cyber incidents categories, forming vector-matrix of cyber incidents probability, cyber incidents ranging by their importance and determining limit values of probability, forming cyber incidents possibility indicators, and also development and establishment of cyber incidents extrapolation rules.


The aim of this paper is to study and deal about a new methodology for implementing a newly designed charger to charge a battery for transportable vehicle which is operated by the battery with reduced total harmonic distortion. In the proposed system, diode bridge rectifier of existing system is replaced with the modified Landsman converter. The advantage of the proposed system is improved power quality, reduced stress, less input and the factor of output current ripple. This system is validated to test with charge 40 V battery of 100 Ah capacity.


This research was carried out to examine physical and mechanical properties of clay-woodceramics which were carbonized for 3 hours in a special furnace from 3 layers-clay-woodparticleboard made from pallet waste wood, phenol formaldehyde resin(hereafter PF, Non volatile content 52%, resin content 30%) and clay(10%, 20% and 30%). Carbonization temperature was 400, 600 and 800. The results are summarized as follows: 1.The higher the carbonization temperature, the higher the dimensional shrinkage and the lower the carbonization yield ratio. But the higher the clay addition, the lower the dimensional shrinkage and the higher carbonization yield ratio. 2.The higher the carbonization temperature, the higher the water absorption and the density. The higher the clay content, the higher the density. 3.The higher the carbonization temperature, the higher the bending Modulus of Rupture and bending Modulus of Elasticity.


Behcet's syndrome (BS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterised by recurrent oral and genital ulcers, frequently complicated with uveitis gastrointestinal, neurological, major vessel and cardiac involvement. For severe and (or) refractory BS, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors are indicated beyond glucocorticoids (GCs) and immunosuppressants,1 which are still responded inadequately in a small portion of refractory patients. Tofacitinib, a JAK1/3 inhibitor targeting T cell signalling, was approved for autoinflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and ulcerative colitis (UC).2 Given T cells are implicated in BS,3 tofacitinib could be a promising approach for BS.

In this study, we explored the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in refractory BS. We enrolled seven male and six female patients with BS fulfilling the 2013 International Criteria for BS,4 presented with active vascular/cardiac (n=5), gastrointestinal (n=6) and articular (n=2) involvements between May 2018 and January 2020 (table 1), with a mean age of 42.2±15.5 years and a median disease duration of 102 (IQR 72–240) months. At enrolment, all patients had active disease (Behcet's Disease Current …


Chapter Five addresses the much neglected topic of motivation for religious development under the consideration of community values, affections, and virtues. Chapter Six reiterates Fowler's concern with the theological primacy of conversion. "Conversion, then, is not so much a negation of our human development as it is a transformation and fulfillment of it" (140). In this essay, Fowler places his stage theory within the context of parallel developmental studies which nuance the meaning of his descriptions. Fowler claims an organic relatedness between the theories of Erikson, Levinson, and Gilligan and his faith stages. In the last three chapters, he refers to important themes in theological and pastoral literature (narrative theology, virtue theory, and biblical criticism) and indicates how he sees these as complementary to developmental theory. Fowler's stages stand as a complex diagnostic of epistemological structures of transcendence. The plausibility of his account of these stages is enhanced by his reference to parallel studies. Chapters Four, Five, and Six outline a large agenda for religious development studies to deal with narrative, affections, and virtues as motivational dimensions of religious development. Much more needs to be done to realize this vision of a developmental corpus. This book will be more useful at the professional and graduate studies level than at the undergraduate, in my view. Students of faith development will be gratified to see the suggestions for the integration of stages and motives outlined here. Undergraduate readers might find that too much background is presupposed.


The authors present the fabrication of electrospun nanofibers with antimicrobial properties by the UV-initiated grafting (photo-grafting) of 2-substituted vinylimidazoles onto nylon 6 nanofibers. The characterization was performed using IR spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX). The antimicrobial properties of the grafted electrospun nylon 6 nanofibers were evaluated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus as model challenge microorganisms, using the dynamic shake flask method. All the grafted electrospun nylon 6 nanofibers exhibited excellent growth reduction of E. coli (99.94–99.99%) and S. aureus (99.55–99.99%). The electrospun nylon 6 nanofiber composites could be used twice before a decrease in antibacterial activity was observed. The study showed that electrospun nylon 6 nanofiber composites possess a potential for use to control pathogens in water. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Introduction: Inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi) is a term used for systolic dysfunction of the Left Ventricle (LV) associated with persistent inflammation of the myocardium. Endomyocardial Biopsy (EMB) with an evidence of myocardial infection and /or inflammation is considered as the gold standard in the diagnosis of DCMi. However, recent studies using PCR methodology showed the presence of the viral genome (parvovirus B19 in particular) in individuals with normal LV systolic function. So far, there are no data about the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), another potential pathogen of DCMi, in the myocardium of subjects with normal LV systolic function.

Aim of the study: To determine the prevalence of viral agents and Bb in individuals with normal LV systolic function and no history suggestive of DCMi by electron microscopy.

Methods: We investigated 38 patients (67±7 years, 6 women) with normal EF undergoing myocardial revascularization and/or heart valve surgery. During the surgery procedure we obtained samples of the right atrial appendage which were subsequently examined by electron microscopy for the presence of viral agents and Bb and by immunohistochemistry to detect inflammatory cells.

Results: Viral agents were found in 25 subjects (66% of the study group) Herpesviridae family viral presence was detected in 34% of the studied subjects, Picornaviruses in 26%, a virus belonging to the Parvoviridae family in 13% and a member of the Paramyxoviridae in 3%. On the other hand, Bb was not detected in any case. Immunohistological examination did not demonstrate myocardial inflammation in any of the study subjects.

Conclusions: The high prevalence of various viral agents in the myocardium of subjects with normal LV systolic function and the absence of immunohistological markers of myocardial inflammation proves that mere presence of viruses within the myocardium cannot be put into direct causal relationship with the development of DCMi. On the contrary, the absence of Bb in these individuals supports the idea of Bb pathogenicity in relation to development of the LV systolic dysfunction.

The research project has been supported by the Czech Society of Cardiology.


Micro,Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs) have a significant role in the socio-economic development of the Indian
economy.However,they are facing different challenges like inefficient management,lack of finance,problem of skilled
manpower, lack of digital literacy etc. In today's competitive world, the digital revolution has brought different
opportunities to transform the business structure.The use of digital practices is very crucial for ensuring the success of
business enterprises.In the present paper, an attempt has been made to identify the significant factors responsible for
the adoption of digital practices and to analyse the impact of digital practices on day-to-day business operations of
MSMEs in the state of Karnataka.The study considered 900 MSMEs and used factor analysis and logit regression model
for the analysis. It is found that adoption of digital practices positively impacts on communications, inventory
management, administration and maintenance, customer relations and also helps in marketing and advertisement
activities of the business.Hence,MSMEs need to come forward to adopt the digital practices in their business operations


Real time locating systems (RTLS) are required to provide high quality service for port logistics. When such locating systems are applied to port logistics, however, they encounter the problem of unreachable signals. The environments of port logistics have radio-shaded areas (RSA), which often cause failures in measurement or positioning errors. This paper addresses the design and implementation of a real time locating system over IEEE 802.15.4a radio for application to port logistics. The proposed RTLS include methods that employ assistant tags and a directional-antenna-based reader. In addition, this paper describes experiments and records their performance in order to solve the problem associated with RSAs in the port logistics environment. The results show that the measurement success rate is increased by up to 38%, with a locating accuracy that has a circular error probability (CEP) of 1.13 m.


After the outbreak of 2003 SARS in Hong Kong, drainage has been considered as a path of virus transmission. When the floor trap has no water seal, smell can come through the drainage pipe. Loss of water seal of the trap can be caused by excess air pressure within drainage pipe especially in the stack of drainage. It is very difficult to make assessment on air pressure profile within stack and a prediction model is required. In this paper we will review and develop assessment models using experiment method. Partial differential equations predicting the air pressure profile within stack are used. The pressure profile shows positive and negative air pressures zones with respect to heights of discharge points, which are key elements to form a drainage monitoring system of a real building. A risk assessment protocol is developed to monitor the degree of water seal oscillation.


Th17 cells are a newly discovered subset of effector T helper cells,and mainly produce cytokines such as IL-17, IL-17F, IL-21and IL-22. Th17 cells and Th17-specific cytokines are thought to be associated with autoimmune disease and many other diseases. Here, we review the current progress of Th17 cells, including the discovery of Th17 cells, the differentiation of Th17 cells in both murine and human beings, Th17-specific cytokines and effector function with health and disease in detail.


6 7 1. Background 8 9 During its 26 th meeting in Bangkok in May 2007, the IPCC requested the preparation of a new set of 10 scenarios to facilitate future assessment of climate change. This new set (that is intended to replace and 11 extend the scenarios used in earlier IPCC assessments) should be compatible with the full range of 12 stabilization, mitigation and baseline emission scenarios available in the current scientific literature. The 13 IPCC also decided that, in part because of the growing number of scenarios developed within the 14 research community, and the research communities organizational structure, the research community 15 itself would undertake development of scenarios for assessment in a possible AR5, while the IPCC's 16 role would be that of catalyzing and assessing such work. 17 18 The research community has subsequently outlined three phases of scenario development: a preparatory 19 phase and two main phases of scenario development—a parallel product development phase and an 20 integration, dissemination, and application phase. In the preparatory phase, four integrated assessment 21 (IA) concentration and emissions scenarios will be chosen from the existing literature and provided to 22 climate modelers. These scenarios are referred to as " representative concentration pathways " (RCPs). 23 These scenarios will be used to produce a new set of climate model simulations that will subsequently 24 used for mitigation, impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability analysis. The primary goal of the RCPs is to 25 provide, in a timely manner, the most up to date scenarios possible to be used to produce these new 26 climate model simulations. 27 28 The identification of RCPs up-front is done to expedite the development of integrated scenarios by 29 enabling climate modeling to proceed in parallel to emission and socioeconomic scenario development. 30 In the past, scenario development has been carried out as a sequential process (from socio-economics 31 and emissions to climate projections and finally impact assessment). This sequential process prolonged 32 the integration of information across the three research communities. The identification of RCPs will 33 thus enable the climate modeling community to proceed with new climate change projections at the 34 same time that new work is carried out in the Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) and Impact, 35 Adaptation and Vulnerability (IAV) communities. The RCPs will be used for simulations by the Climate 36 Netherlands, a set of RCPs was identified. Following the Expert …


Objective To analyze the clinical features of herpes zoster myelitis,and to explore possible treatment measures for herpes zoster myelitis patients.Methods Clinical data of 9 definite herpes zoster myelitis were analyzed retrospectively.Results 8 cases of herpes zoster myelitis had characteristic rash.The spinal lesion was consist with the dermatonal distribution of the skin in 8 cases.The basical disease were found in 4 cases.VZA-IgG was detected in 1 case without rash.The MRI was abnormal in 7 cases.7 cases recovered after antiviral therapeuty,2 cases died in half a year.Conclusion The diagnosis of herpes zoster myelitis is based on the onset of myelopathy within days or weeks after rash,lumber cerebral spinal fluid and spinal MRI may exclude other causes.Antiviral therapeuty may be effective,The role of corticosteroids is unknow now.


Two balanced microstrip dual-band bandpass filters (BPFs) based on short stub loaded resonator (SSLR) and open stub loaded resonator (OSLR) are presented in this brief, respectively. The center frequencies of the two differential-mode (DM) passbands can be controlled quasi-independently by adjusting the lengths of resonators. Moreover, a stepped impedance microstrip line etched with an interdigital coupling line is utilized to introduce a coupling between the two resonators, which generates two extra controlled transmission zeros (TZs) to obtain better selectivities. Furthermore, balanced microstrip/ slotline (MS) transition structures are employed as feed networks, which can suppress common-mode (CM) inherently while the DM responses are not affected, thereby the design procedure can be simplified significantly. In order to demonstrate the theoretical design, two balanced dual-band BPFs were designed and fabricated. The simulated responses are compared with the measured ones and a good agreement is obtained.


Palm oil is one of the major fats and oils produced and traded in the world today. It forms an important ingredient in the diet of most people in West Africa. The quality of palm oil in mostly determined by physiochemical parameters such as the free fatty acid, acid values, moisture content, iodine, perioxide and saponificaiton values. This study examined the quality of palm oil on rate in three selected major markets, (mile 1, Creek Road and Choba Markets) in Rivers State, Nigeria. Triplicate samples were purchased from the three different markets and analyzed. Moisture contents were determined using hot plate and petridish methods. FFA, acid values, iodine, perioxide and saponification values, was determined by titration methods. The contents; 6.09-7.781% for FFA:12.12-15.48mgKOH/g for acid value; 44.29-51.73 Wiji's for iodine; 9.80-10.70meg/kg for peroxide and 180.90-196.35 mgKOH/g for saponification; these results showed that the two key quality parameters of the palm oils analyzed exceeded the acceptable values indicating that the palm oil on sale in these markets are of poor quality. Enlightenment and promotion of improved processing, good handling and storage practices that would ensure high quality palm for markets in Rivers should be carried out by regulatory agencies.


BACKGROUND Computational and statistical methods for detecting disease clusters, such as the spatial scan statisti c [1], have become frequently used tools in epidemiology. However, they simply tell the user where a cluster is, and leave the analysis task to the user. Multivari ate visualization tools provide one way for this analys is, e.g. [2]. The approach developed in this research is computational in nature, using computer vision tech niques to analyze the shape of the cluster. Shapes are used here because different spatial processes that cause clusters, such as pollution along a river, cr eate clusters with different shapes. Thus, it may be po ssible to categorize clusters by their respective spat ial processes by analyzing the cluster shapes.


BACKGROUND
Patients affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) have an increased risk of developing a second cancer. There is not a definitive explanation for this phenomenon, although some hypotheses have been postulated. The aim of the present work was to assess the presence of second cancer in untreated patients with CLL who were cytogenetically characterized, and secondly to investigate if there is a correlation between the genetics of CLL and the emergence of second cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We performed conventional cytogenetics and Fluorescent in situ hybridization analyses in a series of 106 patients.

RESULTS
We observed that nearly 8% of cases developed second cancer, mostly epithelial tumors. The majority of them presented two common features, del(13)(q14.3) and the presence of at least two genetic alterations.

CONCLUSION
We suggest that the genetic background of CLL, particularly the presence of several genetic alterations, influences the emergence of second cancer in patients affected by CLL.


The vibration characteristics of the GIS / GIL bus bar conductive rods have great influence on the operating noise and seismic capacity, and need to be evaluated by simulation in the design process. The structural characteristics of GIS / GIL busbar are analyzed, and the dynamic simulation model is established. The effects of length, thickness and joint spring stiffness on the vibration characteristics are simulated. The results show that when the thickness of the conductive rod is small, the base mode of the conductive rod is extrusion deformation, the increase of spring stiffness has no effect on the base frequency; when the thickness of the conductive rod is large, the base frequency of the conductive rod increases with the increase of the spring stiffness to a stable maximum, which equals to the frequency of work condition for simple support at one end . The error influencing factors of shell element and beam element are compared and analyzed: thickness is the main factor affecting the simulation accuracy of shell element, when the length of the conductive rod is not less than 110 mm and the thickness to diameter ratio is less than 0.182, the shell element simulation error is less than 5%; the main factor affecting the simulation accuracy of the beam element is length, when the length to diameter ratio is greater than 2.0, the maximum error of the beam element simulation is less than 5%.


'Silver Sheen' is a densely procumbent cultivar of Juniperus horizontalis Moench with steel-blue foliage that turns uniformly silvery-grey in winter. The cultivar is suitable for use as a ground cover or large container plant. 'Silver Sheen' is an improved selection of 'Douglasii', the widely marketed Waukegan juniper.


Anomaly detection promises to find elements of abnormality in a field of data. Computational barriers constrain anomaly detection to sparse subsets of total anomaly space. Barriers manifest in three ways — conserving both pattern memory capacity and pattern matching cycle time, while closing off scalability. The research reported here has discovered and analyzed a technology to eliminate two of these barriers, memory capacity and cycle time, and by targeting implementation at a new VLSI pattern processor, eliminate the third scalability barrier. An example shows how 10 to the 15 patterns integrated as a single gang detector can be stored in 193 bytes of memory, with much larger pattern magnitudes practical as well. The architecture of the gang detector enables complete processing of all 10 to the 15 patterns in time determined by the number of features in a single pattern, rather than the total number of patterns. Scalability is provided by a reconfigurable massively parallel VLSI pattern-matching processor chip that can accommodate a virtually unbounded number of such gang detectors. Anomalous behavior detection promises a way round the limitations of looking only for known attack patterns, but it raises new issues in the cyber domain of higher false positive rates and questionable normal-behavior stability. Work reported in this paper describes the nature and capability of gang detector employment, and suggests that the traditional issues of anomaly detection can be addressed with an architecture that engages in continuous learning and re-profiling of normal behavior, and employs a sensemaking hierarchy to reduce false positives. The architecture is based on process patterns from the biological immune system combined with process patterns of mammalian cortical hierarchical sensemaking.


6. SECTION PHYLLOSTACHYS, Carey, Gray's Manual, may be defined as follows: Spikes androgynous, staminate above. l'istillate flowers few, often remote, usually on a more or less zigzag rachis. Scales mostly prolonged and leaf like. Perigynium smooth or slightly hispid above, mostly tightly enclosing the perigynium, the beak, if any, straight. Under this definition should be included six species, all but the type species exclusively American. These are CC phyllostac lys, Meyer, miulticaulis, Bailey, Geyeri, Boott, Steudelii, Kunth, Blackii, Boott, TJVilldenovii, Schkuhr. These species naturally ariange themselves into two subordinate groups, which may be characterized as follows: Pkyllostach.yce. Culms all as long or nearly as long as the leaves; staminate flowers conspicuous; pistillate flowers velry few and large; beak very short. Including C(C. phyllostachys, mnulticaulis, Geyer,i. Bractoidece. Culms mostly much shorter than the leaves; stamiinate flowers inconspicuous; perigynium small, the beak produced to half or more its length; scales very green and much dilated, often concealing the perigynia and readily mistaken for bracts. Including C C. Steudelii, Backii, Willdenovii. In the Monograph of N. Anm. Cyperacete, 404, Dr. Torrey thought that C fVilldenovii and its allies might properly be separated under the generic name Phyllostachys. Carey made the name a sectional one.


AbstractAlthough some benefits of growing cover crops have been recognized in agricultural production fields, wider adoption of these rotational crops requires quantitative information on actual ev...


For Turkish artist and educator Can Altay 'today's cities are full of limits'. This unevenness can be regarded as the manifestation of current investment patterns and political and cultural conflicts. Does, however, transgression offer opportunities to subvert this? Is it possible for a city's inhabitants, artists and architects to open up boundaries and through the power of presence to intervene in the status quo?


These lecture notes provide some introduction to the 3+1 formalism of general relativity, which is the foundation of most modern numerical relativity. The text is rather self-contained, with detailed calculations and numerous examples. Contents: 1. Introduction, 2. Geometry of hypersurfaces, 3. Geometry of foliations, 4. 3+1 decomposition of Einstein equation, 5. 3+1 equations for matter and electromagnetic field, 6. Conformal decomposition, 7. Asymptotic flatness and global quantities, 8. The initial data problem, 9. Choice of foliation and spatial coordinates, 10. Evolution schemes.


The effect of hydrogen on the dezincification layer-induced stress and the susceptibility to SCC was investigated.Experimental results showed that the dezincification layer-induced stress increased with increasing hydrogen concen-tration, and 3×10-6 hydrogen could increase the susceptibility to SCC of brass in ammonia solution by 10%.


At present it is very general to exchange data between applications based on XML, and data export is a precondition of exchanging data, therefore, the data export efficiency becomes very important. Discusses several common methods of Java operating XML data and optimizes the previous method of exporting XML data in the electric power measurement automation project. The results of test show the better data export efficiency.


The autophagy adaptor WDFY3 is linked to neurodevelopmental delay and altered brain size. Loss-of-function variants are associated with an increased brain size in both humans and mice. We thus, hypothesized that the microcephaly observed in some of the patients may be related to a gain-of-function of the WDFY3 gene product. While the role of WDFY3 loss-of-function has been studied extensively in neurons, little is known about the effects of WDFY3 overexpression in different neural cell types. We utilized a Drosophila melanogaster overexpression model to investigate the effect of the WDFY3 ortholog Bchs (blue cheese) on development, CNS size, and gene expression profiles. Glial and neuronal overexpression of Bchs impaired CNS development, locomotion and autophagy. Glial overexpression of Bchs also altered CNS size significantly. We identified 79 genes that were differentially expressed and overlapped in flies that overexpress Bchs in glial and neuronal cells, respectively. Additionally, upon neuronal Bchs overexpression differentially expressed genes clustered in gene ontology categories associated with autophagy and mitochondria. Our data indicate that WDFY3/Bchs overexpression in both neurons and glial cells results in impaired neural development, which corresponds to symptoms observed in WDFY3-related neurodevelopmental delay.


A panoramic view seeks to trace the principal ideas governing the phenomenal growth of Nuclear Physics from a modest beginning in the Thirties, to an all-embracing field now protruding to the subhadronic on the one hand, and to high temperature QGP physics on the other. In this narrative, which makes no claims to completeness, Indian efforts have been highlighted vis-a-vis other similar efforts, within a common standard of global recognition.


The study was conducted in the growing season of 2010 at a private orchard at Bab El Zubair area, Basra, Iraq, during the period from March, 1 st , 2010 to December, 1 st , 2010, to study the role of the amino acid (Proline) in salt tolerance of Lasura ( Cordia myxa L.) seedlings (cv.Local). The experiment was designed according to Randomized Completely Block Design (R.C.B.D.) in a three factorial experiment of 27 treatments resulted from the interaction of :  Three levels for the first factor (the concentrations of  NaCl  ( 0, 6 and 12 Ds. m -1 ),  three levels for the second factor (the concentrations of the amino acid proline   (0, 75 and 150 mg.L -1 ) and three replicates for each experimental unit. The results showed a significant decrease in most studied vegetative characteristics with increasing the salt concentrations, but an opposite impact occurred with increasing the proline concentrations.  For physiological characteristics, the proline treatment (150 mg. L -1 ) was of a significant superiority and possessed the highest content of chlorophyll, free proline quantity and acidity percentage. While for the interaction among the levels of NaCl and proline, the interaction treatment (12 Ds. m -1 NaCl + 150 mg. L -1 proline) showed the highest increment in the main stem height and diameter, length and diameter of secondary branch,  average of leaf area, total chlorophyll and true proline. Keywords: Cordia myxa , proline, salinity tolerance.


This paper investigates the design of non-uniform cosine modulated filter bank (CMFB) with both finite precision coefficients and infinite precision coefficients. The finite precision filter bank has been designed to reduce the computational complexity related to the multiplication operations in the filter bank. Here, non-uniform filter bank (NUFB) is obtained by merging the appropriate filters of an uniform filter bank. An efficient optimization approach is developed for the design of non-uniform CMFB with infinite precision coefficients. A new procedure based on the discrete filled function is then developed to design the filter bank prototype filter with finite precision coefficients. Design examples demonstrate that the designed filter banks with both infinite precision coefficients and finite precision coefficients have low distortion and better performance when compared with other existing methods.


Concerned with many of the abuses ascribed to college sport, an increasing number of administrators, physical educators, coaches, and observers of sport believe that it has the potential to shape character. The potential impact of sport on character development is discussed in two areas: program administration and teaching/coaching behavior. Specific practices such as conditional scholarships, non-graduation of athletes, gender bias, modeling, drill, explanation and demonstration, encouraging athletes to play when injured, "running up the score," and performance evaluation are addressed. If students and athletes are important in sport, then character development should be an important aim of sport.


As part of our continuing investigation of flavonoid derivatives as potential anticancer substances, the synthesis of 25 cinnamoyl derivatives of benzofuran as furan-fused chalcones was carried-out and these compounds were further evaluated for their antiproliferative activity towards HL60 promyelocytic leukemia cells. In comparison with 2',4'-dihydroxychalcone, attachment of a furan moiety on the A-ring enhanced activity by more than twofold. Benzofurans may be useful in the design of biologically active flavonoids.


Variation in phosphatase activity (E.C. 126.96.36.199) in some cultivated wheats and wild progenitors was examined and a comparison made. The limits likely to occur in wheat were estimated, and the usefulness of phosphatase activity as an indicator of plant potential for exploiting low phosphorus status situations was explored. Under the test conditions, within the cultivated wheats, the phosphatase activity varied in optical density from 4.6 to 9.3 per g fresh weight (P < 0.001), and selections among wheats on this basis could be made. Phosphorus uptake and total dry matter yield were negatively related to phosphatase activity (r = - 0.80 and - 0.82 respectively, each P < 0. OOl), providing further supportive evidence of the proposition that plants with lower phosphatase activities may gain and use phosphorus more readily than plants with higher ones. The phosphatase activity of wild and cultivated progenitors of modern wheats ranged in optical density from 15.5 to 45.4 per g fresh weight. All the cultivated species had low phosphatase activities which, on the basis of the proposition, suggests that some unconscious selection for ability to use low fertility situations may have occurred with the domestication of wheat. On the other hand, there was no apparent grouping according to geographic origin of earlier cultivars used in Australia with respect to phosphatase activity to suggest any conscious selection for ability to grow well on low phosphorus status soils.


Abstract

Introduction: Chronic venous disease is a common clinical problem with an increasing incidence that constitutes a financial burden for healthcare. Minimal invasive techniques and procedures in an outpatient basis may help decompressing the healthcare system. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of endovenous closure of the truncal veins with n butylcyanoacrylate adhesive on an outpatient basis.

Methods: We treated 100 cases of venous insufficiency with endovenous NBCA glue closure of the truncal veins on an outpatient basis. Patients were usually admitted to the vascular surgery department at the time of the procedure. The surgery took place in the general operation room, under local anesthesia. We didn't use compression stockings and patients were instructed to walk immediately after the operation.

Results: There was a 100% successful obliteration of the target vein in day 0, 2weeks, 3-months and one year. The majority of patients (98%) reported improvement of the symptoms, whereas 60 patients (60%) had complete elimination of symptoms. The appearance of varicose veins improved in 96% of the cases. There were no major adverse effects observed during follow-up. A percentage of 28% presented erythema and tenderness along GSV and 15 of those patients were treated with anti-inflammatory drugs (Ibuprofen) and 5 with antibiotics (Amoxicillin-Clavulanic acid).

Conclusion: Outpatient treatment of venous insufficiency with endovenous glue closure is a safe and efficient method. It increases patient satisfaction, permits rapid return to normal activities and reduces the risk of hospital transmission of infectious diseases and hospitalization costs.