Background: Owing to the novel nature of COVID-19, management strategies are poorly understood by most Primary Care Providers (PCPs) especially in the Low and middle-income Countries (LMIC) of the world. If the knowledge of PCPs concerning COVID-19 is enhanced, awareness, perception and attitude towards patient care will improve. Consequently, maximum prevention and control will be achieved. This study aims at assessing the awareness, knowledge and willingness of the PCPs to care for COVID-19 patients in Calabar, Nigeria.
Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to evaluate one thousand one hundred and twenty-six (1126) PCPs actively working in government primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities in Calabar, Nigeria. A total population sampling method was employed and a validated, semi-structured, 33-item questionnaire was used to explore the objectives of the study.
Results: Majority (99.4%) of the study participants were aware of COVID-19. Most (68.4%) information regarding COVID-19 came from the social media. Bonferroni Post Hoc test of multiple comparisons revealed that the knowledge score for PCPs in tertiary was significantly higher compared to those in secondary and primary levels of care. Approximately fifty-five percent (55.3%) of the participants did not want to be involved in the management of COVID -19 patients.
Conclusion: There is the need to focus and intensify training of the PCPs working at the primary and secondary levels of care in order to increase their awareness, knowledge base, willingness to care for patients and eventually reduce morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 in the study setting.


An increased rate of shallow lakes overgrowth is a commonly observed process in the European lowlands. The transition period from the lake to the peatland state is the most productive phase in the whole evolutionary history of a lake. In this study, we analyze the influence of environmental changes in the Lake Rakutowskie wetlands complex (central Poland) and water level fluctuations on soil cover modifications in the immediate vicinity of the lake. Multidisciplinary research was conducted in a transect consisting of eight soil profiles. The transformation of soil cover was reconstructed on the basis of detailed studies of soil characteristics, water level fluctuations, radiocarbon dating, etc. Significant acceleration of the lake decline rate is associated not only with natural processes but predominantly with anthropic pressure. The obtained C 14 dates indicate a very rapid disappearance of the lake. Taking into account the causative factors, the lake will most likely disappear in the next hundreds of years. The contemporary surface of Lake Rakutowskie is several times smaller than in the past, and this is an effect of the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. Former fibric materials have been transformed into sapric and hemic ones as an effect of soil exsiccation. The next (and last) step in the degradation of organic soils is muck formation. Along with the progressive dehydration and mineralization of organic soils, its physical and chemical properties have deteriorated, which is visible e.g. in soil structure and elemental content, especially TOC and TN. With the disappearance of the lake, larger adjacent areas are subjected to gradual degradation, leading directly to plant cover changes and irreparable landscape modifications.


sions of SN provided by Ja and Dhp-a, little attention has been givcn to SN narrated in MSV and to the one told in Ay-klp, which was written by Ksemendra who fiourished in Kashmir in the 1 1th century A.D. To my knowledge, Pangl'Lmg is the first scholar to pay attention to SN in MSV,9) giving only a surnmary ofit. Morcovcr, hc referred only briefly to the version of SN provided by Av-klp, which is in many respccts parallel te that provided by MSV. He did not examine the correlation between thc versions of SN in MSV and Avklp. In tliis paper, by comparing the above-mcntioned versions ofSN, l shall show the fo1-


Industry, finance, and other business activities are increasingly reliant on computer networks and systems, which demand effective interoperability of systems. But this also demands effective systems security, which poses a major challenge to the socio-technical interactions enabled by interoperable tools. This paper addresses modeling of the linkages between interoperability and security in the model design stage of systems development. It considers current interoperability frameworks and the manner in which they may be combined with security standards and desirable characteristics to create trusted, robust systems that are central to the operation of network enabled large scale applications. An holistic approach for interoperability and security is presented based on systems requirements modeling and model based architecting principles.


Abstract In 1990, the Ohio charter fishing industry on Lake Erie consisted of 1,211 licensed vessel captains, an increase of 517 over 1985. Primary charter fishing activity shifted from June, July, and August in 1985 to May, June, and July in 1990. In 1990, boat-owning charter captains made 37.5 trips annually in vessels that averaged 8.3 m (27.3 ft.) in length, 5.8 years of age, were inboard powered (75%), and licensed to carry up to six passengers for hire. Almost two-thirds of the responding captains plan to increase the number of charter trips they make in the next 5 years. The average boat-owning charter captain grossed US$10,020 in estimated charter fees and incurred $7,079 in operating expenses and $6,126 in capital expenses in 1990. The mean vessel replacement cost was $43,676. Business-related, on-board equipment was valued at $5,484. As in 1985, only those captains making more than 60 trips per year have economically viable enterprises which more than supplement the costs of owning a pleasure bo...


The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is rich in coal,and famous for its splendid reserve,expensive distribution,shallow embedding and easy exploitation.This thesis aims at constructing three big bases,the national base for coal productions and accommodations,the national base for significant electric power offerings to outside and the base for manufacturing and processing of the products correlative to coal according to the assume that the resource conditions and present industry arrangements of the Inner Mongolia's coal industrial developments,meanwhile,advances corresponding measures.That is to say,bring the comprehensive exploitation coal bases of the Inner Mongolia into national strategic program for energy sources,and establish the system about law guarantees and financial policies of national strategic energy sources' bases.


Researchers studying the communication of public speaking anxiety have reported that audiences consistently underestimate the state anxiety of public speakers and that speaker behavior, rather than audience decoding skills, are primarily responsible for the discrepancy. In the present study, behavioral inhibition is advanced as explanation of this phenomenon. Analyses of variance for trends revealed an inverse linear relationship between state anxiety level and audience decoding efficiency. Behavioral assessments of speaker inhibition and rigidity, however, were positively related to state anxiety levels. These findings are consistent with the operation of behavioral inhibition within Buck's readout theory of emotion. Implications are advanced for future research and pedagogy.


To investigate the influencing mechanism of CO_2 concentration on the drought resistance and water use efficiency of tall fescue,the physiological characteristics,water use efficiency and main contribution factor of tall fescue were analyzed by controlling soil moisture conditions and atmospheric CO_2 concentration in the experiment.The major influencing factor of transpiration rate and net photosynthetic rate were also analyzed in the study.The results showed that high atmospheric CO_2 concentration had compensation effect on the negative effects of drought stress and improved the drought resistance of tall fescue.In the meantime,it was found that atmospheric CO_2 concentration was the main environmental factor of affecting the water use efficiency of tall fescue under the interaction of high atmospheric CO_2 concentration and drought stress.Both the net photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate of tall fescue were mainly affected by stomatal restrictive factors.There was linear relationship between stomatal conductance and transpiration rate when high atmospheric CO_2 concentration interacted with drought stress,and R~2exceeded 0.97.In addition to the influence of stomatal conductance,chlorophyll content and intercellular CO_2 concentration were also significantly related with net photosynthetic rate.So the net photosynthetic rate is the result of combined effects of a few factors.


This report discusses the data archiving activity of the African National Integration Project (ANIP), which was organized to generate, systematize, distribute and analyze quantitative information on African political systems. ANIP was instituted at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., USA, in March 1967, on a grant from that university's Council for Intersocietal Studies (CIS). Subsequently, a supplemental grant to finance the preparation of data for publication and distribution was provided by the Program of African Studies (PAS) at Northwestern, and a small grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, USA, was obtained in 1970 to support a summary analysis of data gathered by ANIP. In September 1970, two of the ANIP directors


The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that there is overwhelming evidence that humans are affecting climate and it highlighted the implications for human health. The World Health Organization (WHO) is helping countries respond to this challenge primarily by encouraging them to build and reinforce public health systems as the first line of defence against climate-related health risks. (excerpt)


This research was conducted with the purpose of determining the relationship between self-esteem and self-control of individuals in the probation system and fulfill their obligations in the Ankara Probation Office. In the scope of the study, information about socio-demographic status, family characteristics, parental education level, crime and substance use status, exposure to violence, and type of crime of 520 individuals included in the probation system was obtained. It was determined that there is a significant difference in self-esteem of the individuals according to education level, parental educational level, exposure to violence in the family, substance use, and type of crime. There is also a positive and significant relationship between individuals' self-esteem and self-control levels. As the level of self-control of individuals involved in crime and included in the probation system increases, their self-esteem also increases. In this study, a basis for increasing the self-esteem and self-control levels of individuals in social work intervention programs for the prevention of recidivism in the probation system is presented.


HE AREAS of the gastrointestinal tract most T affected by long delays in the recognition of cancer are the stomach and cecum. T o study possible reasons for the delay in diagnosis of cancer in one of these, the cecum, 122 consecutive, proved cases of cancer have been carefully reviewed. It is the purpose of this presentation to relate the findings of the study with emphasis on: (1) means for earlier diagnosis and (2) selection of operative procedure in management. With the exception of the rectum and sigmoid, the cecum is the commonest site of cancer in the large intestine49 7 (Fig. 1). The distribution of patients according to age in this series follows the general pattern of cancer elsewhere in the body. However, contrary to the general rule concerning intestinal cancer, it was about as common in the female as in the male (Table 1). This observation has also been recorded by Person and O'Neill. In this group, only sixty-nine patients (56 per cent) were considered suitable subjects for curative surgical procedures. This means that the cancer in 44 per cent of the patients was considered too far advanced when finally recognized to be attacked in a curative manner despite the fact that these cancers have a relatively slow rate of growth and lend themselves well to cure by surgical means in moderately advanced stages. Future improvement in results with this tumor must obviously depend chiefly on earlier recognition and surgical intervention and more radical surgical attack.


Abstract This article argues that the reinvention of Chinese martial arts through new media art practices reveals new aesthetic potentialities not readily available in the conventional cinematic medium. While martial arts cinema has captivated the global audience with visual
 and visceral excitements, most notably through the new-style wuxia films of the 1960s and the kung fu craze of the 1970s, it focuses on representational strategies characteristic of imaginative irreversibility and passive immersivity. The former refers to the rigid segregation
 of reality and fantasy that discourages the possibility of reversal, whereas the latter describes the immersive wuxia and kung fu spectacles as a disembodied experience, contrary to the core of martial arts learning and practice. To address the above issues, martial arts-inspired new media
 artworks, such as susuan pui san lok's RoCH Fans & Legends (2015) and Jeffery Shaw, Sarah Kenderdine and Hing Chao's Lingnan Hung Kuen Across the Century (2017), look for alternative approaches to represent martial arts imaginations for the goals of preserving an intangible
 cultural heritage and promoting an intellectual reflexivity. In so doing, not only do the new media artworks help to reposition Chinese martial arts as an everyday art form via conventional art spaces worldwide through the transnational and transregional flow of cinema, but they also establish
 the subtle connection between traditional martial art and contemporary art in the context of globalization.


In this paper properties of the Minkowski-Pontryagin subtraction of closed bounded convex sets are investigated (see Propositions 1 3) and four criteria for summands of closed bounded convex sets are given (see Theorems 1 4).


The connection of Hexi Corridor and the Central Plains is the premise of the exchange of Han Culture and those of other ethnic groups.Traffic convenience,economic complementarity,political affiliation made the advanced Han culture show strong centripetal force to brilliant and colorful ethnic minority cultures.Because of admiration for Han culture,the cultures of these minority groups entered the Central Plains,causing "winds of cultures of western minority groups".Civilization of Western Regions also attracts Chinese culture to penetration because of its unique charm,so that residents from inland moved to the frontier continuously to participate in the development of the motherland's northwestern border region.This article,from the perspective of the diverse cultures of Western Regions,sorts out the integration of cultures during the pre-Qin,the two Hans,Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern,Sui,Tang and Five Dynasties,the Two Songs,Yuan and Ming,Qing,Modern Times,so as to facilitate the civilization dialogue between each other in modern times.


In this paper, a normalized robust FOPID controller regulation algorithm is proposed. Only one parameter k is necessary to be tuned in the controller regulation process, so the proposed control algorithm is convenient to be applied on both fractional-order systems and integer-order systems. A robustness evaluation function is constructed based on the small gain theorem. Larger robustness evaluation function value will help the system achieve better robustness performance. Another parameter, β, is also available to serve as a tuning knob when larger robust evaluation function value is needed. Therefore, the controlled systems can be stabilized and can achieve quite satisfactory robust control performance using the proposed algorithm. The corresponding robust analysis results are obtained according to different conditions in the discussion. For a special case of widely used fractional-order systems, the FOPI and FOID controllers are presented based on the same tuning scheme together with their robustness discussion. Some examples are shown to verify the robustness of systems controlled by the proposed algorithm.


The 20th International Conference on Information Processing in Medical Imaging (IPMI) took place at Rolduc Abbey, located in Kerkrade in the south of The Netherlands, July 2–6, 2007. Following the highly successful IPMI in Glenwood Springs in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA (2005), the conference was the latest in a series of biennial scientific meetings where new developments in acquisition, analysis, and use of medical images are presented. IPMI is one of the longest running conferences in medical imaging. It was started in 1969 by a group of young scientists working in nuclear medicine. With a few iterations the conference expanded to other areas and became established as an important meeting for in-depth discussion of new methodological developments in medical imaging. Nowadays it is widely recognized as one of the most exciting and influential conferences in its field. At IPMI meetings a wide variety of topics is covered by a relatively small selection of papers presented in single-track sessions. Topics ranged from diffusion tensor MR image analysis to molecular image processing. This year, there were 210 manuscripts submitted to the conference. Of these papers, 26 were accepted for oral presentation, and 37 papers were accepted as posters. Papers were carefully judged by three reviewers and two members of the paper selection committee, with emphasis on originality, methodological development, scientific rigor, and relevance. Selection of papers was difficult, but based on the rankings and detailed comments of the reviewers, an objective selection of high quality papers could be made. IPMI has many traditions, and IPMI organizers tend to make every effort to maintain its character. The most important tradition is allocation of sufficient time for presentations to allow speakers to give a detailed explanation of their work and to have time for in-depth and lively discussions without time constraints. It has happened that debates have gone on for hours, and it is this unique format that makes IPMI such a remarkable forum for the interchange of ideas in medical imaging. One of the key goals of IPMI is to encourage participation of the most promising and talented young researchers in the field from all over the world, allowing them to explore new ideas with some of the leading researchers in this area. Also this year, active involvement was stimulated by preparation of the sessions in small study groups, in which each conference attendee participated. After reading the papers of their session, the study group members met to discuss the papers before they were presented, and to formulate questions and comments to kick off the discussions. The prestigious Erbsmann award for first time IPMI


Traditional urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs) are deficiently efficient in eliminating most contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), comprising antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes (ARB & ARGs). Such pollutants lead to some worry for nature and human health. This work discusses the performance of the best available technologies (BATs) for dealing with urban wastewater (UWW) to eliminate CECs and ARB & ARGs. Ozonation, activated carbon adsorption, chemical disinfectants, UV radiation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and membrane filtration are debated with a view to their potential to efficaciously reduce CECs and ARB & ARGs. Probable treatment trains involving the BATs are compared. In spite of the huge improvements acquired in terms of applying AOPs and understanding their mechanisms in removing ARB & ARGs, transformation products (TPs) of the antibiotics existing may be generated, which may be less bio-decomposable, more poisonous and biologically strong, juxtaposed to the parent compounds. Therefore, attempts have to be concentrated on defining the structure of such TPs and proving if these retain their core moieties, responsible for the antimicrobial activity of the antibiotic, probably comprising antimicrobial resistance to the surrounding microbes.


Decomposition of signals over a series of time-frequency atoms by the Matching Pursuit (MP) algorithm has found many applications in signal processing and harmonic analysis. But traditional MP algorithm, such as the method based on inner product lib, are not able to handle high-dimension signal in a reasonable memory requirement and computational time. Benefit from the best time-frequency resolution of Gabor atoms, through building new dictionaries from the over-complete dictionary exploiting the structure of the signal energy property, a novel fast MP algorithm which can reduce computation and storage requirement dramatically is proposed to solve this problem. Simulation shows that the speed of the novel algorithm is more than 100 times faster than that of the traditional MP algorithm and verifies the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


Chandipura virus (CHPV) is a vesiculo virus of the Rhabdoviridae family. It was for the first time reported in 1965 in Chandipur village in the Nagpur region of India from two adults with a febrile illness during an outbreak caused by dengue and chikungunya viruses (Bhatt et al., 1967). Time to time several outbreaks of CHPV encephalitis has been reported from India. These have been characterized by rapid onset of fever, involvement of the central nervous system and a high case-fatality rate (Rao et al., 2003; Chanda et al., 2005). Most studies from India in outbreak and surveillance settings between 1975 and 1999 indicated that Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) was the most common virus in acute encephalitis syndrome (AES), but studies after 2000 have shown a predominance of CHPV and Enterovirus (Joshi et al., 2012). AES is defined as the acute-onset of fever with change in mental status (including symptoms such as confusion, The epidemic outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) was continuing specially from 2014 onwards and taking toll of pediatric age group distributed in different blocks of Gaya district of Bihar, India. In an extensive survey during outbreak (2016), a case of high fever history was diagnosed having Chandipura virus out of 24 acute fever cases admitted at Anugrah Narayan Memorial Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMMMCH) Gaya. Off which nine cases were from Gaya district. The age group of affected cases was 1-15 years. Male were affected more than females (M:F::55.5:44.4). Records of death were found five. Patients were suffering from acute-onset of fever with change in mental status (including symptoms such as confusion, disorientation, coma, or inability to talk) and often with new onset of seizures. All were diagnosed as equivocal JE by IgM ELISA except one. It was the first case report from Bihar, India. The treatment was only based on sign and symptoms. AES is a seasonal and major health problem of Bihar coming every year. This study has disclosed one of the reasons of AES in Bihar. K e y w o r d s


The invention discloses an integrated machine for welding and machining a flange-type sleeve. The integrated machine comprises a welding station and a machining station, wherein the welding station comprises a pipe vibration charging machine, a first flange vibration charging machine, a second flange vibration charging machine, a turning charging mechanism, a welding gun supporting component, a workpiece clamping manipulator mechanism, a first workpiece welding rotation component and a second workpiece welding rotation component; the machining station comprises a truss robot, a first lathe, a second lathe, a transferring device and a material receiving device. The flange-type sleeve can be welded and machined in a fully-automatic manner, and the production efficiency is improved.


We propose the use of a state space search algorithm of the discretetime recurrent neural network to learn the short-term foreign exchange rates. By searching in the neighborhood of the target trajectory in the state space, the algorithm performs nonlinear optimization learning process to provide the best feasible solution for the nonlinear least square problem. The convergence analysis shows that the convergence of the algorithm to the desired solution is guaranteed. The stability properties of the algorithm are also discussed. The empirical results show that our method is simple and effectively in learning the short-term foreign exchange rates and is applicable to other applications. Mathematics Subject Classification: 68T05, 68Q32, 91B26


In this paper we tackle the problem of approximation and visualization of invariant measures arising from Iterated Function Systems with Probabilities (IFSP) and Recurrent Iterated Function Systems (RIFS) on R3. The measures are generated during the evolution of a stochastic dynamical system, which is a random process commonly known as the chaos game. From the dynamical system viewpoint, an invariant measure gives a temporal information on the long-term behavior of the chaos game related to a given IFSP or RIFS. The non-negative number that the measure takes on for a given subset of space says how often the dynamical system visits that subset during the temporal evolution of the system as time tends to infinity. In order to approximate the measures, we propose a method of measure instancing that can be considered an analogue of object instancing for IFS attractors. Although the IFSP and RIFS invariant measures are generated by the long-term behavior of stochastic dynamical systems, measure instancing makes it possible to compute the value that the measure takes on for a given subset of space in a deterministic way at any accuracy required. To visualize the data obtained with the algorithm, we use direct volume rendering. To incorporate the global structure of invariant measures along with their local properties in an image, a modification of a shading model based on varying density emitters is used. We adapt the model to match the fractal measure context. Then we show how to implement the model on commodity graphics hardware using an approach that combines GPU-based direct volume raycasting and 3D texture slicing used in the object-aligned manner. By means of the presented techniques, visual exploration of 3D IFSP and RIFS measures can be carried out efficiently at interactive frame rates.


In this paper, we propose a method that gives motion command to a mobile robot to recognize human being's hand gesture and speech. We get depth data by using a Kinect sensor, and detect a hand. After recognizing the hand motion by using HMM and speech by using Microsoft speech API, we give commands to the robot.


If schools of journalism are to achieve a truly professional status, criticism is one of their inescapable functions. The head of the Department of Journalism at the University of Illinois outlines the kind of approach the schools should take and urges an "institutional" perspective to make it meaningful.


Steganography are the most popular or widely used information security scheme or techniques. It is the act of covert communications. The algorithms for hiding data or message in a cover image, and extracting a message from a stego-image were implemented using C# programming language. In this paper, LSB Replacement technique was adopted as the embedding method. In this paper we propose a reversible high capacity data hiding method applying on binary images. We also proposed leakage detection and prevention with the help of unique hash values of the document/images. The paper proposes a novel framework for reversible data hiding in encrypted image (RDH-EI) based on reversible image transformation (RIT). Different from previous frameworks which encrypt a plaintext image into a cipher text form; RIT-based RDH-EI shifts the semantic of original image to the semantic of another image and thus protects the privacy of the original image. In our proposed system, we proposed a new mosaic image technique in which we divide the image/pdf document into parts, and the parts will then transformed, encrypted and encoded into target images. Steganography meaning covered writing. It includes the concealment of information within computer files. It is one of the techniques used for securing data or information over the internet.


We shall denote by Θ 2-dimensional euclidean parameter space. An element of of the space Θ is expressed by θ=(mι, m2) and we put #i={(wι, m2): //2={(wι, m2): and B={(mι, m2): mι=m2, (mi, Then Θ=Hl+H2+B is satisfied. Next let E (ί) be ί-th experiment, and define X^ to be ί-th random variable given by ETM. We assume that Xl+1 occurs in j?« > independently of the selection of £, E, --, E (ί=l, 2, •--). Then we see that Xl9 X2,,Xn,are independent random variables. And let HI be the number of selections of experiment Ei in the partial n experiments E,ETM, ,ETM and similarly n2 the number of selections of E2 in the partial n experiments. If θ=(mι, m2) is an element of Θ, the probability density function of X% at £ , f(xt, Θ, Z?) is known to be following form:


Scale pattern of hairs has the characteristic,it's one of the most important features to identify different hairs,it's also the only standard method used in the identification of cashmere/wool blends to obtain their blended ratio.There are some subjective errors due to the identification and counting of manual or visual checking,so a self-made optical microscopic imaging system is used for collecting images and image processing and analyzing,then 8 characteristic parameters are extracted,including fiber diameter,scale interval,scale perimeter,scale area,relative scale area,relative scale perimeter,relative scale interval,and scale square factor.The correlation and distribution among all the characteristic parameters are discussed.The experimental results show that fiber diameter,scale interval and scale square factor are relatively independent characteristic parameters,and the relative scale area has the minimal overlapping area of theoretic distribution in all parameters.The results become the basis of characteristic parameters selection and determining the weight coefficient of calculating identification probability.Finally,the multi-parameter Bayesian classification model is used in calculating content of cashmere and wool in 3 samples.The results are basically consistent,which proves that this method is feasible,accurate,and fast.


The aim of the research is to study the impact of economic variables on the behavior andmotives of tourists. The study found that there is a significance relationship between theeconomic variables and the behavior and motives of tourists, that is, the behavior andmotives of tourists change rapidly because of the change in economic variables. Thestudy also found that the economic variables are important factors that affect the changein tourists' patterns, desires and tastes due to the high tourism flexibility of variouseconomic factors such as globalization, mergers and privatization of the public sector andits transformation into the private sector.


The Education Group Conference, Manchester, 1-3 April 1996 The 1996 Annual Conference of the Institute of Physics Education Group was dedicated to the IoP commitment to producing a new, exciting post-16 physics course - including an A-level which it hopes will 'be offered by more than half of the examining boards existing at that time'. Interestingly enough, the first lecture of the Conference was given by Carolyn Swain of SCAA, who summarized the recommendations of the Dearing Report (see the Editorial in the May issue) - one of which is a proposed reduction in the number of both boards and syllabuses at this level. It is quite hard to keep up. In spite of any possible future tectonic events from the fault-prone political scene, the rest of the conference provided its usual mix of the inspirational and the banal, the practical and the vague, the evangelical and the sceptical, in a well-structured framework. The general pattern of the three-day event is a series of three short talks in a session followed or interrupted by discussion (depending on how agitated the audience gets). There were 61 delegates from schools, colleges and universities. In the first session, Setting the Scene, Carolyn Swain's résumé of the Dearing Report was clear and accurate, although the main message coming through was of an interesting set of proposals that have not been very well thought through, and which will need more work (and consultation) if they are not to fail in their declared aim of increasing the number and competence of post-16 students of science and mathematics. Alan Cottey of the University of East Anglia gave a rather unexciting view of 'Physics for a Sustained Future', covering too wide a cultural-ecological canvas and with little practical advice on how physics educators could or should cope with preparing students for the next century. Bryan Chapman is the IoP curriculum officer charged with setting the groundwork for its self-given task of producing a new curriculum. People began to sit up and take notice. He outlined the task of the conference and argued for a more modern view of physics to be at the core of the curriculum - based on a quantum model. After dinner at our religiously spartan St Gabriel's Hall venue we heard the Keynote Address from Robin Millar of York University. Robin Millar is editor of the popular Physics Review and York is the home of the Salters' projects - the latest of which is to be an A-level physics course. Dr Millar covered the field impressively in a talk ranging from what 13-year-olds think about why things don't keep on getting hotter when you heat them to balancing what we might like to have in a physics course with what time, space, energy and the customers can actually cope with. See this journal for more about this . . . The second day (phew!) began with a possibly over-conceptualized talk on Quality and Education by Jane Seddon of the Regional Staff College, which didn't go down too well with the troops. This was a pity: I feel the education system could learn a great deal from a well-targeted programme of quality control, as opposed to the rather brutal and uninformative quality audit known as the external examination system. There was good detail from Susan Molyneux (Bristol University) about her research into mathematics for physics versus mathematics in physics and Bryan Chapman must look forward to useful advice from this kind of work. Martin Monk (King's College London) made a good case for neatly fitting historical evidence into the popular constructivist model of the cognitive development of scientific ideas by students, if only just now and again. He also introduced us to the concept of Sc0, to be added to Sc's 1, 2, 3 and 4. So that's something else to worry about. The session on Innovative Practice included contributions from Jack Alvarez (Haberdashers' Aske's) and Francesca Wheeler (Withington Girls') who described how they increased motivation by involving students in workshops, hands-on activities, displays and (in Withington) significant atmospheric research. Phil Latchem (Glossopdale Community College) brought us down to earth with his experience of demotivated 11-year-olds arriving already convinced of the difficulty of physics, and how this (mis)conception is being tackled by sending older students as missionaries into local primary schools. Proof that physics is harder than ALL other subjects at A-level was produced in a careful analysis by Peter Rowlands (De la Salle College) of A-level results using ALIS data. The effect of this has been to introduce a bias into the examination system which is producing even more unfairness to the weaker borderline candidates than the rather more publicized effect on top students, for whom university entrance tutors can make exceptions. Jonathan Osborne (King's College London) pleaded for a reappraisal of what constitutes a good learning activity in physics. Boring old practical work is not enough - there is too much and it's a singularly inefficient method of learning ideas. Discussion ensued about how much is too much, but there was general agreement that the range of activities used with and skills expected of students is currently too limited. The Particular Suggestions session closed the second day with Peter Hughes (Kingsway College) arguing for Environmental Physics and Percy Seymour (University of Plymouth) arguing for Astronomy as vehicles for delivering or enhancing post-16 physics. But then there's Medical Physics, Particle Physics, Materials Physics and even Physics Physics. The choices exist - should they continue? There are strong arguments for flexibility, and for a compulsory (and intelligent) core. The final session on Wednesday morning ( Satisfying everybody) began with a lively and well-presented talk by David Morland and Helen Colbeck (King Edward VI School, Southampton) on the benefits and successes of the Nuffield Advanced Physics Course, the message being that the Nuffield Project still provides a model for curriculum development - and is still innovative in its assessment scheme. The message was delivered with such evangelical enthusiasm that only the bravest dared to raise a sceptical or questioning note. Industry was represented by Daniel McCaughan (Chief Scientist, Nortel Technology - an international firm with units in Ireland and UK), who amazed the audience by declaring that currently physicists in industry were better paid than solicitors, doctors, vets (and of course teachers and lecturers). When the buzz of excitement had died down he went on to emphasize the need for good scientists in the kind of high-tech industry that would be the industrial paradigm (have to get it in somewhere) for the next century, and that teaching and learning would (or should) be equally affected by the kind of radical change that was transforming industry and communications. His own firm was so committed to this view that its engineers were expected to become involved, under a full-time education liaison officer, with enthusing children about science in local schools, especially primary schools. The firm spent a large fraction of its money on research - almost as much as the UK Government spends, in fact, as well as on continuous training of its workforce at all levels. The speaker was scathing about the UK's backward looking approach to science and education in general. The session ended with a set of charmingly low-key vignettes by freelance author David Sang of how real children responded to odd bits of science teaching, a kind of constructivism with a human face, reminding us of what it is really all about. I should mention both the warm reception and abundant wine given to delegates at the Town Hall by the Lord Mayor of Manchester (Councillor Joyce Keller), and the splendid Conference Dinner provided by St Gabriel's Hall. Alun Jones (Chief Executive, IoP) was the guest of honour and pledged the Institute's support for innovative curriculum development as a main priority. He was not well pleased by the Dearing recommendations for post-16 education in general and physics in particular. There will be more about all this, with articles written by several of the speakers at the conference in the September issue of this journal, planned to be a special issue on physics in the school curriculum. I hope that that issue will expand on the rather too brief (in my opinion) 20 minute talks of the conference, and will also include one vital theme omitted from it - assessment, the most overcontrolled, overexpensive and unsmart aspect of the British educational system. Ken Dobson


We report nine cases with pathological fracture of metastatic bone tumor in the long bone. They consisted of 6 males and 3 females, with a mean age of 69.8 years. All cases underwent curettage of the bone metastases, and reconstruction by internal fixation with bone cement supplementation.All the patients ragained stability of the affected limb after surgery. Pain was relieved in most patients and they were able to start early rehabilitation. Results of the surgical treatment were excellent or good for the function of affected limbs, and showed improved quality of life (QOL). This treatment is useful for patients who are not able to receive radical operation.


Analysis of the original social positions of party leaders shows that the present mechanisms of political recruitment tend to favour the upper classes of society, but that each party encourages the ascent of different fractions of these classes. The contrasts between parties which structure the functioning of the political spectrum thus appear to duplicate (quite independently moreover) the internal structures of the upper classes. The differences between the leaders of the PCF and PS on one hand, and the RPR and UDF on the other, bear a strong resemblance, for example, to the contrast between the intellectual and economic poles of these classes. Similarly, when these parties recruit in other strata, the PCF and PS tend to recruit officials in lower-dominated positions, whereas the UDF and RPR prefer to recruit officials in senior-dominant positions. This pattern of homologies also explains the logic behind recruitment aimed at the middle and popular classes, and allows a few assumptions to be made concerning the mechanism of political influence and representation.


The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship between quality of work life and readiness to organizational change in a sample of 100 company workers in the city of Bogota. It was conducted following a correlational cross-sectional design through the application of two instruments: one that measures organizational change (BMI) (Garcia & Forero, 2010) and another one that assesses perceived quality of life in organizations (Gomez Rada, 2011). The sample participation was voluntary and data were analyzed using Spearman's Rho. Results show a significant correlation at 0.001 in all the variables of organizational change and quality of life with the exception of resistance to change. This suggests that some of the aspects to be highlighted are the importance of quality of life and commitment to the tasks to be performed as these define the goals and objectives set by the entity and frame the work and productivity of employees as well as their readiness to change.


M9 is Italy's first attempt to create a new cultural institution as the drive behind a larger project to regenerate a post-industrial city. It will be centred on an interactive museum, specialized in spreading knowledge of 20th-century Italian history to a young audience using advanced edutainment techniques and new technologies. This paper will describe the "making of" the permanent exhibition, which opens on 1 December 2018, and describes its most impressive visitor experiences.


Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) are formed involving hydrophobic poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) and hydrophilic poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) in presence of superparamagnetic ferric oxide nanoparticles (<30 nm) through free radical polymerization. Ferric oxide (Fe3O4) particles are synthesized using thermal arc plasma technique. IPNs are prepared by taking the two acrylates, PBA/PHEA in blend ratios of 60:40, 50:50, and 40:60 (w/w). The samples are characterized in terms of swelling, FTIR, DSC, TGA, and SEM. Bactericidal effect on IPNs is checked by cell growth study of E. coli. Drug diffusion phenomenon of multi drug-loaded samples is compared with respect to the PBA/PHEA blend ratio (w/w).


Uli sticky rice or better known as ulen (Sundanese) was one of Sundanese food among many other traditional foods that were known in the Pasundan Land. In order to streamline the time in making it usable sticky rice flour as the main raw material. The purpose of this study was to determine the ratio between covered wet sticky rice flour and dry sticky rice flour, and coconut optimal concentration on making uli sticky rice (Oryza sativa glutinosa). The design used a randomized block design (RBD) two-factor design with three replications. Factor this study was comparison of wet sticky rice flour with dry sticky rice flour (A) and the concentration of shredded coconut (B). Based on organoleptic test results in the preliminary study, prolonged submersion selected and used for primary research is p2 with a soaking time of 6 hours. Comparison of wet sticky rice flour and dry sticky rice flour affect the levels of starch and uli sticky rice texture. Grated coconut concentration significantly affect the taste of uli sticky rice. The interaction between the ratio of wet sticky rice flour and dry glutinous rice flour and grated coconut concentration had no effect on the characteristics of uli sticky rice.


BACKGROUND
Circular RNA, as a member of noncoding RNA, plays an important role in the occurrence, development and metastasis of tumor cells. So far, the correlation between circular RNA and malignant melanoma remains obscure.

METHODS
RNA expression of circFAT1 and miR-375 in malignant melanoma(MM) tissues and cell lines was detected by RT-PCR. The proliferation, cloning, migration and invasion of SK-Mel-28 and A375 cells were assessed using CCK-8 test, clone formation and Transwell assay, respectively. CircRNA immunoprecipitation was used to validate the relationship between circFAT1 and miR-375. The binding between circFAT1 and miR-375, as well as SLC7A11 and miR-375 were verified by luciferase assay.

RESULTS
In our study,the circFAT1 was significantly overexpressed in the MM tissue than melanocytic nevi. Conversely, the expression of miR-375 in MM tissue was lower than in melanocytic nevi tissue. The underexpression of circFAT1 with siRNA plasmids significantly suppressed the proliferation, invasion and clone formation of MM cell line. Mechanistically, circFAT1 positively regulates the expression level of SLC7A11 by sponging miR-375. The promotive effects of circFAT1 on the proliferation and invasion ability of MM cells were reversed by the upregulation of miR-375.

CONCLUSION
circFAT1 promotes the proliferation, invasion and clone formation of malignant melanoma cells by improving the expression level of SLC7A11 via sponging miR-375.


Circulating Fluidized Beds are currently used in many industries for drying, catalytic and non-catalytic reactions and other applications. The circulating fluidized bed consists of a riser in which a gas-solid suspension is transported upward. The twophase mixture is separated at the top of the riser and solids are recycled to the bottom via a stand-pipe. Hydrodynamics plays an important role in defining the performance of circulating fluidized bed as a reactor. Hence, the present work focus to study the hydrodynamic characteristics of food grains in the riser of the circulating fluidized bed covering a wide range of operating parameters. The column was made of plexi glass with 1.6m in height and 0.05m in diameter. The effects of operating conditions on axial distributions of solids holdup and particle velocity has been studied.


represent an immune-complex disease. Streptococcal, hepatitis B virus and HIV infection are importantly associated organisms. Haematological malignancy, especially IgA monoclonal gammopathy, should be considered and ruled out. Concurrent rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune aetiologies and insect bite reaction have been reported. Treatment of the underlying disease or associated condition can improve the results. Dapsone is the first line drug of choice. Dramatic, rapid response can be seen within 48 h and nearly complete resolution has been achieved in weeks or months. Unfortunately, EED may recur when dapsone is discontinued. Other alternative treatments include tetracycline, niacinamide, colchicine, chloroquine, intralesional, potent topical and systemic corticosteroids. Peripheral ulcerative keratitis is inflammation involving the outer portions of the cornea often associated with systemic autoimmune diseases. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fifth case of PUK associated with EED. The first three cases developed PUK concomitant with EED, whereas the fourth case EED was diagnosed more than 1 year prior to PUK. In this case, EED presented a year after PUK. Therefore, PUK in EED cases may be found concomitant, prior to or after EED eruption. We propose that ophthalmic examination should be considered to establish PUK associated with EED. Cutaneous lesions in these PUK associated cases dramatically responded to dapsone; however, ophthalmic conditions improved in only two cases. During follow-up, our patient's skin lesions and eye conditions were significantly improved after dapsone administration. P Vaiyavatjamai, P Wattanakrai* Division of Dermatology, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand *Correspondence: P Wattanakrai. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Let χ be a family of stochastic processes on a given filtered probability space (Ω, F, (Ft)t∈T, P) with T⊆R+. Under the assumption that the set Me of equivalent martingale measures for χ is not empty, we give sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique equivalent martingale measure that minimizes the relative entropy, with respect to P, in the class of martingale measures. We then provide the characterization of the density of the minimal entropy martingale measure, which suggests the equivalence between the maximization of expected exponential utility and the minimization of the relative entropy.


Many have challenged the claim of the APA/DSM-5 Task Force that the current process is the most "open process in the history of the manual." Few have actually provided an argument or evidence of why this might, or might not, be so. What has changed dramatically in the DSM process since DSM-IV in 1994, and even DSM-IV-TR in 2000, is the rise of Internet culture and the "blogosphere." What does this have to do with DSM-5?


The establishment of Lynapunov theory has provided fundamental methods to determine local stability using Lyapunov functions. How to successfully search Lynapunov functions therefore becomes a critical problem in stabilizing control systems. In this work, we tackle the stability problem in nonlinear control systems using a novel learning-based architecture, which guarantees the satisfaction of Lynapunov constraints in a strict sense. Experiments on various dynamical systems are performed to evaluate the effectiveness of the presented method.


The objects of the institution are: " To afford an asylum for patients afflicted with chest diseases who, being convalescent, may yet require further medical treatment and change of air to establish their health, or may be labouring under such incipient form of disease as to afford reasonable hope of their obtaining benefit from temporary residence in a dry and salubrious climate." This institution was one of the successful pioneers in the campaign against tuberculosis.


In rare earth production, improving the fault detection of extraction equipment has a key impact on improving extraction efficiency and product quality. The traditional method is based on the observation of the liquid level, the efficiency and accuracy can't be guaranteed. In this paper, a fault diagnosis and recognition method for rare earth extraction production line based on wavelet packet and alexnet transfer learning is proposed. Taking six fault states of rare earth extraction production line as the research object, the fault signal is extracted by wavelet packet decomposition, and the corresponding target data set of time-frequency diagram is generated. Then, the pre trained alexnet model is trained and fine tuned on the generated target data set, and finally applied to fault diagnosis of rare earth extraction production line. The results show that the proposed method is more accurate than the traditional convolution neural network, which verifies the effectiveness of the method.


A fiber optic cable splicing system is being developed for the U.S. Army Communications-Electronic Command (CECOM). The manually operated splicing machine and cable splice housing are designed to be used to repair communications cable under field conditions. The repair procedure is described, with the aid of photographs of the first working models of the splices and splice housing. Further work is being done to reduce costs and to simplify the operations involved in cable repair.


Although a lot of progress has been made in Rhor Rucatalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation, Ir-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation is relatively unexplored.[1] Pfaltz and coworkers first reported several Ir-phosphinooxazoline complexes as catalysts for asymmetric hydrogenation. With leading efforts by Pfaltz and co-workers,[2] and Burgess and Experimental Section Representative experimental procedure: VO(OiPr)3 (5 mL, 20 mmol) and hydroxamic acid (26.6 mg, 60 mmol) were dissolved in toluene (1 mL), stirred for 1 hour, and cooled to 0 8C. Cumene hydroperoxide (275 mL, 1.5 mmol) and 3-(1-naphthyl)-3-buten-1-ol (2j) (198 mg, 1.0 mmol) were added at 0 8C. The reaction mixture was stirred for 10 h, then trimethylphosphite (177 mL, 1.5 mmol) was added at that temperature. The mixture was allowed to reach room temperature, then it was extracted with ethyl acetate, dried over sodium sulfate, and evaporated. The crude product was purified by column chromatography on a silica gel (eluent ethyl acetate/hexane, 1:1) to give 3,4epoxy-3-(1-naphthyl)-1-butanol in 42% yield with 91% ee. 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3, 25 8C, TMS): d= 8.13 (d, J= 8.0 Hz, 1H; Ar-H), 7.90 (d, J= 8.0 Hz, 1H; Ar-H), 7.83 (d, J= 8.0 Hz, 1H; Ar-H), 7.50 (m, 4H; Ar-H), 3.71 (m, 2H; CH2OH), 3.35 (d, J= 6.0 Hz, 1H; OCH2), 3.00 (d, J= 6.0 Hz, 1H; OCH2), 2.45 (m, 1H; CCH2CH2), 2.29 (m, 1H; CCH2CH2), 1.69 ppm (br, 1H; OH). HPLC analysis (column: OD-H, Daisel): retention times 44.9 (main peak) and 68.1 min (minor peak) using hexane/2-propanol (40:1) as the eluent at a flow rate of 1.0 mLmin 1. For the epoxy alcohols 3a–e, a saturated aqueous solution of sodium sulfite instead of trimethylphosphite was used for quenching the reaction.


The present invention belongs to optical testing technology. For real-time monitoring and control of phase modulation, high accuracy measurement of the transfer function of the dynamic surface topography of the optical lens, the wavefront aberration of the optical lens, optical, etc., the present invention takes technical solution, phase modulation synchronized integration phase shift interferometry method and means, comprising the steps of: using a laser driver drives the laser generates a laser, passes through the focusing lens, a half mirror, beam expanding collimator lens, a small half mirror, the reference mirror to the measuring mirror, a small half mirror the PD signal into the photodetector, the computer sending the final treatment after the half mirror enters the camera signal; CCD camera with only the measurement signal Z phase modulation, the phase difference between the CCD camera exposure signal and the phase modulated signal based on the phase information [theta], related to the power modulation factor m equations, and stable measurement of phase modulation, the phase difference [theta] of the synchronous control. The present invention is mainly applied to an optical test.


Long-wavelength static corrections in complex near-surface area are always one of the difficulties in seismic data processing.A single statics method cannot presently obtain high-quality gathers because of data sparse coverage or/and unmet hypothesis.In complex near-surface terrains,to obtain accurate weathering velocity and thickness,and refraction velocity is severe nonlinear problem.In this paper,we propose an approach to solve long-wavelength static corrections by linearization of nonlinear problem and model replacement.Both LVL data and seismic data contain rich long-wavelength information,therefore two types of data should be comprehensively taken in account for solving the problem.We first build initial velocity field with the constrain of LVL data and first breaks,then obtain near-surface model by invert velocity with tomostatics,and finally use first break traveltime fitting on common shot gathers,common receiver gathers,and common offset gathers.Applications in complex near-surface area,western China show the validity of this integrated method.


Most exiting delay-tolerant network (DTN) routing algorithms consider only the impact of node mobility such as contact frequency and contact duration on data delivery without considering the effects of available resources in terms of storage, energy and processing power. In realistic DTNs, these resources may be constrained. In this paper, we propose a Buffer Aware Routing (BAR) mechanism for resource constrained DTNs, which exploits both node contact probabilities and remaining buffer resources to determine whether a packet is delivered when two nodes encounter. In BAR, node can adaptively adjust the transmission policy according to the amount of remaining buffer, which can reduce the data overflow of buffer and improve resource utilization. We use the Opportunistic Network Environment (ONE) Simulator to evaluate the performance of BAR. Simulation results show BAR significantly outperforms several exiting known DTN routing algorithms, in terms of data delivery ratio, data delay, and resource consumption, etc.


I argue that Alan Moore's Promethea is nothing short of compositional alchemy: a radically instructive guide to the graphic medium that takes us on a revelatory exploration of the comic/graphic novel qua magical, imaged-narrative. Read as a whole, the comic series forms a primer that teaches the reader not only how to decipher a culturally-abjectified text, the comic, but by bringing traditional epistemologies into question suggests how readers consciously enact the monstrous, mystical causal dance that Scott McCloud explains is "at work in the spaces between panels." In this essay I further propose that Promethea may be especially compelling for academic readers, since it performs as literacy narrative by telling the story of a scholar who transforms herself into story. Promethea thus forces the scholarly reader especially to become aware, often uncomfortably so, of that continual process of collaborative narrative construction, and of our own complicity, creative power, and responsibility as empowered.


We report on a passively mode-locked stretched pulse APM fiber laser that generates subpicosecond pulses and is tunable over a 58 nm range. A 5 nm interference filter external to the laser provides the tunability.


TB disease is one of the contributors to the highest cause of death in Indonesia, this is because of late handling, late handling will be avoided if it can be done early detection of TB disease, this research tries to make alternatives that can be used for early detection TB disease. Case-Based Reasoning has been widely applied in various artificial intelligence, both in the form of expert systems and decision-making systems that help decision makers to make informed decisions. The use of CBR to diagnose illness has also been done by some previous researchers. Case-Based Reasoning works by studying previous cases collected in a General Knowledge that will be comparable with the new case, Case-Based Reasoning has four stages: Retrieve, Reuse, Revise and Retain, this is a very powerful way to create an expert system created into a learner engine, which automatically adds or revives knowledge automatically into the general knowledge. Expected by the implementation of Case-Based Reasoning in this system can help decision makers in this case early detection of TB disease, this sample was chosen because the number of sufferers of this disease is quite large in Indonesia. Keywords : Case-Based Reasoning, Profile Matching, Expert System, TBC


The atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used to determine the content of cadmium (Cd) in muscles, heart, liver, kidneys (320 samples) of ungulates (wild boar, elk, red deer, roe deer, European bison) from different regions of Belarus with different level of Cd pollution. Cd was revealed in animals of all the regions studied. The range of the average level of Cd in wild ungulates of Belarus was 3.94–38.64 mg/kg of a dry weight. Cd was concentrated mainly in kidneys, less concentration was in liver, and in other organs the content of Cd was elementary. The average level of toxic pollution of animal kidneys of all the regions investigated was higher than the official limit. But there is no threat to the health of man in Belarus (except hunters and their families) because of small amount of game.


A new computing technique for the time‐dependent calculation of the interaction of two incompressible fluids is used to study the linear and nonlinear phases of Rayleigh‐Taylor instability. The variation of the linear growth rate with Reynolds number is examined for Reynolds numbers < 200 at a ratio of fluid densities of 2 : 1. These findings support Chandrasekhar's predictions of the magnitude of the growth rate and the Reynolds number for which maximum growth rate is attained. A series of inviscid flow calculations, at density ratios between 1.1 : 1 and 10 : 1, is used to explore the effect of density ratio on aspects of the nonlinear Rayleigh‐Taylor instability. It is found that such influences as form drag and Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability decrease rapidly in importance as the density ratio increases.


The measurement of vertical component S of stresses tensor during soil compaction [1] is required not only for scientific but also for industrial applications.


Defibrotide (D) is a mammalian polyelectrolyte/polyribonucleotide derived antithrombin agent with aptameric consensus antithrombin sequences. This agent is used in vascular system in both the intravenous and oral regimens. Since this drug is used in certain pathologic conditions where other anticoagulants such as heparin (H), low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs) and oral anticoagulants (OAC) are used, the potential interaction of this agent with these drugs needed an understanding of these processes. In order to investigate the potential interaction between D, H and OAC, plasma samples from patients treated with H at therapeutic dosages (n=100), (APTT=50–90 seconds): LMWHs (n=100), (Heptest= 60–90 seconds); and OAC (n=100), (PT= 18–25 seconds) were supplemented with graded dosages of D, 10–100 ug/ml. H showed a D concentration dependent synergistic interaction in terms of a 20–80% increase in the APTT, whereas this interaction was not sp obvious with Heptest and anti‐Xa. LMWHs at concentrations >0.3 U/ml also showed an interaction with D, however to a lesser magnitude that H. D did not show any strong interaction with OAC in terms of PT/INR measurements. In the thrombin generation assays D supplementation augmented the inhibition of protease generation. These results suggest that D can potentially interact with currently available anticoagulant drugs. Moreover, the interaction of this agent with newly developed antithrombin and anti‐Xa agents warrants additional studies.


This research is motivated by changes in the learning process due to the Covid-19 pandemic where the learning process during the Covid-19 pandemic uses online learning and post-covid-19 learning again uses the face-to-face (offline) learning process, where these two learning processes affect student learning motivation. The purpose of this study is to find out the picture of learning motivation during online learning, offline learning and comparing student learning motivation during online learning and offline learning. This research was conducted on students of Citra Bangsa Kupang Junior High School using a causal-comparative type of research. This research is an ex post facto type of research, which is research on data collected after a fact or event occurs. The population in this study were students of class VIII of SMP Citra Bangsa Kupang. The data sources used in this study are pimer data and secondary data, with data collection techniques using learning motivation questionnaire sheets. After getting all the data, the next step is to draw conclusions from this study by analyzing the data. The technique used to analyze this research is descriptive quantitative. The results of the research obtained are that student learning motivation during online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic is in the moderate category with an average score of 64.  Student learning motivation during offline learning after the COVID-19 pandemic is in the high category with an average score of 82.4.  There are differences in student learning motivation in participating in the online and offline learning process where student learning motivation during offline learning is higher than student learning motivation during online learning.


As part of the North Atlantic Regional Experiment (NARE), measurements of O3 and CO at five surface sites were made from July 1991 to January 1995. The investigation of the variabilities and correlation of O3 and CO presented here indicates that the seasonal cycles of the medians and the means of O3 and CO are qualitatively similar to the cycles observed at other northern midlatitude sites. The signature of O3 produced from anthropogenic precursors is clearest in the spring at the Azores and in the summer at Sable Island. The influence of the natural stratospheric O3 source is apparent at Sable Island, particularly in the spring. At all sites the variability of CO throughout the year is dominated by episodes of pollution transport. The slopes of the monthly O3-CO correlations in the summer in Atlantic Canada and the spring in the Azores are quite uniform at 0.3 to 0.4. However, individual pollution transport events often have larger (≤1.0) slopes, which indicate significantly different net O3 production efficiencies between episodes. The average slope of O3 versus CO at Sable Island in the winter for moderate pollution transport events (CO ≤180 ppbv) is −0.28, which indicates that the titration of ambient O3 by emitted NO with little if any photochemical O3 production dominates the O3 chemistry over eastern North America in winter. Diurnal cycles driven by photochemistry are observed in the summer for both O3 and CO at the Azores (net loss) and Sable Island (net production.) These observations are consistent with the work of Duderstadt et al. [this issue] who find positive net photochemical O3 production at Sable Island, and with the modeling of Atherton et al. [1996] who find a region dominated by photochemical loss of O3 and CO in the central Atlantic.


The finite difference time domain (FDTD) method was used to solve the Maxwell's equation to obtain the reverse time migration (RTM) of ground penetrating radar (GPR) signals, namely, the FDTD-RTM. In order to ensure that the correct numerical solution of iterative calculation was achieved, it was necessary to obtain high-resolution signals, which greatly limits the applicability of FDTD-RTM in engineering. Based on the characteristics of wavelet multi-resolution analysis, this study proposed a super-resolution signal reconstruction method to improve signal resolution, with the view to completely solving the problem of FDTD-RTM limitation caused by insufficient signal sampling using GPR. The results of electromagnetic simulation showed that the signals reconstructed by the above method were highly similar to the signals sampled with the same resolution. On this basis, reverse time migration electromagnetic simulation and physical model tests were designed. The results of both experiments showed that the under-sampled GPR signals could achieve FDTD-RTM following super-resolution reconstruction, and that the migration imaging results of the target were basically consistent with the design scheme. The signal super-resolution reconstruction method based on the wavelet theory was thus shown to successfully achieve the overall application of FDTD-RTM in GPR signal analysis.


The work environment of the offshore platform is unique as such employees live and work in the same confined area surrounded by nothing but the uncertain ocean. Due to the challenging and stressful working environment, oil and gas industry employees in Malaysia and especially in Borneo are facing critical work family enrichment and satisfaction issues. Therefore, it is imperative to investigate the family work enrichment and satisfaction especially among employees in oil and gas industrial context. The main objective of this paper is to propose a framework on the relationships between work family enrichment factors (capital, affect and development) and satisfaction (job and family satisfaction) and the moderating role of socio-cultural factors (monocronic-polycronic time orientation and gender role ideology) among oil and gas industry employees in Bornoe. Thus, it might be recommended that the organization and management should enhance the job and family satisfaction related to work family enrichment and the skills of employer and supervisors to play effective key role in increasing socio-cultural environments in the organization which could affect employees' overall satisfaction.

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The topic of this paper is the use of sketching when exchanging shape visions. Attaining a shared understanding in a collaborative design project is examined. The interaction acts of an industrial ...


A.V. Volkov, PhD, Senior Researcher, Laboratory for Studies of the Connective Tissue1; B.S. Smbatyan, MD, DSc, Dental Surgeon2; D.N. Nazaryan, MD, PhD, Senior Researcher, Head of the Department of Maxillofacial and Plastic Surgery3; A.A. Muraev, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Implantology4; Associate Professor, Department of Maxillofacial Surgery and Surgical Dentistry5


Executive Summary for JITE) FragforNET is a North-South network platform to communicate, disseminate and archive infor- mation and knowledge on forest fragmentation and biodiversity loss http://fragfornet.grenoble.cemagref.fr/. This netwo rk intends to become a portal for researchers, stakeholders, policy makers and the public to excha nge ideas, knowledge, data, experiences and results on the loss on biodiversity in the remainin g native forests of South America. The activities in relation to the spread of information and access to documentation focus on two main aspects: development of information access and communication tools and enhancement of the identifica- tion of Documentary Centre's and specialised librar ies by the creation of a common directory. Actions are being done to contribute to an informat ion portal in relation to forest conservation.


The field equations of the general theory of relativity state the connection between spacetime curvature and matter, often summarized as "matter curves spacetime". In this contribution we analyze the structure of the field equations from a pedagogical point of view and describe a formulation that is accessible in secondary school and undergraduate physics. This formulation of the field equations requires the concept of curvature in three dimensions and we show how this notion can be introduced using sector models. The field equations are illustrated using the black hole as an example.


Security investment fund,an investment tool in China's security business,effectively satisfies the investment demand from investors and small and medium sized enterprises,and plays a significant role in promoting the economy development.However,the rule-breaking operations of some fund governors show the serious defects existing in China's fund supervision field.From the perspective of games,this paper tends to analyze the behaviors made between fund governors and its supervisors such as Securities Regulatory Commission,fund custody banks and fund holders,and tries to make some suggestions on how to improve China's fund supervision systems.


Key Points Question Are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual, and other sexual identity (LGBQA+) youth at increased risk for experiencing violence across the sexual violence continuum? Findings This survey study including 2102 participants found that adult LGBQA+ individuals were at increased risk for having experienced sexual violence across the continuum during adolescence and young adulthood. Meaning These findings suggest the need for multifaceted solutions to support LGBQA+ youth, including altering social norms accepting sexual violence and homophobia, creating safer schools and other institutional environments, and supporting healthy sexual and romantic partnerships.


Category: Ankle Arthritis Introduction/Purpose: The influence of pre-existing medical conditions on post-operative patient reported outcomes are important to consider when selecting and preparing a patient for surgery. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of medical comorbidities on post-operative physical function and pain in patients undergoing ankle arthrodesis. Methods: This was a Global IRB approved retrospective review of 88 consecutive ankle arthrodesis procedures performed from May 2015 to March 2018. Patient reported physical function (PF) and pain interference (PI) were measured as part of the routine care via the PROMIS PF and PI computerized adaptive test. A chart review was performed to determine the Charlson Comorbidities Index (CCI), ASA scores, and demographic data. A multivariate analysis predicting pre- and post-operative PROMIS PF based on PI, ASA score, and CCI was performed. Spearman correlations for CCI, ASA, pre- and post-operative PROMIS T- scores for PF and PI were calculated. Results: The ASA score and CCI were not associated with pre-operative PI, although the CCI was predictive of pre-operative physical function (p=0.06), indicating that patients with a higher CCI had lower pre-operative PF. Pre-operative PF and ASA were the best individual predictors of physical function at 6 months post-operatively (r=0.51). At 6 months after undergoing ankle arthrodesis, there was no correlation between CCI and post-operative PROMIS PF and PI outcome T-scores (r=0.02, r=-0.06, respectively), this continued at 1 year post-operatively (r=-0.17, r=0.04, respectively). Demographic data, ASA, CCI, and mean PROMIS T-scores are included in Table 1. Conclusion: Sicker patients (ASA score=3) and those with lower pre-operative function recovered more slowly as indicated by lower physical function at 6 months and obtained less physical function benefit from ankle fusion than healthier patients at one year. The results of this study can assist surgeons with risk stratification and educating patients about surgical expectations as pre- operative physical function and ASA score appear to influence post-operative physical function after undergoing ankle arthrodesis.


Objective:To explore the clinical curative effect on Jiawei Yigan san(JYS) for treatment of infantile fastidium.Method: Eighty-three cases of children with infantile fastidium were randomly divided into the observation group(n=42) and the control group(n=41).The control group was given the pediatric Jianpi Huaji oral liquid(2-3 years old 5-10 mL,tid;3 years old 10 mL,tid).The observation group was received JYS,1 dose of tap water decoction(divided in a few portions to take) daily.The treatment lasted for 4 weeks.Serum trace elements Zn and serum neuropeptide Y(NPY) were investigated before and after the treatment.Result: Serum Zn level in the observation group was slightly higher than that in the control group.Serum NPY level in two groups was increased;compared with that before treatment,it was more significant in the observation group(P0.01).After treatment,the total effective rate in the observation group was 97.62%,higher than that of 82.93% in the control group(P0.05).After treatment,the score for liver and spleen syndrome in the observation group was(2.5±2.4) which was lower than(7.6±3.2) in the control group(P0.01).In two groups,body mass index(BMI) after therapy was increased compared with that before treatment(P0.01),the increase in observation group was higher than that in the control group(P0.05).After treatment,the total effective rate in the observation group syndrome was 97.62%,which was higher than 80.49% in the control group(P0.05).Conclusion: Treatment of JYS can increase BMI,food intake and serum NPY level.It has good therapeutic effect for infantile fastidium.


Patient scheduling in radiotherapy is defined as a job shop problem.In this paper,a fuzzy shifting bottleneck procedure is applied to solve patient scheduling problem.Triangular fuzzy numbers are used to model uncertain processing time,release dates and due dates of services.Fuzzy ranking operators are adopted in the fuzzy one-machine scheduling procedure,and the service with the maximum lateness is identified as the bottleneck to be scheduled and then re-optimized.In the case study of patient scheduling in radiotherapy at a polyclinic hospital,the objective of minimizing fuzzy makespan is solved while the patient scheduling solution is obtained.The results can provide some references for hospital managerial decision-making.


In this paper, the improved Adomian decomposition method (ADM) is applied to the nonlinear Schr&oumldinger's equation (NLSE), one of the most important partial differential equations in quantum mechanics that governs the propagation of solitons through optical fibers. The performance and the accuracy of our improved method are supported by investigating several numerical examples that include initial conditions. The obtained results are compared with the exact solutions. It is shown that the method does not need linearization, weak or perturbation theory to obtain the solutions.


According to the limitation of basic ant colony algorithm when the working platform is smaller and the barriers is almost the same size with target,the improved ant colony algorithm is presented to the path planning of servo mechanical arm.The effect of the compartmentalize grid size to path planning speed and accuracy has been discussed,the methods of local information updating have been improved,and the range of ants'visual field have been enlarged.The experiment results show that the improved ant colony algorithm could find better path in shorter time,achieve the function of avoidance obstacle and the global searching performance is better than the basic one.


The new change in contemporary capitalism is neither the radical qualitative change of capitalism nor the sole change in the means,form and contending strategy of capitalist rule and exploitation,but the partly qualitative change in the social and economic structure of capitalism.The positive development of the useful and discarding of the useless of contemporary capitalism have transcended the critical point of capitalist production means and contain some socialist factors and develop gradually and peacefully to socialism.Therefore dogmatist attitude should not be held and simple,mechanical,absolute and objective method should not be adopted,but dialectical and materialistic scientific method should be adopted to understand the new change in contemporary capitalism.Marxist theory should be developed creatively according to new historical condition.


&NA; For efficient integrated management of verticillium wilt in olive (VWO), it is important to establish whether irrigation treatments (with Verticillium dahliae‐free water) that mitigate the disease in V. dahliae‐infested soil, also reduce the levels of more and less persistent propagules of the pathogen in the soil. Effects of irrigation on VWO and V. dahliae propagules were evaluated under natural environmental conditions. Potted plants were irrigated (pathogen‐free water) to two ranges of soil water content (RWC; high and low) at three surface drip‐irrigation frequencies (daily, weekly, and daily during some periods and otherwise weekly). VWO and total inoculum density (ID), density of less persistent micropropagules (MpD) and more persistent sclerotia in wet soil (SwD), and sclerotia density for air‐dried soil (SdD) were monitored. A logistic model (multiple sigmoid) of disease incidence revealed the lowest parameter values in treatments irrigated daily. Daily frequency of irrigation showed significantly lower disease incidence (39.2%) and disease intensity index (43.9%) and MpD (88.0%) values as areas compared with other frequencies, regardless of the RWC. High RWC significantly reduced (70.8–84.9%) ID, SwD and SdD as areas, but significantly increased (18.0%) the incidence of infected plants (IIP), regardless of the irrigation frequency. The disease incidence was not correlated with temperature. Daily irrigation to low RWC mitigated the VWO and the IIP, kept soil to the lowest MpD and resulted in the lowest SdD level at the end of the trial. Results suggested that less persistent propagules could have played a part in the disease development.


ABSTRACT The concept, 'scarce skills' and learners' performance in scarce skills subjects has been a subject of scholarly and political discussion, for more than three decades, especially in South Africa. Unfortunately, despite efforts to increase the population of qualified individuals with scarce skills, South Africa is yet to achieve the desired result. While the focus on development of scarce skills in South Africa has largely centered on citizens within the urban areas, less research has concentrated on the development of scarce skills in South African rural areas. Therefore, using choice theory as a framework, this study explored associated issues of retaining SST in the Mutale area, located in the Vhembe district, Limpopo province, South Africa. This study employed a qualitative research design comprising eight purposively selected participants. Data was gathered using a semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The following themes resulted from the analysis: Availability; emigration; motivation; and limited production and supply of scarce skill teachers. Based on the findings, the study recommends an improvement in the production and deployment of qualified scarce skill teachers to rural secondary schools. Scarce skill teachers in rural secondary schools should be highly motivated and encouraged to stay as teachers in rural secondary schools.


This paper introduces the basic principle of HCNR201,a high accuracy linear analog optocoupler of HP Company. The hardware circuit which apply the monolithic to test and isolate analog voltages is also provided. A method of analyzing experiment da- ta is also introduced.


Mining activities have long been recognized as a major source of environmental contamination associated with heavy metals and metalloids. This study evaluated the relationship between the occurrence and mining of lead-zinc sulphide ores at Ishiagu, Nigeria, and heavy metal and metalloid contamination. A comparative study of two zones in the area, with and without mining activities was also made Water, soil, stream sediment and ore samples were analyzed, after acid digestion, using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS).  The concentration levels of seven heavy metals and a metalloid namely Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, Mn, Co, Cd and as were evaluated. While the highest concentration levels of As, Co and Pb (5.20 mg/l, 0.54 mg/l and 3.40 mg/l respectively) were found in water, those of Ni and Mn (2.26 mg/l and 5.48 mg/l respectively) occurred in soil.  For Cu and Zn, highest levels of concentration (2.80 mg/l and 0.41 mg/l respectively) occurred in stream sediments. The variations in the concentration levels of these elements in varying geologic media (soil, water and sediment) indicate influence of rock types, human activities and media physiochemical characteristics. Geostatistical analyses using QQPlot, semivariogram and kriging showed normal distribution of these elements. Distribution and dispersion patterns of the heavy metals indicated increase in concentration levels in the local stream flow direction. Pb, Cu, As, Cd, Mn, and Ni concentrations had reached pollutant levels in water based on WHO standards, while Zn level is below. Since the local people use untreated surface water and groundwater for drinking and other domestic purposes, soil for farming and lead for cosmetics, long term exposure poses significant health risk for humans, animals and plants.


A new electro-hydraulic servo point load instrument was designed to address the problem that the existing point load instrument cannot be loaded continuously and uniformly; different loading rates (using three loading rates: 0.1, 0.5, 1.0 kN/s) were conducted on fine-crystalline granite, coarse-crystalline granite, and siltstone (each rock sample contains four sizes: 203, 303, 403, 503 mm3) for point load tests. Firstly, the influence of loading rate on the axial stress distribution of rock sample loading was investigated in conjunction with the rock strength damage theory. Next, the influence of rock sample size and loading rate on different standard point load strength evaluation methods was analyzed to find a reasonable evaluation method and loading rate and range of rock sample size. Finally, the relationship between standard point load strength and uniaxial compressive strength was analyzed on this basis to obtain its empirical conversion formula. The results show that: (1) With the increase in the loading rate of point load, the tensile and compressive stresses in the loading axis increase, and the compressive stresses near the center of the loading axis of the rock sample are more influenced by the loading rate; the standard point load strength increases with the increase in the loading rate, but the increase in the standard point load strength decreases when the loading rate increases to a certain range. (2) With the increase in size, the standard point load strength solved by method I, method III, and method IV has an obvious size effect, while the size effect of standard point load strength solved by method II is not obvious. (3) The conversion factors of fine-crystalline granite, coarse-crystalline granite, and siltstone were obtained by zero-intercept linear regression analysis as 16.80, 15.32, and 14.60, respectively, which indicated that the conversion factors of rocks with high strength were higher than those of rocks with low strength. The present research results can provide theoretical support for revising the existing point load strength calculation equations.


Introduction The tumour microenvironment is a complex and dynamic niche that has a fundamental role in tumour cell proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis. Macrophages (Mac) are described as having a central role in tumour progression and dendritic cells (DC) as having an immature/immunosuppressive profile, which limits T cells activity. Therapeutic strategies targeting these cells have been emerging as adjuvants to anticancer conventional treatments, aiming at their recruitment and repolarization towards an immunostimulatory phenotype favouring cancer cell elimination. Here, we focused on the potential of Chitosan/Poly(γ-glutamic acid) nanoparticles (NPs) to modulate cellular immunity and, consequently, to affect cancer-cell related activities. Material and methods NPs were prepared by co-acervation method. Primary human monocyte-derived M2 Mac (obtained by stimulation with IL-10) were incubated with NPs. Control experiments with unstimulated Mac and LPS-stimulated Mac (M1 phenotype) were performed. After 72 hour, cell metabolic activity, cell phenotype and cytokine production were evaluated. Mac ability to induce T cell proliferation/activation and tumour cell invasion were also assessed. The same studies were performed with human-monocyte derived DC. For in vivo models, 1 × 106 E0771 cells were injected in the mammary fat pad of C57BL/6 mice. After 10 days of tumour implantation, animals were treated every two days with NPs. Tumour growth was assessed by calliper every two days. Results and discussions NPs re-educated IL-10-stimulated Mac towards a pro-inflammatory profile, decreasing CD163 expression and promoting IL-12p40 and TNF-α secretion. NPs also induced an immunostimulatory phenotype on DC, enhancing the expression of the co-stimulatory molecules CD86, CD40 and HLA-DR, and secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-12 and IL-6. Interestingly, these phenotypic alterations induced both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation/proliferation and counteracted cancer cell invasion, in vitro. Regarding the in vivotumour model, we observed a decrease in tumour growth in NPs-treated animals comparing to the control, after 23 days of E0771 cell implantation. Additional experiments with other tumour models are currently being explored. Conclusion Overall, our findings open new perspectives on the use of NPs as an immunomodulatory therapy for tumour microenvironment reprogramming, providing a new tool for anticancer therapies.


Thermodynamic equilibrium constants for the ion-association in aqueous solutions of magnesium and nickel sulfates were determined by electrical conductivity measurements at various temperatures between 0°C and 45°C. The standard Gibbs energy and the enthalpy and entropy for the reaction M2++SO42−\ightleftharpoonsM2+·SO42− (M: Mg or Ni) were then calculated from the temperature-dependence of the ion-association constants. The values obtained are as follows: ΔG°298=−2.91 kcal mol−1, ΔH°=2.04 kcal mol−1, and ΔS°298=16.6 cal deg−1 mol−1 for Mg2·SO42−; and ΔG°298=−3.10 kcal mol−1, ΔH°=1.27 kcal mol−1, and ΔS°298=14.7 cal deg−1 mol−1 for Ni2+·SO42−.


Among commodity products in the world, oil is the mostly transported. Most of the oil flowing in the world is carried on specific ships, tankers. They can easily deliver large quantities of -either crude or refined -oil to places where they are needed, often following the same routes. The shipping of these products is done under conditions of strict security provided by the oil companies, ship-owners who have the ships and the states that register them. Energy consumption by shipping is the source of many pollutants. Environmental risks associated with exporting and shipping of oil in particular can be very important. The resulting effects are diverse and often complex. For some of them (impacts on the built environment, visibility, vegetation: wildlife, health) it is however possible to give some quantification in physical terms. The monetary value of these effects can refer to their economic cost or to a "contingent valuation", and it raises some methodological difficulties. Today the risk is financial, social, physical, environmental and human. The shipping company must manage after identifying risks and knowing how to transfer them to insurers, sovereign states, take offs to the maritime adventure, as the sea still remains a wild world.


A usually method that drilling big deep holes with ordinary machining devices is introduced.Its cutting usage and points for attention are also presented. Facts proved that this method is practicable.


This study examines President Harry Truman's executive order that extended a classification system to cover civilian agencies, along with press resistance to that move. In Truman's view, classification was needed to protect national security in the face of growing Communism. But the press argued the order would lead to suppression of legitimate news and that there was no avenue of appeal from classification decisions. This research finds that, in 1987 alone, nearly seven thousand classifiers made more than two million classification decisions, many against allowing openness. Concerns raised during the Truman administration have proven justified.


ABSTRACT Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-strand RNA virus that replicates exclusively in the cytoplasm of infected cells. The viral envelope glycoproteins, E1 and E2, appear to be retained in the endoplasmic reticulum, where viral budding is thought to occur. Surprisingly, we found that the expression system used to generate HCV envelope glycoproteins influences their subcellular localization and processing. These findings have important implications for optimizing novel HCV fusion and entry assays as well as for budding and virus particle formation.


Security competitions are strong motivations for students to find novel security solutions. In this technical report we propose a mechanism for optimally allocating resources through the ten services of the competition 2011 international Capture The Flag (iCTF) in order to maximize the total number of points at the end of the competition. Our proposed mechanism is interpreted as a convex optimization problem. Two different optimization approaches are being considered, the first one considers that the data of the competition is known a priori and the second one uses a moving horizon scheme to make predictions of when to attack by using the history of existing data. We simulate the behavior of our proposed optimization schemes and compare them with what the teams actually did during the actual competition. 1 Background and Overview The iCTF [2] is a distributed wide-area security exercise whose goal is to test the security skills of the participants. The iCTF contest is organized by Prof. Giovanni Vigna of the Department of Computer Science at UCSB and is held once a year. The Capture the Flag contest is a multi-site, multi-team hacking contest in which a number of teams compete independently against each other. In traditional editions of the iCTF (2003-2007), the goal of each team was to maintain a set of services such that they remain available and uncompromised throughout the contest phase. Each team also has to attempt to compromise the other teams' services. Since all the teams received an identical copy of the virtual host containing the vulnerable services, each team has to find the vulnerabilities in their copy of the hosts and possible fix the vulnerabilities without disrupting the services. At the same time, the teams have to leverage their knowledge about the vulnerabilities they found to compromise the servers run by other teams. Compromising a service allows a team to bypass the service's security mechanisms and to "capture the flag" associated with the service. During the 2008-2010 iCTFs, new competition designs have been introduced. More precisely, in 2008 they created a separate virtual network for each team. The goal was to attack a terrorist network and defuse a bomb after compromising a number of hosts. In 2009, the participants had to compromise the browsers of a large group of simulated users, steal their money, and create a botnet. In 2010, the participants had to attack the rogue nation Litya, ruled by the evil Lisvoy Bironulesk. A new design forced the team to attack the services supporting Litya's infrastructure only at specific times, when certain activities were in progress. In addition, an intrusion detection system would temporarily firewall out the teams whose attacks were detected. In the last iCTF the teams were responsible for defending themselves against a digital onslaught, more description of this competition is provided below. Our goal is to describe the 2011 iCTF competition from the perspective of one team playing against the rest of the world. K. G. Vamvoudakis, and J. P. Hespanha are with the Center for Control, Dynamical-systems and Computation (CCDC), University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9560 USA e-mail: email@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com. This material is based upon work supported in part by ARO MURI Grant number W911NF0910553. 1 1.1 Basic setup The game is played in rounds (each takes about 2min). At each round teams take offensive and defensive actions. These actions lead to the team collecting "points'.' At the end of a fixed amount of time, the team that collected more points wins. One challenge with the formulation "one-against-world" is that in the 2011 iCTF game, winning was not just about maximizing points. Winning was about getting more points than each of the opponents (individually). In the "one-against-world" the opponents lose their individuality and so it is not easy to keep track if one opponent is collecting points faster than we are. One may need to resort to some "mean-field games" setup. Each team hosts a server that runs 10 services each with its own (unknown) vulnerabilities. Each service i, i P t1, 2, . . . , 10u of each hosting team j (this index is not really used in our formulation since we model what the "optimal" team will do) is characterized by three time-varying quantities for @k P t1, 2, . . . , 248u (the actual data was @k P t3, 4, . . . , 44, 50, . . . , 255u, and has 248 ticks because the server was down from 45 49, we mapped everything to write k P t1, 2, . . . , 248u): • the cut C i k , which is the percentage of money that goes to team j when money is laundered through service i (same values for every team), • the payoff P i k , which is the percentage of money that will be transformed into points for the team that launders the money (same value for every team); P i k 0.9e T icksActive 10 • the risk R i k , which is the probability of losing all the money R i k 0.9e No.OfActiveStates 2 At the beginning of each round k , the team is informed of the values of C i k , P i k , R i k for every i, and k . 1.2 Actions available to every team A team (we) has the following actions in the actual competition: 1. Defensive actions: Activate/deactivate own services. In the iCTF game a team could also fix the vulnerability of a service. We assume here that we have fixed all vulnerabilities that we knew how to fix. We also assume that there is no tipping since that is an action that is specific against a particular opponent. 2. Money laundering: Select (a) team to attack jk (mute decision within the "one-against-world" formulation); (b) service i to compromise, which implicitly determines the payoff P i k , the risk R i k , and the cut C i k (these quantities are specified at each round and take values 0 100%); (c) amount on money to launder uk . This action results in a number of points given by Xk # P i kp1 C i kqDkuk w.p. 1 mintOk , 1u 0 w.p. mintOk , 1u