Summary Ghosts are interference events caused by the free-surface that impact the bandwidth and the resolution of the data negatively. Echo Deblending is a wave-equation based method to remove the ghosts events present in marine seismic data. Unlike other deghosting methods, Echo deblending aims to separate the reflection events of interest from their ghosts by noting that the ghosts are produced by (virtual) secondary sources that have been generated by the free-surface. Treating ghosts as secondary source events, source- and receiver ghosts can be separated by utilizing deblending techniques. In this paper, Echo-deblending is successfully applied to selected synthetic data sets to verify and compare performance, as well as to a 3D field data set. A modification of the method named coincidence filtering is introduced to improve the robustness of the method by utilizing travel-time matching together with amplitude thresholding during the deblending. It is demonstrated that the 3D Echo deblending is capable of producing satisfactory results, also in the presence of noise and acquisition-related uncertainties. This is a clear advantage over inversion-based methods that are more sensitive to noise present in the data.


Hematopoiesis is the process of blood cell production starting from undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells and finishing with diverse highly specialized cells, such as red (erythrocytes) and white (leukocytes) cells. There are various subtypes of leukocytes and they are accountable for immune, inflammatory and infection responses. For instance, granulocytes recognize and fight invading pathogens. So do monocytes, in addition to producing molecules to initiate inflammatory responses. These cells are produced by a process called myelopoiesis, which must be tightly regulated to fulfil physiological needs throughout life. This process is chiefly dependent upon a class of molecules named cytokines For granulocyte and monocyte production, the cytokines IL-3 and GM-CSF are the most important. Our study indicates that a molecule called Wnt5b, which is increased in expression with ageing, can skew myeloid cell differentiation. Wnt5b was previously not linked to myelopoiesis. IL-3, in the presence of Wnt5b, induced stem-cell maintenance, whilst GM-CSF unleashed a differentiation program in the presence of Wnt5b. We also investigated whether the differentiation in the presence of GM-CSF and Wnt5b was altered with aging. We provide evidence for a role for Wnt5b in regulating myeloid progenitor senescence and this was reversed by blocking Wnt5 signaling with the antagonist Box5. Blocking Wnt5 might have therapeutic use, although its risks will have to be investigated in future studies. Collectively, our studies identify mechanisms by which Wnt5 regulates hematopoietic ageing and suggests that blocking this pathway reverses some of the ageing-associated changes in myeloid cell production.


According to the equipments of BSP Line and process conditions,Production Process and mathematical model on checker plates are deeply researched,the size tolerance of checker plates are provided and means of mending roll are presented,the reasonable process parameters are made and operating procedure of checker plates is set down. It proves that many shortcomings of checker plates made in BX STEEL in BSP line are avoided, such as the veins height and the shape of the checker plates and so on. It forms a special production process system of BX STEEL and better effects are achieved during the manufacture.


Necessary and sufficient conditions for discreteness of spectrum for the singular second order functional differential operator of the form 1 ρ(x) ( −(p(x)u′)′ + q(x)u− ∫ b a u(s)r(x, ds) ) , x ∈ (a, b), −∞ ≤ a < b ≤ ∞ are obtained.


We previously demonstrated that high HLA-E expression in ovarian carcinoma and NSCLC may neutralize the survival benefit of T-cell infiltration, suggesting NKG2A could represent an immune checkpoint. Here, we demonstrate higher frequencies of NKG2A+CD8+ T cells in TIL samples obtained from human HNSCC biopsies in patients with measurable immune reactivity to HPV16-viral antigens. CyTOF analysis suggested that this T-cell subset harbored an CD103+ effector phenotype. In mouse tumor models, therapeutic cancer vaccines increased the frequency of NKG2A+-positive CD8+ TIL up to 80%. Expression of Qa-1, the mouse homologue of HLA-E, on tumor cells also increased after cancer vaccinations. In vitro studies revealed that upregulation of Qa-1 was mediated by T cell-derived IFNγ. Blockade of this inhibiting NKG2A-Qa-1 axis by antibody improved the T-cell mediated rejection of tumors and, in addition, genetic knockdown of Qa-1 in three different tumor models recapitulated this finding. Blocking of NKG2A as a stand-alone treatment was not effective, indicating that NKG2A constitutes an adaptive resistance mechanism in response to CD8 T-cell activation. In conclusion, NKG2A is enriched on CD8+ TIL and functions as an immune checkpoint that restrains therapeutic efficacy of cancer vaccines. Citation Format: Thorbald van Hall, Nadine van Montfoort, Linda Borst, Michael J. Korrer, Young Kim, Pascale Andre, Nicolai Wagtmann, Sytse Piersma, Sjoerd H. van der Burg. The inhibitory receptor NKG2A acts as a checkpoint on CD8 T cells in the context of cancer vaccines [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2018 Nov 27-30; Miami Beach, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2020;8(4 Suppl):Abstract nr A97.


As urban populations around the world continue to grow, achieving sustainable urban water supply is becoming crucial in order to meet increasing demand. Cyclical drought and climate change have placed further strain on water supplies and it is therefore necessary to plan to ensure the sustainability of water supply systems at a regional scale. Water supply sustainability planning (WSSP) necessitates the use of a long-term planning horizon and multiple criteria for assessment, both of which have inherent uncertainties and difficulties. The perceived inability to account for great uncertainties in long-term future demand, economic stability, climate and technological change when it comes to the supply and usage of water has resulted in planning dominated by short-term and politically motivated decision-making. In response, this paper outlines a proposed conceptual framework to optimally sequence water supply projects, incorporating sustainability and uncertainty, at the regional scale. Sequencing of water supply projects involves choosing which options to implement at which stages over a planning horizon. In the past, the sequencing of water supply projects was straightforward, as there were relatively few options (e.g. when to build the next reservoir) and the only criteria that had to be considered were water supply security and cost. However, as a result of climate variability, climate change and the increased adoption of sustainability principles, the problem of sequencing water supply projects has become much more complex. With the increase in urbanization, urban infill and diminishing natural water sources, there is an increase in the need to consider recycled water and desalinisation as additional or alternative water supply options. Therefore, where 30 years ago only reservoirs might have been considered when planning a secure water supply for a city, in the 21 st century a large number of alternative water sources are able to be considered in the sequencing approach presented in this paper. These include desalination, stormwater re-use and rainwater tanks. The proposed model framework is based on multi-objective optimisation, so that a number of competing objectives (e.g. cost, greenhouse gas emissions) can be taken into account. The aim is to find optimal mix of water supply options, and when these projects should be implemented, can be identified from among the large number of options (e.g. rainwater tanks, different stormwater schemes, desalination etc.). Long-term planning is an important aspect of sustainable water supply systems. When planning for water supply systems for the long term future in climate and demand, as well as economic and technological conditions, are highly variable and hard to predict. These factors affect the performance of water supply systems, and thus uncertainty is accounted for in the proposed model framework. The optimisation model takes the robustness of solutions into account, so that the decisions made now will be as insensitive to future changes (e.g. population growth, climate change, new technologies) as possible. Uncertainty is the key feature of most water resource system planning related to temporal variability. To ensure, therefore, that the water resource system operates in a satisfactory manner over time, continual reassessment of the system is essential in order to identify and reduce the risk of system failure. Hence, the model framework allows long term plans to be reviewed and re-optimised at regular intervals to take account of changes in external factors.


Excerpt Two years ago, at the meeting of the College in Philadelphia, we reported some of our findings in South Africa. These data were in conformity with the hypothesis that dietary fat is an impo...


During operating transients of the pressurizer, thermal stratification effect may occur especially in the horizontal parts of surge line. Generally, the fatigue usage factor of surge line is comparative high, due to its operating temperature and pressure transients and its thermal stratification loads. Traditional 2-D finite element model (FEM) for thermal stratification analysis has excessive conservativeness. To reduce such an excessive conservativeness, 3-D numerical analysis model for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) problem in the surgeline and some parametric FSI analyses were performed with different heat-up temperature rate and flow rate in the inlet of surgeline during plant heat-up. Based on these FSI analysis results, an efficient condition to reduce the excessive conservativeness in surgeline stratification analysis could be proposed in terms of heat-up rate and flow rate.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


The roles of reaction inhomogeneity in phase separation of polymer mixtures were described and summarized via two examples: photocross-link of polymer mixtures in the bulk state and photopolymerization of monomer in the liquid state. The reaction kinetics, the reaction-induced elastic strain and the phase separation kinetics were monitored respectively by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Mach-Zehnder interferometry and laser-scanning confocal microscopy. It was found that phase separation in the bulk state was strongly influenced by the elastic strain associated with the intrinsic inhomogeneity of the reaction, whereas the autocatalytic behavior of the polymerization plays an important role in the resulting morphology in the liquid state. These experimental results are discussed in conjunction with the morphology control of polymer mixtures by using chemical reactions.


Dr Parkinson's first speech as secretary was the annual post-Budget address delivered to the conference of Australian Business Economists at the Westin Hotel, delivered on 17 May 2011 in Sydney. Dr Parkinson commenced as Treasury Secretary in March 2011. He previously served as Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, after serving as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Treasury. Since beginning his career at the Treasury in 1980, he has worked in a range of areas including taxation policy, labour market and structural reform, and macroeconomic policy and forecasting. He has also worked at the International Monetary Fund, and in the early 1990s served as Senior Adviser to Treasurer Dawkins. Dr Parkinson holds a Ph.D from Princeton University, a M.Ec from the Australian National University and a B.Ec (Hons) from the University of Adelaide.


The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of doses of selenate and selenite on rice (Oryza sativa) biofortification with Se, as well the influence of these forms of Se in the levels of P, S, Fe, and Zn in grains. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, in pots with 4 dm3 of a sandy clay loam Latosol, with medium texture, in a 5x2 factorial arrangement with five doses of Se (0, 0.75, 1.50, 3.0, and 6.0 mg dm-3) and two forms of Se (selenate and selenite). Selenate provided greater efficiency of root uptake of Se, plant-use efficiency, translocation from roots to shoots, and content of this element in rice grains. The application of Se during fertilization influences the levels of P, S, and Zn, but does not affect those of Fe in rice grains.


The paper explores the impact of the change in populations, the impact of electronic communication, and the multiplicity of methodological approaches on the ethos and practices of biblical studies. It proposes a rhetorical emancipatory educational paradigm and explores its possibilities for the professional education of biblical scholars on the doctoral level. Since both college and seminary teachers are shaped in and through their doctoral studies, it is necessary to focus on doc- toral education in order to address the growing recog- nition that the discipline of biblical studies in its present form needs to cultivate transformative intellectuals who are not only at home in the academy but also can crit- ically intervene in the public discourses and uses of the Bible in religious communities, democratic publics, or global inter-religious relations.


This paper shows how fiscal imbalance and excessive external borrowing may lead to a financial crisis. The trigger of the crisis is substantial increase in risk premium as a result of persistent budget deficits. This results in hyper depreciation of exchange rate, which causes an adverse balance sheet effect on investment in the presence of external commercial borrowings. This leads to a contraction of output and the country enters into recession. Furthermore, policy prescriptions are provided to curtail the crisis. The situation in Argentina is analysed in the light of this model.


MERTIS (MERcury Thermal infrared Imaging Spectrometer) is an advanced thermal infrared remote sensing instrument which is a part of the ESA mission BepiColombo to planet Mercury. Since the instrument is designed to work as in the thermal infrared range detecting radiation using an uncooled micro-bolometer matrix it is necessary to pay special attention to the development of proper scene signal extraction methods for the elimination of undesired signal portions from the measurement data - typically being achieved by subtraction of shutter images from scene images. It is shown here how the noise of the resulting difference images for different periodic measurement modes can be predicted and minimized using a theoretical model considering measurement sequences the MERTIS instrument can be driven with. The model introduced is reflecting the noise characteristics of the instrument's analog image data channel statistically so that the analog channel itself is not modeled explicitly. Nevertheless a precise noise strength prediction can be achieved. The prediction results depend both on the specific shutter open/close sequence used and a system specific spatial-temporal autocovariance function which can be easily estimated from simple image data cubes. The predictions become very precise if a proper preprocessing removing the most strong disturbing signal portions from the image datasets is done before. Being able to predict the noise strength for arbitrary measurement sequences and giving respect to the system´s physical constraints - e.g. maximum shutter speed - an optimal measurement sequence can be found giving a maximized SNR of the images of MERTIS.


The study of Xi'shan Conference Fiction has been influenced by the political and ideological factors in the mainland with the conclusion of anti-party or counter-revolutionary. After 1960s, a breakthrough has been achieved in Hongkong and Taiwan. With the increasing academic communication between mainland and Taiwan, the study in mainland is moving from simplifi cation to diversifi cation. In the meanwhile, whether the later Xi'shan Conference Fiction is a politic fiction or not is a question to be studied.


Objectives: To explore on the relationship between condylomata acuminate and other sexually transmitted diseases. Methods: Laboratory test was applied to patients with broccoli-like neoplasm on genitals or patients suspected of human papilloma virus infection to detect gonococcal, chlamydia, mycoplasma, borrelia, genital herpes virus, candida, and trichomonal infection. Results: Among 136 cases in this study, broccoli-like neoplasm was observed on 131 patients. Five patients were detected in the incubation period (virus carrier).Five cases were found to be complicated with syphilis, 18 cases with gonorrhea, 13 cases with Chlamydia infection, 21 cases with mycoplasma infection, 20 cases with candida infection, 12 cases with trichomonal infection, 4 cases with bacterial vaginal infection, 4 cases with HSVII, and 11 cases with combined Chlamydia and mycoplasma infection. In total, the study revealed 108 patients exhibited complications of other STD infections,approximately 79.41% of the total patients investigated. Conclusion: Complication is the important factor for the growth and recurrence of condylomata acuminate.


National needs, world power restructuring, and global problems demand creative solutions and innovative strategies. Creativity is the generation of ideas that are novel to the individual or to the group involved in the task. Creative productivity depends on the depth and breadth of information and on the individual's capacity for unrestricted thinking. Akin to the creative act, there is also a creative attitude, which can be stimulated or inhibited. The study of the personalities of creative individuals has revealed common cognitive and motivational traits. Neurological explanations for most of these phenomena are still lacking, however, findings already point to the importance of nurturing the brain at all ages. Several steps have been recognized in the creative process. The same steps are identified in the scientific method, and in a wide range of engineering methods. Inhibitors and stimulators of creativity can be readily found in the practice of civil engineering. Computer systems can be designed to s...


Humic acids from six Brazilian topsoils (three Latosols and three Podzols) and five soil fungal melanins were hydrolysed and the released amino sugars qualitatively and quantitatively determined by capillary gas‐liquid chromatography. Melanins were obtained from liquid culture media, synthesized with nitrate or asparagine as a source of N, of Stachybotrys atra, Aspergillus glaucus, Eurotium echinulatum and Hendersonula toruloidea. Glucosamine (48–60%), galactosamine (39–52%), and traces of mannosamine were detected in all humic acids. The total amino sugar content ranged from 1351 to 2287 mg kg−1. In the fungal melanins analysed, mostly glucosamine (80–99%) and trace to small amounts of galactosamine and mannosamine (<10%) were found in amounts ranging from 192 to 635 mg kg−1. The Occurrence of mannosamine in fungal melanins and fungal polysaccharides had not previously been found. The present study gives additional data to the theory that fungal melanins may play a role, as precursors, in the formation of soil organic matter.


more texts than art objects. Visual priorities become confused and viewers are quickly exhausted. Audiotapes, pamphlets, guided tours, and the catalogue must complement gallery labels. On another level, the critique is sometimes shockingly inaccurate. For example, Miller makes a bizarre claim that the choice of Maya objects did not fit the exhibition theme. Commenting on a famous maize deity sculpture, she says that without the audiotape the visitor would have trouble identifying the figure as a deity, let alone a maize god. Yet, the label reads as follows: Young Maize God. According to the Maya creation myth of the Popol Vuh, humankind was formedfrom the life-giving substance maize, or corn, the principal sustenance of the Maya people. This ancient concept is portrayed by a youthful image of the Maize God celebrating the firstfruits of the season. In annual rites, Maya lords attired as the god became symbolic givers of life. This association was regularly enacted throughout a ruler's lifetime and also upon his death. Sequences of related objects also presented problems to the reviewer. The Olmec section began with a monumental architectonic cave-mask, a ritual entrance to the underworld of the ancestors and the


A medium-frequency hermetically sealed refrigerant compressor having activation and unloading functions, comprising: an electric connector (2), a front end socket (1), a rear end socket (6), a barrel (7), a medium-frequency motor (3) disposed in the barrel (7), a movable disc (4), a transmission sleeve pipe (8), a main shaft (9), a clutch coil (10) and a clutch friction plate (11); the front and back ends of the barrel (7) are respectively connected to the front end socket (1) and the rear end socket (6); the barrel (7) has a stator disc (5) fixed therein cooperating with the movable disc (4); the movable disc (4) and the stator disc (5) are sleeved on one side of the main shaft (9), and the clutch friction plate (11) and the clutch coil (10) are sleeved on the other side of the main shaft (9); the movable disc (4) and the clutch friction plate (11) are fixed on the side surface of the main shaft (9); the output shaft of the medium-frequency motor (3) is connected to the clutch coil (10) via the transmission sleeve pipe (8); the electric connector (2) is fixed on the barrel (7); and the electric connector (2) is connected to the clutch coil (10). The compressor realizes low-current activation, and reduces the impact on an onboard power supply.


Background Despite currently available standard-of-care inhaled corticosteroid (ICS)/long-acting β2-agonist therapies, a substantial proportion of patients with asthma remain inadequately controlled. This pooled analysis evaluated efficacy and safety of mometasone furoate/indacaterol acetate (MF/IND) versus fluticasone propionate/salmeterol xinafoate (FLU/SAL) in patients with inadequately controlled asthma. Methods This analysis included patients from PALLADIUM (NCT02554786) and IRIDIUM (NCT02571777) studies who received high-dose MF/IND (320/150 µg) or medium-dose MF/IND (160/150 µg) one time a day or high-dose FLU/SAL (500/50 µg) two times a day for 52 weeks. Reduction in asthma exacerbations, improvement in lung function, asthma control, and safety were evaluated for 52 weeks. Results In total, 3154 patients (high-dose MF/IND, n=1054; medium-dose MF/IND, n=1044; high-dose FLU/SAL, n=1056) were included. High-dose MF/IND showed 26%, 22% and 19% reductions in rate of severe, moderate or severe, and all (mild, moderate and severe) exacerbations versus high-dose FLU/SAL, respectively, over 52 weeks (all, p<0.05). High-dose MF/IND improved trough FEV1 versus high-dose FLU/SAL at weeks 26 (Δ, 43 mL, p=0.001) and 52 (Δ, 51 mL, p<0.001). Reductions in asthma exacerbation rate and improvement in trough FEV1 with medium-dose MF/IND were comparable with high-dose FLU/SAL over 52 weeks. All treatments improved Asthma Control Questionnaire-7 score from baseline to 52 weeks with no difference between treatments. Safety was comparable between high-dose MF/IND and high-dose FLU/SAL. Conclusions One time a day, single-inhaler, high-dose MF/IND reduced asthma exacerbations and improved lung function versus two times a day, high-dose FLU/SAL in patients with inadequately controlled asthma. Similarly, improved outcomes were seen with one time a day, medium-dose MF/IND and two times a day, high-dose FLU/SAL, but at a lower ICS dose.


Using the methods of literature,interviews on the applied consciousness in Sanda training. Research shows that: when we are training we should pay more attention to the application of the research consciousness,reflective consciousness,innovative consciousness,incentive consciousness. Only by undergoing and setting up this consciousness,can we discover more and more shortcomings in terms of technology,tactics and training methods,hence gaining a better target for our correction and training.


This paper provides an overview of the project Connecting.Ideas4Research (CI4R) that has given its name to session "A5" of the conference track "A – Open Science: Rethinking the science and society relationship." The project is divided into two major thematic strands: (1) "Digital Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)" and (2) "Crowdsourcing in Research". In a first step, this paper describes the project's overall aims and its approach. In a second step, for each of both subproject strands considerations concerning the framing of central notions and categories are presented and corresponding reference frameworks are sketched and discussed. The paper closes with some remarks on the relationship between the two subproject strands. 1 Overview on the Project Connecting.Ideas4Research Universities are and all other research organizations are confronted with increasingly complex demands from their societal environment—such as digitalisation, the emergence of new disciplines, exploitation orientation or transdisciplinarity—which point to opportunities but also to the need for change. The project Connecting.Ideas4Research (CI4R)1 tries to reflect how people which are affected by research and innovation (R&I) can be integrated in the research process – e.g., by direct integration into a research project. The focus of CI4R was sharpened by the needs of the involved partners, universities and research organisations who are both: research performers as well as affected by R&I and research policies. These organisations are confronted with highly demanding international projects, increasingly complex and wide-ranging digital technology, and increased involvement of individuals, organisations, stakeholders, etc. in the research process itself. Moreover, researchers are being increasingly attributed with responsibility for the impact of research results and the consideration of needs of society in their research. 1 The project ConnectingIdeas4Research is part of WTZ Süd (Knowledge Transfer Centre South: https://www.wtz-sued.at/en/). The project is conducted by CAMPUS 02 Graz, Graz University of Music and Performing Arts, Medical University of Graz, Montanuniversität Leoben, University of Klagenfurt, University of Applied Sciences FH JOANNEUM Graz (lead), and Carinthia University of Applied Sciences. The WTZ Süd is financed by aws, by means of the National Foundation of Research, Technology and Development (Austrian Funds). Proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2021 Harald KLEINBERGER-PIERER, Matthias WERNER DOI: 10.3217/978-3-85125-855-4-24 447 In the project CI4R we approach these topics from two perspectives and in two separate subproject strands: (1) Digital Ethics & Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI); (2) Crowdsourcing in Research. The Digital Ethics & RRI subproject undertakes the examination of ethical implications of digitalisation for research practice (and research organisation). The Crowdsourcing subproject focuses on the integration of specific professional groups or other directly affected groups like patients in the process of identifying relevant research questions as well as in the generation of new ideas for solutions for practical problems. The CI4R project is designed as a knowledge transfer project between the partners as well as other involved higher education institutions, (research) organizations and stakeholders. This major characteristic given, the project organizes knowledge flows concerning the project topics and to enable mutual learning—between the participating partners as well as by learning from external expertise. Also, by opening its project events and activities to external audiences, the project aims at practicing knowledge transfer and networking along the whole project life cycle, not only at the end of the project. The results represent the learnings of all partners as well as the preparation and promotion of findings for implementation. Rather than trying to address its topics exhaustively in all details, the project takes a pragmatic approach to its subjects: The topics that are addressed in the project are derived from concrete issues and interests at the participating organisations rather than by theoretically driven considerations. 1.1 Digital Ethics and RRI In the last years, not only in academia but also in more popular or policy related debates ethical issues related to digitalization are increasingly being discussed. In the face of polarization, hate and fake news in social media, of the power and practices of big (quasi-)monopolized platform tech companies, or of the rise of automated decision making and machine learning algorithms, it is obvious that there is a need to discuss how we want to live with digital technologies, to which intentions they should be applied, and how these technologies should be designed (cf. exemplarily Werthner et al. 2019, Nida-Rümelin/Weidenfeld 2018, Spiekermann 2019, Zuboff 2019). While the scope of topics addressed in these debates goes far beyond the notion of digital ethics that can be applied in the context of this project, these debates underline the claim that universities and universities of applied sciences – as important actors in innovation systems – must be responsive to such public debates and concerns. In academic discourse ethical consideration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digitalisation has received growing attention in the last years, and a lot of research projects and literature has been produced focusing on ethically relevant impact of ICTs in society, economy or the environment (cf. Reijers et al. 2018, Proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2021 Harald KLEINBERGER-PIERER, Matthias WERNER DOI: 10.3217/978-3-85125-855-4-24 448 Mittelstadt 2019, Bogner 2013). Evolving from information ethics2 the general perspective of digital ethics is quite broad: Based on the observation that in information societies it has become impossible to assume separated online or offline spheres of life, digital ethics in principle means no less than to address the (morally relevant) "impact of ICT on society and the environment" (Capurro 2009, also cf. Capurro 2017, pp. 187 ff.)—or to be more general: "What kind of mature information societies do we want to build? What is our human project for the digital age? (Floridi 2018, p. 2). Floridi also points to the entanglement of digital ethics with digital regulation and digital governance: These fields should be seen complementary to each other, and their distinctive normative approaches should be recognised. Ethics of the digital should be understood as the study of moral problems relating to data and information, to algorithms as well as to problems of corresponding practices and infrastructures, in order to identify morally good orientation or solutions. In this sense, digital ethics produces knowledge for the moral underpinning and shaping of digital governance (ibid., pp. 2ff.). Beside this ethics boom in the last years the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach came up and has widely been adopted (von Schomberg 2011, cf. Stahl et al. 2014). Representing one of the central "keys" of RRI, ethics takes a prominent role in this influential concept. Additionally, ethical argumentation has been widely used in technology policies in the last years and ethical advisory is in many cases being requested by policy makers (cf. Bogner 2013). Regardless its popularity for scholars in innovation research or science and technology studies or for policy makers, it has to be acknowledged that the RRI approach is adopted by scientists overall with some more reservation. Also, regarding implementations in different fields of research as well as in different kinds of R&I conducting organisations there is a wide range of interpretations of the meaning of doing science with and/or for society (Carrier/Gartzlaff 2020). This overview illustrates the need to narrow the scope of the digital ethics subproject and the notion of "digital ethics" that shall be applied. Given the project's main character as a cooperative knowledge transfer project, this narrowing also has to reflect the specific situations at the participating universities, their profiles and interests. These considerations have led to a rather pragmatic perspective and understanding of digital ethics for our project: The focus in the digital ethics and RRI project stream is to explore ethical challenges for research practice (and research organisation) in the context of digitalisation. 2 And its neighbouring disciplines like computer ethics, media ethics, data ethics, ethics of technology, and likewise. Proceedings of the STS Conference Graz 2021 Harald KLEINBERGER-PIERER, Matthias WERNER DOI: 10.3217/978-3-85125-855-4-24 449 Corresponding major interest of our activities can be expressed by the following questions: • In which ways are we (as universities / universities of applied sciences) confronted with digitalisation related ethical challenges in our research and innovation activities? • And how can we put ourselves in a position to be able to deal with such challenges adequately? 1.2 Crowdsourcing in Research The core idea of the substream on crowdsourcing in research is to analyse the process of generating innovative research topics and questions in collaboration with practitioners. This is done in a participative approach with a variety of methods and disciplines. To this end, four exemplary and interdisciplinary use-cases from the fields of medicine, physiotherapy, music pedagogy and architecture were set up. All of these four use cases are collaborating with a specific "community of practice"3 from their field (="crowd"). The use cases address specific professional groups from their field as well as other relevant groups (e.g., patients, users) that are directly affected by research content and results, but that typically not have the opportunity to co-design research projects. The groups addr


Objective: To investigate the feasibility of one point epidural anesthesia applied to ureter renal scopy lithotripsy(URSL).Methods: Sixty patients with ureter stone(levels Ⅰ-Ⅲ,ASA) were scheduled for ureter renal scopy lithotripsy under L2-3 epidural anesthesia.ECG,HR,NIBP,SpO2,respiration and complications were monitored.Results: All operations were successful,and the satisfactory rate was 96.7%.Conclusion: The effect of single L2-3 epidural anesthesia for ureter renal scopy lithotripsy was definite,and it is a good anesthesia for URSL.


A literature review indicates that no research has been conducted to date to examine pre-service English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' self-perceived technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Therefore, this study explores pre-service EFL teachers' (PSEFLTs) self-perceived TPACK, to understand whether it changes in line with their year of study and their views on the probable contribution of the pre-service English teacher education program to their TPACK. The findings obtained from the analysis of the data collected from a 36-item EFL TPACK questionnaire, conducted by performing descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and a post hoc analysis, revealed that the level of PSEFLTs' technological knowledge was the highest, while their content knowledge was the lowest. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in 28 items between the PSEFLTs' TPACK, resulting from the responses of the second-year students. The content analysis of the qualitative data gathered from telephone interviews demonstrated that even though the interviewees overwhelmingly regarded their TPACK level as high, they suggested that the curriculum for this program could be enriched by adding a course to it on the use of technology in EFL teaching.


Abstract Previous research on the perception of second-language speech has suggested that non-native listeners may benefit from sharing the speakers' first language, e.g. speakers of Spanish find Spanish-accented English easy to understand. In the present study, L2 English speech samples elicited from L1 Finnish and L1 Finland-Swedish speakers were rated for comprehensibility and accentedness by English-speaking listeners and the speakers' peers, seeking to explore whether there is a difference between the listener groups. In addition, the speakers' overall spoken proficiency (A2, B1, B2 on the CEFR scale) was considered in the analysis to find out if the possible shared L1 effect is connected to the speakers' proficiency. The results were mixed, finding that L1 Finland-Swedish listeners were more lenient towards their peers' English than the English-speaking listeners were, whereas L1 Finnish listeners gave comprehensibility ratings equal to those given by English-speaking listeners, and accentedness ratings that were stricter. The finding supports earlier suggestions on the effects of sharing the speakers' L1 for L2 speech perception being L1 dependent. As for the influence of the speakers' proficiency, the results demonstrate a greater difference between English-speaking listeners and listeners who share the speakers' L1 regarding low-proficiency speakers.


Abstract Civil construction is a highly uncertain endeavour that entails a considerable risk, as attested to by the succession of incidents and accidents reported the world over. The reasons for this situation need to be identified before strategies can be adopted with a view of reducing the construction-related risks. Taking the forensic investigations of a series of accidents as a starting point, this article explores the generally applicable lessons learnt from those case studies. Such surveys show that the problems to be dealt with in everyday practice are rather elementary and often attributable to human error. Basic principles and recommendations are therefore put forward for the design, erection and use of temporary structures in general and ancillary equipment for construction processes in particular, aimed at reducing the risks associated with such activities. Moreover, as there is no general consensus on reliability requirements for the temporary structures, this paper addresses the establishment of acceptable life safety risk and the associated reliability levels. The requirements put forward aim to ensure the same statistical fatality rate per unit of time as for the permanent structures. The effect of the established principles, recommendations and requirements on the design and assembly of the temporary structures is illustrated by means of an example.


Accumulation of ice on aircraft wings is a cause of serious concern. The present work is a proof-of-concept study using piezoceramic actuators to induce vibration in a host structure such that the induced out-of-plane shear stresses can shear-off the ice. It is shown experimentally that vibratory deicing is successful at those resonance frequencies at which the peak values of the out-of-plane shear stresses are greater than the adhesive shear strength values of ice on an aluminum surface. Numerical simulations support the experimental observations. Snapshots of the video recordings of the deicing experiment are presented.


Background:Exploratory analyses indicate rapid improvement in health-related quality of life following tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapy for Crohn's disease (CD) may be associated with better outcomes.1 We evaluated improvement in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) scores as a predictor of long-term remission in patients with CD who were treated with certolizumab pegol (CZP; a pegylated Fc-free TNF antagonist). Methods:Data from C87088 study (a 5-year open-label extension trial of CZP in patients with CD who participated in a 6-week placebo [PBO]-controlled induction study [C87085] of CZP versus PBO,2 N = 403) were used for analysis. Outcomes considered to indicate rapid improvement were an increase in total IBDQ score of ≥32 points and/or IBDQ remission (≥170 points) at any time prior to and including week 0 of C87088. Loss of IBDQ remission was defined as scores <170 points. Kaplan-Meier estimates with log-rank tests were used to evaluate time to loss of remission by rapid IBDQ remission status. Results:Improvement in IBDQ scores of ≥32 points at or before week 0 of C87088 was present in 46.2% of patients treated with PBO and 53.0% of those treated with CZP; demographics at baseline were similar for the 2 treatment groups. The mean (SD) time to IBDQ remission was 110.8 (197.4) days for those treated with PBO and 88.5 (172.7) days for those treated with CZP during C87085. Patients with IBDQ remission at or before week 0 of C87088 (n = 179, 45%) had similar demographics and disease characteristics at baseline as those without rapid remission (n = 218, 55%), regardless of treatment. The median [95% confidence interval] time to loss of remission during the 5-year extension study was longer for patients with rapid IBDQ remission (1.1 [0.9–1.5] years) relative to those who without rapid remission (0.8 [0.5–1.3] years). Conclusions:These data suggest that patients who achieve improvement in IBDQ scores and/or IBDQ remission at or before week 0 of C87088 may have better outcomes over long-term treatment with CZP than those who do not achieve rapid improvement in quality of life.


To obtain the basic learning goals, such as knowledge, the intelligent and character structure, university students have to undergo combination of various processes including cognition, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation and so on. Students don't expect too much of a single learning approach, which must has inevitably certain deficiencies that should be make up with diversiform learning, and should put different human sensory organs as many as possible to work in each process. Education goals include cognitive, emotional, operational skills and so on. It is a utopian for first-line teachers to want to be good at teaching by only several years of course teaching. In fact, teachers have to go through many years of practice - theory - practice spiral up cycle of endless exploration process to be very experienced. Holding above creeds is of great significance for progress of both teachers and students.


Though the philosophy behind open source software is relatively simple—"promote transparency"—it has proved rather complicated in the marketplace, where it has taken more than 20 years for the resulting products to gain a measure of mainstream acceptance. While traditional businesses have struggled to understand the logic and route to profitability behind open source software, the model itself has already made a deep impact on the Internet. From Linux OS, which powers an increasing number of PCs, to TiVo, the Firefox Web browser, and Apache (the world's most widely used Web server), open source is now a proven strategy for producing software. But what about hardware? Can open and collaborative development produce physical products, too? Yes, say the advocates of open source hardware, while admitting a few complications. The entire landscape of consumer technology could change radically as a result.


The invention relates to a flash memory with shared gate electrode formed on a semiconductor substrate, a first gate insulating layer and thereon a floating gate electrode, a latter and surrounding a side wall of the first spacer, a first transition area between adjacent floating gate electrode portions a first conductive line over the field, a second gate insulating layer on a portion of the semiconductor substrate and the sidewall of the first spacer, a word line formed on this layer, a second spacer formed on the side wall thereof, a second transition region (224) adjacent to the second having a spacer interlayer insulator (227) with contact hole (228) and a second conductive line (229) for contacting the second transition region via the contact hole, and a method for its preparation. DOLLAR A according to the invention is formed, the word line with a vertical side wall at which the second spacer is formed and having a uniform width and / or with an end portion of the first spacer overlapping. DOLLAR A use in the flash memory semiconductor technology.


This study intends to test the influence of accrual earnings management and real earnings management on firm's performance and test the effect of ownership structure in moderating the correlation between accrual earnings management and real earnings management with firm's performance. A firm that operates accrual or real earnings management apparently presumed to be likely carries out full reports of its well performance operation. Accrual earnings management estimated is with the use of discretionary accrual, while real earnings management measured by adding up the abnormal standardized variables CFO (R_CFO), abnormal production (R_Prod), and abnormal discretionary expense (R_DiscExp). The ownership structure is divided as concentrated ownership structure and spread ownership structure. The sample is non-financial public companies registered at BEI. The number of sample is 118 corporate for 4 years period (2004-2007) This study demonstrates evidence that accrual earnings management does not affect the firm's performance while real earnings management is affect the firm's performance. The ownership structure does not affect the correlation between accrual earnings management and firm's performance, but the ownership structure affecting the correlation between real earnings management and firm's performance.


Abstract : The Naval Oceanographic and Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NOARL) Remote sensing Branch is selecting and processing Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR) data to support the science objectives of the Office of Naval Research Arctic Leads Accelerated Research Initiative (Arctic Leads ARI). Imagery is selected using hard copy prints from the Navy/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrative (NOAA) Joint Ice Center. An attempt is made to select imagery so that most of the Arctic is covered every 3 days. Imagery from NOAA's Satellite Data Services Division is calibrated and mapped to a stereographic projection identical to that used for Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. The Arctic is covered in 2 grids of 1 km pixel size. Three years worth of imagery will be processed. At present, processing for 1989 is underway.


We have employed the nuclear magnetic resonance technique to study the little understood ''blue phase'' of the cholesteric liquid crystals—cholesteryl benzoate, cholesteryl methyl carbonate, cholesteryl ethyl carbonate, and cholesteryl laurate. The NMR spectra in the ordinary cholesteric phase has both structure and width; these features are reduced in the blue phase, where they resemble isotropic phase spectra. The presence of a NMR line wider than in the isotropic state, however, indicates the presence of long range orientational order and provides data which throw some light on the possible structure of the blue phase.


The need for an objective classification of the thermal regions of Sri Lanka is emphasised. A brief account of the thermal climate of Sri Lanka is given. Regionalization based on thermal factors has been attempted quantitatively using factor, cluster and discriminant analysis. Three groups of cluster have been selected and mapped. The results are interpreted and related to the known thermal patterns of Sri Lanka.


Koji Kondo's "Super Mario Bros." Soundtrack Andrew Schartmann New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. Foreword, preface, acknowledgments, introduction, and notes. 208 pp. $10.75 paper. ISBN: 978162898532Sound Play: Video Games and the Musical Imagination William Cheng New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2014. Acknowledgments, foreword, notes, and index. 262 pp. $26.95 paper. ISBN: 9780199969968Game audio has always been an integral part of game play, first attracting players to place their quarters into the coin slots of early arcade games and later not only providing important game play feedback but also creating immersive environments for gaming at home. We have, however, begun the serious academic study of game audio only during the last decade or so. Andrew Schartmann's and William Cheng's new books make varied and welcome entries into this bourgeoning field.Andrew Schartmann, currently finishing a doctorate in music theory at Yale University, provides his engaging and wellwritten book as he continues to examine early game audio. In Koji Kondos "Super Mario Bros." Soundtrack, he offers a complete analysis of the 1985 Super Mario Bros. soundtrack. The first section of the book, "Contexts," begins with a brief discussion of the game industry in the 1970s and 1980s leading up to the release of Super Mario Bros. (SMB). Here, Schartmann emphases how SMB and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) were poised to have a major impact in the game scene. After an equally short discussion of how the NES produced audio and Koji Kondo's compositional style, Schartmann then turns his attention to the music and sounds of the game.In the second, longer portion of the book, "Music" Schartmann thoroughly analyzes-both musically and contextually-each track of game music and the sound effects as a part of the game play. Schartmann often compares the musical themes of SMB with other classical pieces in similar styles. Although his writing can be enjoyed by anyone, Schartmann's concise focus on the SMB game soundtrack and the NES audio methods make it particularly accessible to those who are not necessarily experts in the field-but rather lovers of the iconic game and its audio. Perhaps the most distinguished discussion in the book addresses the sound effects and their function in the game, to which Schartmann gives brilliant contemplation. Particularly intriguing here is his question about the flagpole slide at the end of the level. Schartmann asks, "Why does the sound rise as Mario slides down" (p. 105)?Although Schartmann's direct style makes the book a quick read, he could have strengthened it. Online links to audio samples might have served most readers better than the western musical notation he provides. Although his target audience often seems to be anyone who loves SMB, Schartmann at times lapses into musical theory jargon beyond the average musicand Mario-loving reader with whom he seems most interested in connecting. Still, the concise nature of Schartmann's focus on the sounds in SMB and his clear writing make this an excellent read for any lover of this classic NES game. …


In today's world of rapid information sharing, multiple communication platforms, data sources, and an unending stream of opinions and commentary are the norm. In this increasingly interconnected world there is a tendency to blur the critical distinction between opinion and fact and to consider that all opinions are created equally and are of equal weight. Add to this an increased noise level around most subjects and a general lack of scientific discourse around technical topics and the end result has been an increased lack of acceptance or understanding of expert, fact-based opinions. This presents a challenge during the outreach efforts of the spill response community in that a number of potential stakeholders, often with less experience, may have developed their own "expert attitude" with respect to spill response tools and their use.
 In spill response, this growing trend of questioning established knowledge or expert opinion presents a unique challenge as timely decision making is critical towards mounting a successful response.
 Spill incidents are complex and usually consist of evolving scenarios, where scientifically-sound decisions are to be made against the wider context of operational considerations and ecological, socio-economic and cultural sensitivities. Often these nuances are missed or unknown to the general public and established practices and proven operational principles may be disregarded in the presence of other, potentially less rigorous or fact-based information that is easily found via social media channels and/or through the opinions and beliefs of less informed laypersons. It is difficult to ensure that a scientifically-sound message is getting through these multiple inputs of unfiltered data and this has the potential to negatively influence response decision making or, in the worst cases, hinder the successful use of all tools in the response toolbox.
 In the following paper, the authors examine spill response advocacy efforts aimed at promoting scientifically-sound response decision-making by various oil spill industry stakeholders since the Deepwater Horizon incident. While reviewing the lessons learned from these efforts, the authors will closely examine the heightened public awareness and engagement through social media channels and how it influences stakeholder risk perception of oil spills and various response options. The paper will assess the emerging challenges towards stakeholder engagement in relation to the oil spill response community and make recommendations for the future on scientific discourse, outreach and communication and potential effects on response decision making in a social media obsessed world.


The upper half of the oracle character "yan"(言)is the figure of the tongue,and lower part of it is the figure of "mouth"(口).The basic meaning of "yan" is "speech".During the Yin and Shang period,"yan" is a specific festival name,and the "yan"(言),"gao"(告)and "she"(舌),which is different festival,can be seen as the beginning of early style.The kings' decretals in Shang Shu are called "yan"(言).There are many argumentative discourses in Shang Shu,the main components of which are reflected in the kings' decretal-style conversation("yan")(言).Some quotes in Shang Shu are aphoristic sentence,which are concise,brief and argumentative.


The 1.88‐km‐diameter Lonar crater emplaced in the Deccan basalt is an excellent terrestrial analog of bowl‐shaped impact craters on Mars. It contains a pristine ejecta blanket with abundant basalt boulders. We measured the density, porosity, P and S wave velocities and attenuation, magnetic susceptibility, uniaxial compressive strength, and tensile strength of 313 core specimens from 65 basalt ejecta boulders. Using these values, we quantified the gross physical properties of preimpact target and applied them in the cratering equations and estimated the spall plate dimensions and ejection distances. The impact of 35‐m‐radius projectile with 20 km/s velocity on the basaltic target with 77.2‐MPa dynamic tensile strength, 4,163 m/s P wave velocity, and 2.56 g/cm3 density gives a spall thickness range (0.2 to 9.7 m) similar to the observed boulder sizes at Lonar crater. Because aqueous weathering and vesicularity are present in the target, the Lonar impact produced smaller spall sizes than those expected from a massive basalt target. We also measured the ejecta boulder sizes and shapes around a fresh impact crater (of similar size and target to Lonar) in Arcadia Planitia on Mars and calculated the spall thicknesses. The low‐velocity impact (5.5 km/s) of 50‐m‐radius projectile on the target similar to Lonar basalt gives a spall thickness range (1 to 25 m) similar to the observed boulder sizes at the Martian impact crater. The impact craters of similar sizes and targets on Earth and Mars produced different spall boulder size distributions reflecting the distinct impact conditions on these planets.


A cross sectional survey of Block Ganderbal to examine 544 pregnant and 100 non-pregnant women was conducted from 12 randomly selected villages. Overall 43.01% of pregnant women. Average hemoglobin level among pregnant women was 10.19 +/- 1.5 gms % with a range of 6.5 gms to 13.2 gms%. Incidence of anemia was seen to increase with increase in parity. Haemoglobin level was seen to decline with the advance of gestational age and higher hemoglobin values were observed among women taking iron and folic acid supplements than those not consuming the same.


The onset of neoliberal capitalism has endowed the concept of "peripherality" with significant relevance for literary scholars investigating the dynamic interaction between aesthetic structures and the consequences of evolving socio-economic and political


Investigating the import demand function has particular importance in identifying the macroeconomic models and effectiveness and commercial efficiencies of the Iranian economy. For this reason, one of the major issues that can be addressed in the field of importing goods is the estimation of import demand function and investigating impacting factors on imports. Therefore, in this paper, throughout using seasonal data for the period 1992-2017 and applying the almost ideal demand system (AIDS) and using seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) econometric technique, we have estimated import price and income elasticities for five commodity groups based on one-digit tariffs code for the Iranian economy. The empirical results indicated that the import allocation pattern is single-stage and depends on the domestic sales. Also, the own-price elasticities had a negative sign which supports import behavior. Cross-price elasticities also showed a poor complementarity between the Other portable and metal commodities and, Social & personal services and Financial & business Services, domestic sales with Agricultural, forestry & fishing products, Other portable & metal commodities and Financial & business Services groups. The expenditure elasticities in five commodity groups were significant, except the first group, which implying effectiveness of demand for each commodity groups relative to income.


Observations of the interstellar medium (ISM) and molecular clouds suggest these astrophysical flows are strongly turbulent. The main observational evidence for turbulence is the power-law energy spectrum for velocity fluctuations, E(k) ∝ kα, with α ∈ [ − 1.5, − 2.6]. The Kolmogorov scaling exponent, α = −5/3, is typical. At the same time, the observed probability distribution function (PDF) of gas densities in both the ISM as well as in molecular clouds is a log-normal distribution, which is similar to the initial mass function (IMF) that describes the distribution of stellar masses. In this paper we examine the density and velocity structure of interstellar gas traversed by curved shock waves in the kinematic limit. We demonstrate mathematically that just a few passages of curved shock waves generically produces a log-normal density PDF. This explains the ubiquity of the log-normal PDF in many different numerical simulations. We also show that subsequent interaction with a spherical blast wave generates a power-law density distribution at high densities, qualitatively similar to the Salpeter power law for the IMF. Finally, we show that a focused shock produces a downstream flow with energy spectrum exponent α = −2. Subsequent shock passages reduce this slope, achieving α ≈ −5/3 after a few passages. We argue that subsequent dissipation of energy piled up at the small scales will act to maintain the spectrum very near to the Kolomogorov value despite the action of further shocks that would tend to reduce it. These results suggest that fully developed turbulence may not be required to explain the observed energy spectrum and density PDF. On the basis of these mathematical results, we argue that the self-similar spherical blast wave arising from expanding H ii regions or stellar winds from massive stars may ultimately be responsible for creating the high-mass, power-law, Salpeter-like tail on an otherwise a log-normal density PDF for gas in star-forming regions. The IMF arises from the gravitational collapse of sufficiently overdense regions within this PDF. Thus, the composite nature of the IMF—a log-normal plus power-law distribution—is shown to be a natural consequence of shock interaction and feedback from the most massive stars that form in most regions of star formation in the galaxy.


The difficulties in understanding of Russian emphasis for the Chinese students are in its quantitative and qualitative expression, and in its mobility.


One of the crucial issues resulting from expanding liability risks is whether alternative compensation mechanisms, other than (liability) insurance might be better able to cover socalled uninsured risks. Generally it is held in the literature that the issues that threaten the insurability of (liability) insurance today (uncertainty concerning probability and damage, causal uncertainty, retroactivity issues) would also affect other compensation mechanisms. Indeed, it is often held, for instance, that the general idea that no matter what type of compensation system one looks for it should always be organized in such a manner that the one who creates the risk should also bear the financial consequences, is an element which is crucial for every type of compensation mechanism. Hence, the question arises whether the reasons for uninsurability in traditional (liability) insurance could be removed if one would seek alternative compensation mechanisms. This question is warranted, especially after the Twin Towers incident of 11 September 2001 which indicated that catastrophes can occur that largely outweigh the capacity of traditional insurance undertakings. Therefore in this paper I will on the one hand analyse whether insurance compensation mechanisms other than traditional liability insurance would be better able to cover ''uninsurable'' risks under some circumstances. In addition, I would like to examine whether other financial arrangements (this is different from insurance) would be able to provide financial compensation if risks remained uninsured through the traditional insurance markets. In that respect the question obviously arises why other compensation mechanisms would be better able to cover those particular risks than insurance. In this paper I will look at some of these alternative mechanisms, not only from an insurance theoretical point of view, but also by looking at some actual compensation mechanisms which have been used in practice. Indeed, for many risks such as highly technological risks, nuclear risks and other so-called ''systemic risks'' industrial operators themselves have already moved away from traditional liability insurance and have searched alternative financial mechanisms to cope with the risks to which they are exposed.


40 years of emphasis on highways and airports brought huge benefits to the USA's transport systems. However, the limitations of this approach are now becoming evident. As traffic congestion rose, American transport leaders began to seek alternatives emphasising intermodal solutions in the mid-1980s. Since then, railways have begun to revive, and a global high-speed intermodal system is emerging. The 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) was a fundamental departure from traditional US transport policy. This paper describes its content, advantages, and impact. Federal Government funding was concentrated on a new National Highway System, including additional intermodal links to ports, airports, and rail terminals. The private sector is increasingly funding transport infrastructure. Five high-speed rail corridors also became eligible for support. ISTEA's next version should support new intermodal links and services, and solve the level crossing problem. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 898044.


It was only in 1949 that I had my first rather indirect encounter with Sir Chintaman. On giving a talk on the Baroda Station of the All India Radio on the 1949 devaluation, I was rather embarrassed by the experience— and had gone through my script rather hurriedly with much time to spare. I had hoped that no one whom I knew had listened to this rather obscure station. But Deshmukh had; and he was gracious enough to have it conveyed to me that he had liked the talk. Such generous encouragement to a youngster was admirable. But what can one say about his finding time, in the midst of his numerous preoccupations, to study the programmes of all stations of the All India Radio.


Surgery of gunshot wounds of the hand is one of the branches of military-field surgery with its inherent strategic, tactical and methodological peculiarities. It is generally accepted that all wounds to the hand should be singled out as a special category of patients subjected to compulsory delivery to the stage of specialized care. This is determined by two circumstances: predominantly severe pathology in gunshot wounds of hand, the most complex organ in anatomical and functional respect, and possibility of providing complete assistance only by an experienced, properly trained surgeon, who knows the operative methods of restoration of damaged structures.


Members of small groups often disagree when making decisions. Therefore, they need to negotiate to reach a joint decision. Small group negotiations will often be difficult because group members approach the task with different motivational orientations, some members being individualistic (i.e., focusing only on their own interests) and others being more cooperative (i.e., focusing both on their own interests and those of the group as a whole). Examining 3-person groups in simulated negotiations, it was found that the differences in group members' motivational orientations affected both (a) how resources were distributed within the groups (individualistic members exploited cooperative members and got the lion's share of the resources, even when the cooperators were in a majority) and (b) how fairness was perceived across group compositions (members of groups with only cooperative members perceived the negotiations to be more fair than did members of groups that had one or more individualistic members).


Abstract : A literature review has been conducted on the infrared spectra of simple inorganic compounds in the 500-33/cm region, including most of the information available through mid-1968. This review has been limited to the simple anion and metal-anion vibrations and does not include the metal complexes. Some experimental work has been included to provide examples of some of the effects. The observed vibrations of the various inorganic compounds in the 500-33/cm region are tabulated. (Author)


Background:
 Multiple myeloma (MM) is a common global hematologic malignancy, contributing to substantial morbidity and mortality amongst diagnosed patients. Novel agents - bortezomib (Btz) and lenalidomide (Len) have changed dramatically over the past 20 years and have contributed to improvements in survival and long term outcomes for MM patients. Research has shown that there are differences in how MM is treated globally. We sought to evaluate the differences in outcomes and therapies received amongst patients treated in Alberta (AB), Canada, and in the United States (USA).
 Methods:
 Adult patients with multiple myeloma over the age of 65, diagnosed between 2007 and 2013, were identified. Data sources used for AB was the CA National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), Discharge Abstracts Database (DAD), and CT records from AB Health Services. For the USA we used the SEER-Medicare database; MM diagnosis was extracted using a previously published algorithm. We extracted demographic data, novel agent utilization in the first year, comorbidities, and survival. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to determine survival.
 Results:
 Patients meeting study criteria included 4,330 MM patients in the USA and 793 patients with MM in AB. The median age at diagnosis in the USA and AB was 76.6 and 75 years, respectively. Median Charlson Comorbidity index in the USA and AB was 1, and 0, respectively. With respect to frontline therapies, both AB and USA had increasing utilization of Btz and Len from 2007-2013 (Figure), with Btz use more common in AB, while Len use was more common in the US. The proportion of all patients who did not receive any therapy in the first year of diagnosis fell dramatically from 2007 to 2013 in both AB (from 86% to 25%) and the USA (from 56% to 40%). Receipt of autologous stem cell transplant was uncommon in this older cohort, in only 3.2% of MM patients in AB and 4% of patients in the US. Similar proportions of patients in the USA and AB received radiotherapy in the first year (19% US, 25% AB). Median overall survival was improved in AB at 2.8 years, (95% CI 2.6-3.2 yrs), compared with the USA, 2.2 yrs (95% CI 2.1 - 2.30, as was 5 year survival - 30% in the USA, compared with 34% in AB.
 Conclusions:
 In this cross-country comparison of MM patients in the USA and AB both treated in a single-payer health care system - AB Health Services and Medicare - novel agents are a common treatment in the first year of diagnosis. We demonstrate similar uptake of novel agents Btz and Len over 2007-2013, however, Btz utilization was higher in AB from 2011-2013, while Len was more often used in the USA from 2011-2013. Median overall survival was better in AB (2.8 years) compared with USA (2.3 years), as was long term survival at 5 years. The differences in utilization of therapy and survival are possibly related to variability in healthcare delivery systems, burden of comorbidities in these populations, and approval of anti-MM therapy over time, and require further study to better understand reasons for differential outcomes.
 Figure

 Cowan: Sanofi: Consultancy; Cellectar: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding; Abbvie: Research Funding. Ramsey:AstraZeneca: Other: Personal Fees.


This study is designed to identify what makes the domestic exporting companies choose either a documentary-based payment method or an electronic payment system in international trade. To draw conclusions, the decision factors of domestic exporting companies for these two methods were examined to materialize the abstract concept of the study and to supplement weakness in the philological studies. The results of empirical analysis based on the study model and the hypothesis are summarized as follows. First, the types of exporting transactions show a statistically significant influence on the companies' decision of payment methods. This result of statistics is largely similar to the results of previous research. Second, centering on the relative importance of export for the past three years, it is evaluated how the relative importance of export influences either on the awareness of credit risk or on the awareness of political risk As a result, it turns out that the higher relative importance of export, the higher awareness levels of credit risk and political risk it shows. Third, after analyzing variables by types of electronic payment system, it is found that the preference for the traditional payment system due to the lack of understanding on the new payment system becomes the biggest obstacle to utilize the electronic payment system. Fourth, the exporting companies regard cost reduction as one of the most important factors in deciding a payment method in trading business, and that will eventually encourage them to favor the electronic payment system over the conventional method.


In the three gorges reservoir area of the secondary river regulation process involved in most part of the project,the mountainous terrain,because there are secondary river during the storm floods,therefore the possibility of river course in the engineering design process,must pay attention to the study of flood control,to ensure the safety of the basin after project implementation.But now the design process is not seen in reservoir area of the secondary river basin of flood control system research,analysis and design method is also diversified,lack of standardization and unity.Based on the comprehensive control of Chongqing Liang tan river flood in the process of the project are analyzed,and the system of engineering examples,put forward the method and system for flood control analysis for the secondary streams in the process of river course flood control analysis provides a reference material,has certain theoretical and practical value.


The invention discloses a multifunctional solar automobile luggage frame which comprises a fixing frame installed at an automobile roof. Multiple layers of chutes are formed in the fixing frame. Supporting boards are fixed in the chutes on the middle layer in the fixing frame. Solar panels are installed in the chutes on the lower layer in a sliding manner. The two ends of each solar panel are installed in the corresponding chutes through pulleys. The solar panels are obliquely arranged in the chutes. A storage battery connected with the solar panels is installed in a protective shell at one end of the fixing frame. By the adoption of the multifunctional solar automobile luggage frame, solar energy is converted into electric energy, and the electric energy is stored in the storage battery together, power is supplied to an air conditioner of an automobile, power can be supplied to the air conditioner when the automobile is not started, the automobile is ventilated, the temperature in the automobile is effectively reduced, energy is saved, environment friendliness is achieved, no fuel or power is consumed, exhaust gas emission is reduced as well, and urban air is purified. Meanwhile, electric energy generated by solar energy is used for supplying power to spot lamps on the automobile, the spot lamps are turned on through electric energy, and traffic accidents are avoided.


Despite the well established correlation between hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease (CAD), a substantial body of evidence challenge this relationship. The study aimed to examine whether hyperlipidemia per se constitutes the principal risk factor for atherosclerosis or just a coordinator to other critical mediators. Hyperlipidemia was produced by feeding rats with high-fat diet for two months. The occurrence of hyperlipidemia was determined by measuring lipid profile. The hyperlipidemic rats were subdivided into two groups i) hyperlipidemic rats ii) hyperlipidemic rats injected with single dose of Escherichia coli (E. Coli) (and kept for two weeks to develop bacteremia and its subsequent effects. Result showed that hyperlipidemia significantly increased total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and homocysteine levels, whereas decreased high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) levels. Moreover, hyperlipidemia induced mild oxidative stress in terms of elevated levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) and decreased level of reduced glutathione (GSH) in blood. In addition, hyperlipidemic rats exhibited high plasma viscosity, altered hematological indices and caused histological abnormalities manifested as perivascular hemorrhage, vacuolation of the tunica media and minor thickening in aorta wall. Bacteremia provoked inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress, elevated plasma homocysteine and caused noticeable considerable thickening of media-intema layer suggesting the commencement of atherosclerosis. Hyperlipidemic-bacteremic rats showed an additive effect. The study indicated that although hyperlipidemia is an apparent risk factor, homocysteinmia, the inflammatory component and the oxidative stress emerge to be the underlying mechanisms of atherosclerosis pathogenesis. (Nature and Science 2010;8(5):144-151). (ISSN: 1545-0740).


Consumption structure is an important way used to measure the living standard and quality of the residents.The peasants of Henan Province quite pay attention to the education of their offspring and their own quality.What those who have got rich seek after rises and the consumption structure of them including such respects as culture,education,domestic electrical appliances,traffic,housings,tours,etc will gradually increase.It is necessary for the government to make the corresponding polices for encouraging such consumptions.


A compliance model is developed and tested using a survey of corporate officials and the regulatory arena of equal employment opportunity. Findings support the economic model of compliance in its conclusion that probability of detection and probable level of sanctions influence compliance decisions. Results also indicate that adjustments to the model that account for bounded rationality are valid. The key outcome, however, is that although all types of investigations play some role in enhancing compliance, those that stress sanctions and thus severity rather than certainty of detection may have the greatest positive influence on compliance. Enforcement programs attempting to operate simply as investigators of small-scale complaints will have less success than those with different types of investigations or a balanced type of single investigation. The results also suggest a more complex cognitive process on the part of regulated individuals than initially theorized.


Abstract Theories of brain-behavior relationships have been proposed for more than a century, and they recently have progressed to a point of both heuristic and clinical value. Assessment procedures in clinical neuropsychology are quite variable among practioners. In this paper, criteria have been identified that should be met in clinical evaluation of brain-behavior relationships. Finally, there is a review of an approach to brain retraining that is integrated with both theory and clinical assessment, with assessment procedures stemming from theoretical considerations and also providing a basis for prescribing a brain retraining program.


The image display device facilitates the setting channel is disclosed. The channel set is easy to image display apparatus, image and sound by selecting a broadcast signal tuner, and processes the broadcast signal or an external signal selected by the external signal input unit, a tuner or an external signal input unit for receiving an external signal to a display and a speaker a preference value for the signal processor, and a tuner, and an external signal input, and a signal processor for restoring stores sequentially, based on any one of the application state transition in response to the signal stored configuration in which the values from the exterior before and the since the preference values, and a control unit for applying to the tuner, the at least one of the external signal input unit and the signal processing is stored in the controller is configured to select the previous or subsequent in sequence for the preference values stored by the state transition signal do. According to such a display device, the viewer when the viewer desires to view again the channel once, by using a remote control device or a key set need not be a separate image set and an audio set.


The paper deals with the study of species composition and small mammals population structure of «Malaya Sosva» (Little Sosva) state nature reserve, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, Russia. The research was conducted within the last ten days of June, 2019 on the Malaya Sosva River flood plain (Shukhtungort ranger station neighborhood, northern taiga). The animals were registered in typical biotopes of the research area: a herb-oxalis pinery, a lingonberry-lidum pinery, a lingonberry-pleurocarpous moss pinery, a herb-oxalis spruce forest, a herb-woodreed pinery, on the skirts of a mixed forest around the ranger station on the border of a mowed secondary meadow. In the course of investigation, the following five species of small rodents and insectivores were registered: Myodes rutilus , Myodes rufocanus , Sorex caecutiens , Talpa europaea , Pteromys volans . M. rutilus was an absolute dominant species in terms of numbers in the majority of the studied biotopes. S. caecutiens is co-dominating in the herb-oxalis pinery and herb-oxalis spruce forest, and M. rufocanus is co-dominating in the lingonberry-lidum pinery. In the herb-woodreed pinery, only individuals of S. caecutiens species were caught in a pitfall trap. Communities of small mammals in different types of habitats show low values of species diversity and sustainability due to harsh natural-climatic conditions of the region. A small mammals community of mature herb-oxalis pinery on the bank of Svyatoy Sor Lake, where the protected species, Pteromys volans, was registered, shows the highest values of abundance of small mammals and a maximum level of overall welfare index. It suggests that the habitat under study should be studied further and protected.


Production of cucurbits is often severely limited by virus diseases which cause serious economical losses. The use of virus-resistant cucurbit varieties is one of the most effective and economical method for the prevention of virus disease. However, suitable resistant gene(s) and molecular markers, which are difficult to obtain, are required for the breeding of virus-resistant varieties. Previously, the TVI4204 wax gourd line has been shown to be highly resistant to common RNA viruses by Dr. Deng and colleagues in Taiwan Arigultural Research Institute. A distinct protein highly expressed in the virus-resistant line was identified in our laboratory to be a 14-3-3 family protein through two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and LC/MS/MS analysis. The 14-3-3 family contains important regulatory proteins for cell metabolism which maybe have important function in virus resistance. Therefore, the objectives of the current study are to clone and characterize the wax gourd 14-3-3 genes, and to test whether the 14-3-3 protein can serve as a molecular marker for disease-resistance breeding programs. To confirm the the effect of 14-3-3 family protein on symptom expression in wax gourds, leaf samples were collected from side-grafted resistant and susceptible wax grourds and analyzed by 2-DE. The results showed that the expression of 14-3-3 family protein in leaves proximal to the side-grafting point in susceptible variety was increased, compared to that in the distal positions, resulting in attenuated symptom. Therefore, further cloning and characterization of 14-3-3 family genes were performed. Currently, two isoforms of the 14-3-3 gene family have been cloned from resistant and susceptible varieties of wax gourds. Sequence analyses revealed that the 14-3-3 isoforms share high similarity. Specific antiserum was therefore raised against the bacterially expressed 14-3-3 protein. The higher expression level of 14-3-3 protein was revealed in virus-resistant waxgourds than that in the susceptible ones, using western blot analysis with the above antiserum. The results suggested that the 14-3-3 family proteins, together with the specific antiserum, possess high potential to serve as molecular markers and analysis tools in future breeding programs and researches for virus-resistance in cucurbits.


This paper is a critique of China's nationalism campaign. After the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, the Chinese communists found its ruling legitimacy in jeopardy. As Western journalists and scholars noticed, "Chinese leaders consciously cultivated nationalism as a new glue to unite the country." (Kristof, 2001) Unger (1996) remarked that Chinese communists are disguising itself as a guard for China's national interest, and nationalism is of practical value in its quest for new sources of ruling legitimacy. It is not uncommon for nations in transition to resort to nationalism to divert the domestic dissatisfaction from the government to foreigners. However, as China is a country with serious separatist issues, such emphasis on nationalism in the public domain will have a double-edged effect. Meanwhile, China's relatively rational diplomacy will look like cowardice in the context of a media campaign for nationalism and thus in the long run will hurt the legitimacy of the government instead of strengthening it. At the end of the analysis, the author suggests a more cultural-based nationalism campaign.


Network booting is widely used today, mostly for thin-client computing, cluster computing, and operating system installation. Popular protocols like trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) are used to download operating system images. Network booting clients simultaneously downloading from a single server create a bottleneck at the server's link once the link capacity has been maximized. The result is a slowdown in the download time and the overall boot process. Several P2P network booting solutions exist, but they are implemented on top of a running operating system. In this paper, we propose a distributed downloading scheme at the network bootloader level using a BitTorrent-like protocol for network booting clients. We discuss the implementation of a new download protocol for iPXE, an open-source network bootloader, and evaluate the performance of TFTP, HTTP, and the proposed BitTorrent-like protocol by measuring their download times over varying file sizes and number of nodes. On 20 clients, simultaneously downloading a 500 MiB file using the proposed protocol resulted to a decrease in average download time of 51.6% compared to TFTP and 46.6% compared to HTTP.


IV. " The Har Dalam Cavern, Malta, and its Fossiliferous Contents." By John H. Cooke, F.G.S. With a Report on the Organic Remains, by Arthur Smith Woodward, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.Z.S. Communicated by Henry Woodward, LL.D., F. R. S., Y.P.G.S. Received February 2, 1893.


et al. are correct that in any past or future cohort study confounding influences abound and the specific effect of anesthetic agents will remain very hard to discern. Fortuitously in many pediatric centers there are two established anesthesia techniques for infant hernia surgery: general anesthesia and awake regional anesthesia. Comparing outcome after regional and general anesthesia may be feasible in a large cohort study, or twin registries may be used (as a Scandinavian group are now doing); however, we believe that the choice between technique is sufficiently close to equipoise that a randomized trial is feasible, of no greater difficulty than a cohort study and will provide far stronger evidence than any cohort study. Such a trial has recently commenced. Several hundred infants will be enrolled in hospitals across UK, Australia, North America, and New Zealand. They will be randomized to general anesthesia or awake regional anesthesia and followed for 5 yr. With further animal data and cohort data, we believe this trial will be crucial in addressing the safety of general anesthesia in neonates.


Radio astronomy is the observation of celestial bodies by measuring their emission of radio waves. Because of the much larger wavelength than visible light, and as a consequence of the very low power of celestial sources, this observation is based on the use of large antennas (paraboloids of tens of meters in diameter) combined to form an array (sometimes several hundred miles of aperture). In order to increase the effective size of the array and to make the acquisition of celestial images faster, these systems are based on the analysis of the correlation between the received signals. To maximize the performance of the array of antennas by reducing redundancy, the cost and complexity, the design of arrays for radio astronomy is based on the selection of the optimal positions of the radiating elements. In this context, the ELEDIA group has developed analytical design methodologies based on Almost Difference Sets which can guarantee a-priori performances in terms of redundancy and radiating characteristics of the resulting array design and an extremely reduced design time even in the case of large arrays. However, the main limitation of these methodologies is related to the fact that they provide only sub-optimal performance, which consequently require a refinement in the process of design. Moreover, ADSs do not allow the choice of arbitrary geometries, thus constraining the design to certain configurations.
One possible solution to these limitations is the use of global optimization tools, such as Genetic Algorithms, in conjunction with the ADSs in order to improve the performance of ADS-based arrays in a few iterations (thus avoiding the typical problems of global optimization algorithms when problems to deal with have very high search spaces). The purpose of the activity is therefore to develop and analyze a design methodology for arrays for radio astronomy based hybrid GA, which includes the use of ADSs in the case of planar geometry and to evaluate advantages and limitations in terms of Peak Sidelobe Level, coverage of baselines, and spatial resolution.


Abstract Lithia water, a community resource of local historical significance, is described as a central theme in the undergraduate analytical chemistry sequence. A statistical comparison of the classical determination of major cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+) and anions (HCO3 −, Cl−) reinforces statistical and charge‐balance concepts covered in analytical chemistry. Subsequent determination of these major cations by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) enables students to statistically evaluate the presence of bias between instrumental and classical methods. The effect of easily ionized elements on ICP calibration sensitivity and linearity via the use of cesium as an ionization suppressor is reported.


A comprehensive review of the chemistry and radiochemistry of cesium is presented. Dissolution of samples containing cesium is discussed, and analytical methods, counting techniques, snd radiochemical procedures are presented. Applications of cesium radioisotopes are discussed briefly. (D.L.C.)


A new process of bayonet CNC super machining is given in this article, and the detailed NC program and customer's macro program are presented . One simple and practical method of extension design of set-up function of CNC machining system is introduced.


Objective To observe the efficacy of thalidomide combined with chemotherapy in the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer( NSCLC) and its influence on vascular endothelial growth factor( VEGF),basic fibroblast growth factor( bFGF) and tumor necrosis factor-α( TNF-α). Methods A total of 87 patients with advanced NSCLC were enrolled and randomly divided into observational group( 45 cases) and control group( 42 cases). Patients in control group received NP regimen while patients in observational group received thalidomide + NP regimen. The clinical efficacy and the changes of the levels of VEGF,bFGF and TNF-αwere observed. Results Clinical benefit rate( CBR) of observational group was significantly higher than control group( P 0. 01). Compared with treatment before,the levels of VEGF in 2 groups decreased significantly( P 0. 05) and the levels of bFGF in observational group reduced obviously( P 0. 05) but there was no significant difference between treatment before and after treatment( P 0. 05). The level of TNF-αafter treatment in 2groups was obviously lower than treatment before( P 0. 05,or P 0. 01) and observational group was significantly lower than control group( P 0. 05). Conclusion Thalidomide combined with chemotherapy can reduce the level of VEGF,bFGF and TNF-α in the treatment of advanced NSCLC.


M ore than a decade ago, Guy McKhann, MD, and Richard T. Johnson, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes and colleagues, including Arthur K. Asbury of the University of Pennsylvania, set out to solve a neurological puzzle: Why were many children in rural parts of China becoming paralyzed during the summer months? On closer inspection, it turned out that the children had the Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune peripheral neuropathy. After spending months in China, the investigators identified the culprit: Campylobacter infection. Now, they have just completed a study of children at two hospitals in different regions of Mexico, and found that this pesky organism is also triggering the acute paralytic disease there.


The article aims to analyze the ways in which personal development is used as a tool to manage social justice issues, domestic violence cases and other forms of structural inequality. In most works in the social sciences, self-help discourse has been criticized for reiterating the individualizing neoliberal discourse that leads to growing social inequalities, along with blaming the most vulnerable for their own fate. However, personal development as a practice has been used by organizations working at community level to address personal issues caused by social inequalities. The analysis aims to present the intertwining of global ideological and political plans at the individual level through non-governmental organizations, their projects and personal development courses. The research consisted in the analysis of the activities and projects of the organizations that are part of the Network for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women (VIF) and the ethnography data of personal development practices in Romania from a previous research.


Photochromic molecules have been recently adopted by many researchers for organic field-effect transistor (OFET) applications, since they offer the opportunity to achieve flexible-type ultraviolet (UV) light sensors with the advantages of organic material-based solution processes. Here, we present the novel usage of an azobenzene derivative in the gate dielectric layer of an OFET for highly sensitive and reliable UV sensing applications. Owing to the large change of capacitance caused by the reversible photoisomerization of azobenzene, the OFET device can modulate efficiently the current signal under UV and visible light. We found that the on-current was greatly amplified upon UV light irradiation with good photoresponsivity and photocurrent ratio and then fully returned to the initial state under visible light. In addition, the device shows a strongly linear relationship with the UV radiation intensity and repetitive on–off response in real-time UV sensing tests, thus being potentially applied in highly ...


Oral frailty (OF), gradual loss of oral function combined associated with presbyphagia often in conjunction with cognitive and physical decline, has been recommended to be considered as a geriatric giant. DENTAL has been suggested as a possible screening tool for OF. We have looked at the prevalence of OF and its association with dysphagia, frailty and formal care, amongst people admitted acutely to the acute medical/frailty wards in our hospital.

 OF, dysphagia and frailty were screened for as part of the routine clinical assessment of patients during the usual clinical ward round. Screening tools used were DENTAL for OF, Rockwood Score for frailty and 4QT for dysphagia. Age, sex comorbidities and the need for formal care was documented.

 101 people were assessed over a 4-week period. Mean age was 84 years (65-99), 58 (57.4%) were female, 31(30.7%) were independent, 33 (32.6%) dementia, 57 (56.4%) frail, 54 (53.4%) had swallowing problems, and 34 (33.6%) OF. Of those with OF 97% had dysphagia, 88% were frail and 85% required formal care support (85%). OF was associated with dysphagia (p<0.0001), frailty (p< 0.0001), formal care support (p<0.05) and dementia (p<0.05). There was an association between needing care and frailty (p<0.01).

 OF is associated with dysphagia, frailty and the need for formal care. OF may result in poor oral health and contribute to dysphagia and frailty, conversely frailty and dysphagia may result in poor oral health due to dependency and poor nutrition and dehydration. The associations are most likely be bidirectional. Further work is required to elucidate this. Clinical staff need to be aware of OF and oral health and include oral screening in their clinical assessment of an older adult.


ABSTRACT Background Adolescent health has become a priority on the global health agenda. Parent-adolescent communication regarding sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues can help to reduce adolescent risk-taking sexual behaviours. Objective This study was to describe the situation of SRH communication, and to determine the factors associated with SRH communication between high school students and their parents in Vientiane Capital prefecture, Lao PDR. Methods A multistage sampling technique was applied. A self-administered questionnaire was implemented among a sample of 384 high school students aged 14–17 in Vientiane. SRH communication in this study was recorded as the frequency with which adolescents discussed with their parents at least four topics on SRH issues during a six-month period prior to the interview. Data were entered and analysed using Epi Data software version 6.0 and STATA software version 14.2. Results Slightly more than one-fifth of the students (21.3%) communicated with parents on SRH issues. The multivariate logistic regression model showed that being a male adolescent (AOR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.2 to 3.5), urban school locations (AOR = 0.2; 95% CI 0.1 to 0.5), a mature father (AOR = 1.7; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.9), positive attitudes towards general communication with parents (AOR = 2.2; 95% CI 1.1 to 4.2) and accessibility to multiple SRH information sources (AOR = 5.2; 95% CI 2.4 to 11.4) were significantly associated with adolescent-parent communication on SRH issues. Conclusion This study showed that student-parent communication on SRH issues was low, so policymakers should develop programs to improve SRH communication skills in all schools and encourage open discussion among family members, especially with respect to the participation of adolescent girls. The positive attitudes of students and multiple sources of SRH information were also important factors in improving SRH communication.