The aim of this study was to focus specifically on the ethical challenges of social workers' practice their works in quarantine centers during corona pandemic. This study reports objective results for purposive sampling selected, (142) social workers in five governorates in the Gaza Strip-Palestine. After reviewing the literature, the researcher constructed a survey four question; two of which are open-ended while the other two are closed-ended. Social workers were recruited by e-mail in May 2020 after providing their consent. Results: The most important ethical challenges facing social workers in their work during the corona pandemic are: risk faced while moving in public transportations, poor prevention and safety measures for social workers such as sterilizers, masks and gloves. 67.6% of social workers responded that their institutions developed policy protocols to help them work safely during the Coved-19 while 75.4% of social workers responded that they had access to protection measures to make their communication safer with their clients. The most important way in which social workers were involved in their professional interventions with clients was: communicating with clients by phone or SMS, but also through social networks, or communicating directly with the need to observe social distancing.


The Analysis expresses, FDI extends development gap between western region and eastern region. Therefore, in order to increase western region absorb capacity for FDI and repress development gap, state should give preferential policies to foreign company include the eastern region's FDI enterprises that want to invest western region.


Modern FPGAs have multi-millions of gates and future generations of FPGA will be even more complex. This means floorplanning tools will soon be extremely important for the physical design of FPGAs. Due to the heterogeneous logic and routing resources on an FPGA, FPGA floorplanning is very different from the traditional floorplanning for ASICs. This work presents the first FPGA floorplanning algorithm targeted for FPGAs with heterogeneous resources (e.g., Xilinx's Spartan3 chips consisting of columns of CLBs, RAM blocks, and multiplier blocks). Our algorithm can generate floor-plans for Xilinx's XC3S5000 architecture (largest of the Spartan3 family) in a few minutes.


Abstract In this study, the relation between PAHs and organic carbon in fly ash from a municipal incinerator is investigated by regression models. It is shown that the relation exists for PAHs with a coefficient of correlation of 0.85 and the regression model obtained is as follows, Y = 0.81 IX ‐ 35.052. In addition, the relation between single PAH substance and organic carbon is also studied. The relation is confirmed for Acenaphthylene (AcPy), Fluoranthene (FL), Pyrene (Pyr), Benzo(a)anthracene + Chrysene (BaA + Chr), and Benzo(b)fluoranthene + Benzo(k)fluoranthene (B(b)FL + B(k)FL). The coefficients of correlation are in the range of 0.82 to 0.93.


ABSTRACT This study examined students' knowledge, perceptions, and capability to communicate about climate change before and after taking a graduate-level global climate change education course. The 15 students in this study, as typical of many environmental education students in the master's program, had diverse backgrounds, often with weak academic preparation in science. This course was not only designed to help these students understand climate change education, but also to review fundamental Earth, life, and physical science concepts. Students' knowledge of climate change increased significantly after completing the course. Students' perceptions about climate change became significantly more aligned to those of climate scientists. Students' postcourse questionnaires and science journals were analyzed for insights into the effectiveness of the curriculum and instructional approach of the course. Because these students will pursue informal and formal environmental education careers, this study has important implications for the communication of science, and climate change in particular, in the context of public environmental education and formal school settings.


D. "URING THE PAST half century we have striven for the acceptance of community responsibility for Jewish education. Our contention was based on two principles: (a) that the education of all children is the concern of all the people, and (b) that despite ideological and organizational differentiation in a pluralist society, there are common unities, common essentials, which are basic to all educational programs of our people. We have insisted on "unity in diversity" and have argued that ways must be found for the ideological groups to share with a transpartisan educational community agency in the maintenance and supervision of schools, and in developing extra-curricular inter-group activities. We have contended that while recognizing the values of ideological commitment to particular programs, there are many important educational needs, many lacunae in a changing mobile society, which cannot be filled by individual institutions or by specialized groups. We have pointed to the waste, the parsimony, the low standards and the denigrating intolerance, resulting from isolationist divisiveness. We have urged that the concept of the Jewish people, the belonging and the devotion to it,


and invisible forces. Now, I would like to suggest that the notion of "temporariness"—or the fact or condition of temporariness which is a central feature of the neo-liberal age especially for those who live in the "shadow of the world system"— this notion has an heuristic or hermeneutical dimension too. In Africa in particular, temporariness can be described as the encounter—a very reguJob Name: 568767 PDF Page: txt_568767.p191.pdf dianad Africa in Theory: A Conversation Between Jean Comaroff and Achille Mbembe 660 lar occurrence—with what we cannot yet determine because it has not yet become or will never be definite. It is an encounter with indeterminacy, provisionality, the fugitive, and the contingent. Temporariness is not simply an effect of life changing rapidly. It also derives from the fact that vast domains of human struggle and achievement are hardly the object of documentation, archiving, or empirical description—and even less so of satisfactory narrative or interpretive understanding. It has to do with the colossal amount of things we literally do not know. It is also—as shown in the best of current history and anthropology of African life forms—that uncertainty and turbulence, instability and unpredictability, rapid, chronic, and multidirectional shifts are the social and cultural forms taken, in many instances, by daily experience. Then there is the question of labor which, at least in the history of capitalism in South Africa, cannot be unlinked from the histories of race and of the body—especially the black body, the body that is at the same time a body and a commodity, but a body-commodity which enters in to the realm of capital under the paradoxical sign of the superfluous—superfluity [WORD?]. But what does the superfluous designate? In the history of race and capital in South Africa, the superfluous means, on the one hand, the valorization of black labor-power, and on the other hand, its dispensability—the dialectics of valuation and dissipation, indispensability and expendability. It seems to me that this dialectic has been radicalized in this neoliberal moment. The dialectics of expendability and indispensability have been radicalized in the sense that today many people are no longer indispensable specimens. Capitalism, in its present, form might need the territory they inhabit, their natural resources (diamonds, gold, platinum, diamonds, and so on), their forests, even their wildlife. But it doesn't need them as persons. Not long ago, the drama was to be exploited and the horizon of liberation consisted in freeing oneself from exploitation. Today, the tragedy is not to be exploited, but to be utterly deprived of the basic means to move, to partake of the general distribution of things and resources necessary to produce a semblance of life. The tragedy is to not be able to escape the traps of temporariness. Rethinking Africa is at once a political, an ethico-moral, and an intellectual project. But that's not all. As I have already said, it is also a complex, irritating, and exhilarating enterprise. It seems to me that part of the difficulty in rethinking Africa has to do on the one hand with the impact of, and the persistence of developmentalism and its corollary preJob Name: 568767 PDF Page: txt_568767.p192.pdf dianad 661 Moderated & Edited by JESSE WEAVER SHIPLEY sentism—two instrumental ways of viewing the world which we find not only in African state official discourses, discourses of international financial institutions, and discourses of NGOs, but also the discourses of those who oppose those policies and, of course, in the kinds of discourse on "relevance" that we hear repeatedly in South Africa. But more critically, it seems to me that the difficulty has to do with the crisis of language. The crisis of language—and I mean language here in the deepest philosophical sense—when it comes to matters African, it is almost as if our language is afflicted by a hole right at its center. Let 's call it the night of language, the sleep of language. When it comes to matters African, our language always seems to hollow out the experience it is called upon to represent and to bring to life. Until we resolve this crisis of our language, we won't be able to bring Africa back to life. In any case, writing the world from Africa, is how I understand the project of critique—to bring back to life that which is asleep, that which has been put to sleep; to bring back to life what is threatened over a long period of time by the forces of the night, the forces of death. And indeed, African history as a whole can be read from that vantage point. And when I say "African history," I include in it the history of African people, the dispersal of African people across our planet. So it seems to me that this is why we won't be able to rethink Africa without regenerating language itself, expanding the dictionary, confronting the question of the dictionary. And one way of expanding the dictionary, and it seems to me really this is part of what Jean and John Comaroff are doing, is to allow for as many forms of criticism as possible—prophetic, apocalyptic, pictorial, musical, poetic, oneiric. So what I'm saying is that multiple languages have to be brought to bear on the task of bringing Africa back to life in contemporary theorizing— awakening these sleeping bodies, in a kind of linguistic epiphany that would incite us to start asking different questions or even old ones anew, hearing something different, speaking in tongues, if you wish. Or in any case, in a language we never imagined we could ever practice. So I am calling for a kind of glossolalia—by which I do not simply mean a matter of stylistics, but a new, radical form of criticism that is required by the mere fact of our sharing this world; a world that is, as a matter of fact, a multiplicity of worlds and of interlaced boundaries. I have said that, for me, this is a political project. It's also an aesthetic project, because politics without aesthetics leads nowhere. Job Name: 568767 PDF Page: txt_568767.p193.pdf dianad Africa in Theory: A Conversation Between Jean Comaroff and Achille Mbembe 662 Now, two brief comments and I will stop. As Jesse Shipley has pointed out (this volume), a re-examination of Body of Power raises the question of how to frame "the neo-liberal moment." What is it that "the neo-liberal" allows us to think about? And what is it that it does not allow us to think? What it doesn't allow us to think is what I would call the concatenation of different ages of capital; the entanglement of different temporalities of capital, some of which, of course are neo-liberal, some others which reinforce the neo-liberal logics, some of which temper them, keep them in check, defeat them momentarily, if only to reappear somewhere else with vengeance. If we knock it down here, it reappears somewhere else. And the way in which you knock it down, in fact, only propels it in directions it itself didn't even envisage. I would for instance be reluctant to say that South Africa is entirely operating under the sign of neo-liberalism. Of course, there are aspects of it that are very much so. But at the same time, this is probably the last country in the world to experience the invention of the welfare state, and I am not simply referring to the 70-80 billion rands spent every year on social grants and all sorts of poverty alleviation programs. I have in mind the kinds of positions being examined at a very high level for institutionalizing, for instance, an entire social security system, but which are also not in contradiction with the rule of capital, as such. Then one has to factor in the simultaneity of this expansion of the welfare state on the one hand and, on the other,the fact that it is happening at a time of high social velocity. Rosalind Morris talks of speed on the roads. And we see that speed in almost all spheres of South African social life—this element of hyper-mobility is dramatically expressed through the emergence of a black middle class hungry to consume, willing to contract debt, to spend on housing, fridges, cars, and all the trappings of a highly consumerist society—an increasingly privatized society with a very raucous and even uncivil public sphere. And then one has to look into the contradictory political effects of welfare, consumption, and privation—which themselves are the result of the displacement of the sites of the political after years of resistance. So the political is no longer where it used to be. Welfare and consumption are, in any case, the two main technologies of social discipline, if not pacification, that the government is using after the years of mobilization to demobilize people—it doesn't want people to be protesting too much. And it seems to me that these are two technologies critical to the making and un-making of citizenship in South Africa today. Job Name: 568767 PDF Page: txt_568767.p194.pdf dianad 663 Moderated & Edited by JESSE WEAVER SHIPLEY Let me end by casting a quick eye on the rest of the continent for while South Africa belongs to it, it is not synonymous with the continent. The continent is larger than South Africa. Morris has invited us to take seriously the notion of "the accident." It seems to me that there is no accident without some form of collision, even collusion. I see three forms of collision/collusion happening in the continent. There is, first of all, the collision/collusion when privatization has to be carried out in an environment fundamentally characterized by privation and predation. I see a second collision/collusion when extraction goes hand in hand with abstraction in a process of mutual constitution. After all, the places where capital is most prosperous on the continent today are extractive enclaves, some of which are totally disconnected from the hinterland, in some no-where that is unaccountable to nobody. The third instance of collision/collusion comes in the form of a coalesce


This paper presents the design of dynamic surface control (DSC) with application to the biped walking with a variable step size. Under the assumption that the biped robot consists of five links connected by four rotating joints, a three-phase model including double support phase is used for the controller design. Once the DSC is applied to the biped robot model, piecewise augmented error dynamics with provable stability properties are derived in the form of a piecewise linear system subject to exogenous inputs. Based on the error dynamics, a convex optimization problem is formulated to estimate the ellipsoidal error bound to guarantee the piecewise quadratic tracking. Finally, the performance of DSC for the biped walking with a variable step size will be estimated by calculating a piecewise ellipsoidal error bound numerically and validated via simulation


A new algorithm is presented which provides estimates of impulse responses in arbitrary shaped rooms. It is applicable to any kind of room shape including nondiffuse spaces like workrooms or offices where, for instance, sound propagation curves are of interest. In the case of concert halls and opera houses it enables very fast predictions of room acoustical criteria like reverberation time, strength, or clarity. The algorithm is based on a conventional statistical ray tracing. However, a very low number of rays is used. During the ray tracing procedure, the distribution of free paths is recorded by considering the entire series of reflections per ray. Furthermore, the transition probabilities between free path classes and the absorption coefficients involved are stored. After the ray tracing, the free path distributions are evaluated by post‐processing to create echograms. They include receiver‐dependent direct sound and superposed exponential functions corresponding to classes of free paths. It is also p...


Folate receptors are over expressed in many types of cancers, including, ovarian, breast, and cervical. In our continuing efforts toward the development of targeted Type 1 phototherapeutic agents, an azide-based Type 1 photosensitizer and a pyrzine-based fluorophore that absorb and emits in the visible region, and a dual diagnostic-therapeutic probe consisting of the fluorophore and the photosensitizer were prepared and independently conjugated to two folate receptor specific vectors: γ-carboxyl-modified folic acid and anti-human FOLR1 (folate receptor-1) antibody In vitro receptor binding study showed that all the conjugates had high (ca 1-7 nM) affinity to the folate receptor. Confocal microscopy images indicated that the pyrazine conjugates were selectively taken up by the folate receptor expressing ovarian cancer KB cells.


Australian doctors need to be aware of this little‐known syndrome, which is a cause of sudden cardiac death. It is more common among Southeast Asian people, who make up a considerable proportion of our population. We report two cases which represent very different clinical presentations of this condition. (MJA 2000; 173: 415‐418)


Animals exploit time to survive in the world. Temporal information is required for higher-level cognitive abilities such as planning, decision making, communication and effective cooperation. Since time is an inseparable part of cognition, there is a growing interest in artificial intelligence to time, which has a possibility of advancing the field. This study aims to provide researchers with an interdisciplinary perspective on time. Firstly, we briefly discussed the necessary information from psychology and neuroscience, such as characteristics and models of time perception and related abilities. Secondly, we investigated the emergent computational and robotic models of time perception. As a result of the review, we observed that most timing models showed a sign of dedicated time processing like the emergence of clock-like mechanism from the neural network dynamics and revealed a relationship between embodiment and time perception. We also noticed that most models of timing developed for either sensory timing, the ability of assessment of an interval, or motor timing, ability to reproduce an interval. Additionally, the number of timing models capable of retrospective timing, which is the ability to track time without paying attention, is insufficient. In this light, we discussed possible research directions to promote interdisciplinary collaboration for time perception.


Major new international developments are dramatically affecting the global business community's chemical regulatory obligations and approach to chemical management. In the coming months, companies engaged internationally in the manufacture, processing, and/or import/export of chemical substances and associated products will see significant changes in their regulatory landscape. In fact, substantial new and proposed legislative and regulatory initiatives in the chemicals area have been under consideration over the past few years and several—at least on the international front—are now coming into effect. Industry leaders should be carefully gauging how these initiatives may affect their own strategic planning and current/future regulatory obligations, and may wish to seize the opportunity to provide key input to governmental decision-makers as these measures undergo additional consideration and implementation.


The distribution range of ants of the genus Gnamptogenys is analysed, with special reference to the Old World species, and two closely related genera: Rhytidoponera and Ectatomma. The study is based upon a cladistic biogeographic analysis, recognizing the following areas of endemism: Central America, South America, Philippine Islands, New Guinea, Australia, Solomons/Fiji and South-East Asia. These results are followed by a consensus of different information sources (phylogenetic, natural history, past and present distribution, palaeogeographical and palaeoclimatological) for explaining the present and past distribution of Gnamptogenys and related genera. The area cladogram shows repeated instances of sister relations between Old World and New World taxa at different depths within the tree. Subtree analysis further suggests a common sister relation between Gondwanan landmasses. The distribution of the Gnamptogenys is interpreted as a product of vicariance, starting with the separation of Gondwana, and subsequent dispersal into South-East Asia and Melanesia via rafting on the Australian craton. The desiccation of Australia during the Oligocene was detrimental to the presence of Gnamptogenys but favoured expansion of Rhytidoponera. The study illustrates that a cladistic biogeographic scenario may be supported by a consensus of data from various sources, and also suggests a pre-Tertiary diversification of ant fauna.


Abstract : Many human breast cancers have amplified wild-type Neu (Her2) protooncogenes. It is still not known from either human or rodent models if amplified wild-type Neu is involved in the etiology of breast cancer, We have begun to develop rat transgenic models. Under the first aim we will construct additional Neu transgenic rat lines. Aim 2 will endocrinologically manipulate female Neu-transgenic rats in a way that models high androgen postmenopausal women. Aim 3 will explore alternative reasons of why these female transgenics do not develop breast cancer. The role of genetic background as it relates to female breast cancer development in this model will be explored. We have produced two independent strains of Neu-transgenic rats that spontaneously develop mammary carcinomas in males. Females supplemented with androgens develop mammary carcinomas. These carcinomas activated Neu by amplification and not by mutagenesis. We have thus developed a useful model of Neu associated mammary carcinogenesis. This answers a key question of whether the amplification of wild-type Neu is only associated with tumor progression or is it also possibly involved in breast cancer etiology. These data presented is the first model to clearly demonstrate that the amplification of wild type Neu can induce mammary cancer. In addition we also show that the genetic penetrance of neu can be altered by different modifier genes on varying genetic backgrounds. This suggests that these modifiers may be good biomarker or drug targets for neu associated breast cancer.


Cloud computing technology is appealing to many organizations and has become a popular approach to reduce the cost of services. Adoption of cloud storage is limited due to privacy problems while storing and retrieving sensitive information. This paper presents a solution to the privacy by splitting table containing identity and sensitive information into two separate tables, one with identity information and another stores only sensitive information. It provides k-anonymity while performing inserts, select, update and delete operations. The degree of privacy increases with the values of k. In this paper we carry out performance analysis of our proposed scheme for different values of k. Performance analysis shows that the system performance do not degrade significantly for higher values of k. The Regression models of relation between dependent variables like response time, local computation cost, local communication cost and independent variable k have been developed in this paper. This help system designer to identify the degree of privacy required and predict the time required for different database operations. The analysis of results of residual shows that the developed models are good fit for the experimental data. Key-Words: cloud storage, privacy, k-anonymity, database, splitting, shuffling, insert, retrieve, update, delete, query, sensitive.


Theresults ofresearch ofthedischarge channel contraction depending oncurrent amplitudes (0.5-1.5MA),values of theinitial pressure (5-30MPa)andsortofgas(hydrogen, helium) arepresented. Theobserved reduction ofthe brightness temperature ofthechannel withincreasing of input energy isconditioned byheating ofsurrounding gas. Thecontraction ofthechannel, registered nearcurrent maximum,isassociated withachievement ofthePeaseBraginskii critical current. Asitwasshownearlier [1], at megaampere current amplitudes thedischarge burns inmetal vapouroferoded electrodes. Thetheoretical valueofthe Pease-Braginskii critical current inthiscaseis-100kA. Registered critical current increase upto-1MA isassociated withabsorption ofthechannel radiation inconsequence of high density ofsurrounding gas.


In this paper we introduce a method for increasing the autonomy of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles that are conducting an offshore seismic survey. The proposed method concerns the recovery phase that has been done manually in the past. The objective is when the recovery process starts, all the AUVs should autonomously reach the recovery cage, when several AUVs are stacked into the cage, it will be recovered into the vessel. This method has a significant impact on the whole operations, it reduces the time needed for recovering the vehicles hence increasing the mission time which is directly linked to mission cost since the more data is produced, the more cost effective is the mission. The other benefit of this method is related to the security of the crew working on the vessel's back deck, since the major part will be executed by the AUV, the hazard related to recovery process will be significantly low. As a guidance sensor, we used a phased array acoustic antenna mounted on each AUV that can determine the relative distance and bearing to an acoustic pinging transducer.


Mobile access to the Internet is changing the way people consume information, yet we know little about the e ff ects of this shift on news consumption. Consuming news is key to democratic citizenship, but is attention to news the same in a mobile environment? We argue that attention to news on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones is not the same as attention to news for those on computers. Our research uses eye tracking in two lab experiments to capture the e ff ects of mobile device use on news attention. We also conduct a large-scale study of web tra ffi c data to provide further evidence that news attention is signi fi cantly di ff erent across computers and mobile devices.


Brazilian state governments are responsible for providing secondary public education, both formal and EPT. The federal government, however, is the main regulator of public policies in education, through the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC)[6]. The objective was to carry out a bibliographic review on professional education in state schools in Brazil, in the North and in Amapá, between 2012 and 2022. It was carried out in research databases such as Google Scholar, Periodicals CAPES, Mendeley – Reference Management Software, and Scientific Electronic Library Online – SciELO, between 2012 and 2022. Using the selected descriptors, 52,854 scientific documents were found, of which 11 met the requirements and are part of this review. The Federal Government invested in the expansion and expansion of the EPT and most Brazilian states requested this technical and financial assistance. Efficient supervision of financial resources transferred to states is almost non-existent. This implies discontinuing actions aimed at strengthening, expanding and expanding EPT in the states and updating data by the State Departments of Education in the National Information System for Professional and Technological Education (SISTEC). EPT goes beyond education for marketing purposes. In the state network it needs to be public, polytechnic and of quality. It is necessary to have and carry out more studies and surveys in order to have a greater number of consolidated data about it, and thus increase the understanding of what EPT is like in state education networks in the country.


ABSTRACTNeural networks (NN) are widely applied in modeling. The modeling process in which neural networks are applied involves the same problems as identification in general. In addition, the parameterization selected for the NN model is a key issue i.e., what number of hidden nodes is appropriate and what is their connectivity.This paper describes an evolutionary method for selecting the topology of a feedforward neural network by means of a genetic algorithm. The approach is a hybrid method utilizing a genetic algorithm for structure selection and a second-order training algorithm for parameter estimation. The method is tested with two modeling problems, one a well-known benchmark of an infra-red laser and the other modeling of a laboratory-sized pilot process imitating a paper machine head box.


Climate change is a threat to Africa, one of the most vulnerable regions to climate variability and change, due to its sensitive economies, multiple stresses, low resilience, endemic poverty, weak institutions, recurrent droughts, complex emergencies, and conflicts. Climate impacts African populations, economies, and the need for emergency resources. Climate change exacerbates undernutrition and undermines efforts to reduce poverty and the resilience of vulnerable populations, decreasing their ability to cope and adapt to negative consequences of climate change and inhibiting their economic growth, particularly in sub-Saharan countries. Recent drought-triggered famine in Somalia spurred food crises in other countries, demonstrating the consequences that may come with the increased frequency of extreme weather events. This article reviews the existing research on climate change and variability; its impacts on nutrition security in Africa, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa; and adaptation and mitigation strategies to address these challenges. This article identifies research needs in nutrition and related sectors to address the impacts that climate change will have on nutrition security in Africa and adaptation and mitigation strategies over the next 10–15 years.


The functions of the series reactor module of modular multilevel converter is analyzed and its corresponding mathematical relations are given in four aspects,i.e.,output power limit in normal working state,double-frequency circulating current constraint between units,short circuit current limit of DC pole-to-pole fault,short circuit current limit of AC three-phase output fault,based on which,the principle and calculation method of parameter selection are given for the series reactor of modular multilevel converter.In actual engineering,the double-frequency circulating current between units is suppressed by an additional controller and the value of series reactor is calculated according to the short circuit current limits of DC pole-to-pole fault and AC three-phase output fault.The calculated result is verified by the requirement for output power.A design example is given,which shows that the proposed principle and calculation method are simple and practical.


This article argues Hou Honglou meng (Later Dream of the Red Chamber; in circulation by 1796), the earliest sequel to the 120-chapter Dream of the Red Chamber, was likely written by a woman. The author of Hou Honglou meng makes the reborn Lin Daiyu the central protagonist of the novel. Over the duration of thirty chapters, Daiyu transitions from the role of daughter, to bride and daughter-in-law, and finally to mother. This pragmatic Daiyu has no patience for the romantic cult of qing values of the parent novel; instead, her sentimental attachments are directed toward her natal family, and her expressed will is to escape marriage in order to pursue Daoist transcendence. Daiyu returns to life as an extremely practical household manager who revives the fortunes of the Jia family. This image of an empowered Daiyu who insists on her autonomy from Baoyu, who is still obsessed with his qing-based yearning, conforms to the types of protagonists found in female-authored tanci. The article concludes with the argument that the prolific woman of letters Yun Zhu (1771-1833) deserves serious consideration as the author of Hou Honglou meng.


ABSTRACT Our aim in this cross-sectional study was to investigate the predictors of the stages of change in mammography adoption (MA) based on Health Belief Model among Iranian women. Through multistage cluster sampling, we recruited and interviewed 1131 women older than 40. After statistical adjustment for other risk factors, perceived barriers (OR D 0.84, 95% CI D .81–.87) and benefits (OR D 1.17, 95% CI D 1.11–1.24) were significant predictors for MA. Majority of the women were in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of change for MA. Our findings are informative for the development of targeted interventions to foster MA among women.


Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) represent a significant portion of gross domestic product (GDP) and are recognized as pillars of the economy in Albania. They are the first generators of employment and have a positive impact on revenue from taxes and fees. SMEs are the main bearer of new technology and innovation in the economic fields and the development and exchange of experiences between countries and cultures. The main problems facing the SMEs are administrative barriers, project financing, and lack of specialists in specific profiles. The fact in Albania needs too much work to be done to improve the high degree of informality. The financial system in Albania has not been confronted with a pure financial crisis. The system has had problems that stem from macroeconomic and microeconomic issues, such as fiscal problems, the existence of the informal market, lack of public knowledge about the financial market, and the impact of the international crisis.


A six-degree-of-freedom linear motor, comprising a magnet array (201) and a coil winding located above the magnet array. The magnet array (201) comprises first and second Halbach magnet arrays (201a, 201b). The cross section of the first Halbach magnet array along a plane defined by an X axis and a Y axis is a parallelogram, and has a first side parallel to the Y axis and a second side at an included angle of θ with the Y axis. The second Halbach magnet array is in mirror symmetry with the first Halbach magnet array with respect to the Y axis. The included angle between the axis of the coil winding and the Y axis is θ, and four coil windings (203, 204, 205, 206) are comprised; the first and third coil windings (203, 205) are in mirror symmetry with respect to the Y axis, the second and fourth coil windings (204, 206) are in mirror symmetry with respect to the Y axis. A plurality of vertical forces along a Z axis and a plurality of horizontal forces along an XY plane are generated by means of the interaction between the magnet arrays and the four coil windings, and by means of the distribution control of the forces, the linear motor can realize six-degree-of-freedom movements.


Hypothesis / aims of study The surgical treatment of the pelvic floor pathology have developed in the last years considerably with the minimal technical like the polypropylene mesh .First, we use mesh to repair incontinence urinary and now for the defects of pelvic floor, anterior medium a posterior. We present in this poster our experience with surgical mesh and our results of the treatment of the defects in pelvic floor anterior and medium from January 31th to August 31th,comparing the two principal technical with mesh and the result we had obtained.


Over the last decade, advancements in performance and efficiency of portable computing devices have allowed them to provide much of the functionality previously restricted to larger computers. Instant communication, GPS navigation, remote banking, and even online shopping are only a few of the activities that can be performed from almost anywhere. However, these conveniences may come at the cost of physical security since portable devices are often operated in a public environment where there is a possibility of being physically exposed or obtained by untrustworthy users. While it is a common practice to secure the data that is transferred from one point to another, the contents of system memory often go unprotected. When physical access to a device is attained, this so called "data-atrest" can be exploited to reveal private information. Emails, GPS location data, financial transactions, etc. could be harmful if revealed to the wrong party. This thesis investigates the design trade-offs of obscuring data stored within low latency memory on an embedded device. This was achieved by implementing a parameterizable system based on the keystream cache concept. While this solution could be implemented for almost any embedded system, the design was evaluated using reconfigurable hardware in order to reduce development costs. A prototype was built and tested on an Altera FPGA development board where parameters of the architecture were varied to find a solution that reduced performance overhead, while minimizing hardware usage. The resulting application benchmarks show as little as 1% performance overhead while using minimal hardware resources.


AIM
To assess the impact of keratinized mucosa (KM) width around dental implants on surgical therapeutic outcomes when treating peri-implantitis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Surgically treated peri-implantitis implants were divided into two groups(KM width < 2 mm and ≥ 2mm). Retrospective data was obtained after implant placement (T0) and the day of peri-implantitis surgical treatment (T1). Patients were later recruited (≥1 year after T1) for clinical and radiographic examination (T2). Outcomes were analyzed using generalized estimating equation (GEE) models.

RESULTS
40 patients (68 implants) (average follow-up: 52.4 ± 30.5 months) were included in this study. From T0-T1, no differences were found between KM groups in terms of peri-implant probing depths (PPD)and bleeding on probing (BOP). However, sites with < 2mm KM exhibited singnificantly higher suppuration (SUP) and lower marginal bone level (MBL) (p > .01). Between T1-T2, no major differences were noted on PPD reduction, BOP and MBL changes between the two groups. GEE modelling demonstrated that MBL severity prior to surgical therapy was a better predictor for implant survival than KM width.

CONCLUSION
Surgical outcome in treating peri-implantitis was influenced by the severity of bone loss present at the time of treatment and not by the presence of keratinized mucosa at the time of treatment.


The use of anti-cancer adjuvant therapy is rationalized by potentiating the efficacy, and/or protecting from major side effects of chemotherapeutics. Gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil are important chemotherapeutic agents which are frequently used to treat cancers such as colorectal cancer. Colossolactone-G is a naturally occurring triterpenoid metabolite isolated from the fruiting body of Ganoderma colossum. Herein, we assessed the potential chemomodulatory effects of Colossolactone-G to 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine against human colorectal cancer cells. After 72 h of exposure, colossolactone-G per se possesses cytotoxic effects against HCT116 and HT29 cells with IC509s of 15.9±3.6 µM and 90.5±1.7 µM, respectively. In addition, colossolactone-G improved the cytotoxic profile of gemcitabine against HCT116 cells reducing its IC50 from 0.28±0.1 µM to 19.41±3.1 nM with combination index indicative of synergism (CI-value = 0.154). Similarly, colossolactone-G enhanced the cytotoxicity of gemcitabine against HT29 cells reducing its IC50 from 6.2±1.1 µM to 0.6±0.3 µM with combination index indicative of synergism (CI-value = 0.219). Besides, colossolactone-G synergized the cytotoxic profile of 5-fluorouracil against HCT116 and HT29 cells decreasing its IC509s from 10.8±4.6 to 3.1±0.5 µM (CI-value = 0.302), and from 12.9±3.7 to 3.2±0.6 µM (CI-value = 0.426), respectively. By assessing cell cycle distribution after 24 h using DNA content flowcytometry, both gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil induced moderate cell cycle arrest at S-phase which was increased by combination with colossolactone-G and was further extended to induce accumulation of cells at G0/G1-phase. Longer exposure (48 h) of cells to colossolactone-G alone induced antiproliferative effect and accumulation of cells at G0/G1-phase. Besides, the S-phase arrest induced by gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil was further increased by combination with colossolactone-G for 48 h and was accompanied by reciprocal decrease in cells in G2/M-phase. Cell cycle arrest attributed to gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil treatment resulted in increasing cells undergoing apoptosis as shown by annexin-V/FITC staining. Similarly, combination with colossolactone increased the percentage of cells undergoing apoptosis in both cell lines. In conclusion, colossolactone-G represents promising chemomodulatory compound of natural origin which improves the anti-colorectal cancer activity of gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil in a cell cycle dependent manner. Detailed molecular assessment for the underlying mechanisms of colossolactone-G chemomodulatory activity is currently under investigation. Citation Format: Rinad A. Aljohani, Gehan A. Hegazy, Aliaa A. Alamoudi, Ali M. El-Halawany, Riham S. Eldine, Ghada Agabnoor, Ahmed M. Al-Abd. Colossolactone-G enhances the anticancer properties of 5-fluorouracil and gemcitabine against colorectal cancer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5819.


We measured the first and the higher order Bragg peaks corresponding to the layer thickness in the SmC and SmCA phases by X-ray diffraction, and calculated the smectic order parameters of the two phases. We found that the smectic layer in the SmCA phase is much more ordered than that in the SmC phase.


The invention discloses a piezoelectric hydraulic control valve and vehicle electro-hydraulic line control brake system, wherein the piezoelectric hydraulic control valve comprises a screw plug, a shell body, a piston, a reset spring, a valve core and a piezoelectric element for generating mechanical deforming in the axial direction of the valve core to form an axial thrush in the direction after being subjected to an external electric field. The screw plug is connected onto the shell body by threads, the piston and the piezoelectric element are positioned in the shell; one side of the piston, the shell body and one face of the valve core define a brake fluid cavity filled with brake fluid; the other side of the piston is abutted against the piezoelectric element; an oil inlet and an oil outlet are arranged on the shell body; the valve core is positioned in the shell body; a pair of flow limiting parts are arranged on the shell and the valve core and are matched with each other. The piezoelectric hydraulic control valve is used as the oil inlet and outlet oil path control valve of the vehicle electro-hydraulic line control brake system, the frequency and precision in pressure adjusting are improved, and the dynamic responding performance and brake performance of the brake system are improved.


Islamic religious officials rely on eye-witness observations of the phases of the moon to determine when the holy months in the Islamic calendar begin, which can vary by as much as 3 or 4 days. Nidhal Guessoum, an astrophysicist at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, is one of the most high-profile advocates of a scientific approach to the problem. Its adoption would not only help Muslims plan their lives but also be a sign that Muslim countries, once at the forefront of science, are again "able to integrate science into social and cultural life," he says.


The estimation of the offset, angle rotation, and other deformation of multidimensional optical video signals is an important task at intelligence video systems. One of the main tasks for estimation of the multidimensional signal deformation is increasing the speed of data processing. The television signals characterized a significant volume of data. This property is a constraint for applying brute force methods. Those methods are the universal solution for estimating unknown parameters of the parametric model. This research describes the issue of measurement offset, rotation, and scale with additive and multiplicative noise for spatial-temporal superposition of television images. The reduction of time processing is provided by the iteration procedure of unknown parameters estimation. This procedure consists of approximation by separate estimate offsets, scale, and rotates.


Up to 60% of patients treated with cancer immunotherapy develop severe or life threatening immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Immunosuppression with high doses of corticosteroids or, in refractory cases, with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonists, are the mainstay of treatment for irAEs. It is currently unknown what is the impact of corticosteroids and anti-TNF on the activity of antitumor T cells. In this study, the influences of clinically relevant doses of dexamethasone (corresponding to an oral dose of 10 to 125 mg prednisolone) and infliximab (anti-TNF) on the activation and killing ability of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was tested in vitro. Overall, dexamethasone at low or intermediate/high dose impaired the activation (respectively −46% and −62%) and tumor-killing ability (respectively −48% and −53%) of tumor-specific TILs. In contrast, a standard clinical dose of infliximab only had a minor effect on T cell activation (−20%) and tumor killing (−10%). A brief resting following exposure to dexamethasone was sufficient to rescue the in vitro activity of TILs. In conclusion, clinically-relevant doses of infliximab only influenced to a lesser extent the activity of tumor-specific TILs in vitro, whereas even low doses of corticosteroids markedly impaired the antitumor activity of TILs. These data support steroid-sparing strategies and early initiation of anti-TNF for the treatment of irAEs in immuno-oncology.


The author argues that the application of the presented method for the formation of new knowledge within the educational institutions will allow schoolchildren to obtain the skills of innovative activity based on creative thinking, which will manifest itself in the future professional life in having a higher level of competence, motivation aims and specific solutions to a wide range of practical problems. In addition, they will have the opportunity of joining the modern educational concepts such as informal education.


This book is the fifth installment in Sage's series "Measurement Methods for the Social Sciences" and the second in that series to explicitly focus on item response theory (IRT). Whereas its sibling, Fundamentals of Item Response Theory (Hambleton, Swaminathan, & Rogers, 1991) focuses primarily on parametric IRT models, this volume provides a needed introduction to their nonparametric counterparts. My unrestricted searches of the PsychInfo and ERIC databases for the term nonparametric item response theory returned only two other books, neither of which is expressly dedicated to the topic. So, at least for the moment, this book is practically the only game in town for instructors wishing to adopt a text for extensive coverage of nonparametric IRT in their courses. Fortunately, it fills the bill well. Most readers probably associate the term parametric with assumptions about normal distributions. In the context of IRT, however, parametric refers to assumptions about the form of the relations between observed item responses and their corresponding latent constructs, called item response functions (IRFs). The more familiar, parametric IRT models, which are increasingly being applied in organizational settings, typically estimate logistic IRFs, with their characteristic "stair step" shape. Examples include the graded response model for Likert-type response scales and the one-, two-, and three-parameter logistic models for dichotomous response scales (1PL, 2PL, and 3PL, respectively). In contrast, nonparametric IRT models allow IRFs to take virtually any form, rather than constraining them to a logistic shape. Theoretically, nonparametric models have an advantage over their parametric counterparts in that they can be applied to a wider variety of data, owing to their less restrictive assumptions. In practice, however, there are substantial trade-offs associated with choosing nonparametric models over parametric models. These include the ability to generate point estimates of item and person parameters—something users of parametric models probably take for granted. As a result of these trade-offs, researchers who are considering whether to apply parametric or nonparametric IRT models to their data are faced with a fairly complex set of factors to weigh. Sijtsma and Molenaar do a good job of spelling out the issues and walking readers through the process of deciding whether a nonparametric model is appropriate for their applications. The authors'stated goal was to introduce nonparametric IRT at a "simple statistical level" (p. vi) so that it will be understandable to beginning students but also useful to more advanced researchers. For the most part, they have succeeded on both counts, although to the likely chagrin of many novice students, there is certainly no shortage of formulae and equations in this book. But rather than speaking only in the language of mathematics, the authors explain why certain formulae are important and describe them in conceptual terms. Accompanied by guidance from a course instructor, this book should allow most students to gain a working understanding of nonparametric IRT sufficient for them to begin using it in their research. Interestingly, as someone well versed in parametric IRT but less familiar with nonparametric models, I experi-


Follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) plays an essential role in the regulation of reproduction, as FSH KO female mice are sterile. FSH regulates ovarian granulosa and testicular Sertoli cell function by binding to its cognate receptor (FSHR), a member of the G protein‐coupled receptor family. Human FSH exists as a heterogeneous mixture of glycoform, differing in the number and location of β subunit glycans. Recently, it has been reported that hypo‐glycosylated hFSH binds and activates hFSHR more than fully‐glycosylated hFSH (Bousfield et al. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 382: 989‐997, 2013). We analyzed the kinetics of FSH/FSH receptor complex endocytosis using 125I‐hFSH21, 125I‐hFSH24 glycoform tracers and recombinant hFSHR‐expressing Chinese Hamster Ovarian (CHO) cells as a model system. A greater endocytic rate for hypo‐glycosylated hFSH/FSH receptor complex was observed than for fully‐glycosylated hFSH/FSH receptor complex. One could argue that this reflects greater receptor occupancy for hFSH21. However, increased FSH binding induced by non‐steroidal allosteric modulators of the FSHR, is not attended by increased internalization. Hypo‐glycosylated hFSH21 can not only occupy more FSHR binding sites, but also more effectively activates these receptors and this appears to increase the internalization rate.


The article presents the data that illustrate the possibility of including the project-based method using situational problems in the process of teaching probability theory and mathematical statistics.


The present invention discloses a message broadcast system (100) for quickly delivering a relatively large amount of content to customer premises devices (114, 116). A dial-out voice server (104) initiates a plurality of telephone calls to a plurality of telephone numbers associated with customer premises alerting devices (144). The dial-out server (104) also transmits a control data signal to the alerting devices (144), which indicates an incoming voice message to the alerting devices (144). The customer premises devices (114, 116) are connected to the telecommunication network (110) via a communication channel and are configured to continuously monitor the communication channel for the control data signal. In response to receipt of a control data signal, an alerting device (144) automatically configures itself to receive the incoming voice message. After delivering the voice message to the alerting device (144), the dial-out voice server (104) can disconnect and place another call.


C2C economy has greatly changed people's way of shopping and promoted the development of logistics enterprises. The optimization of express delivery path can greatly improve the efficiency of express delivery and save labor cost and transportation cost. Therefore, the research of path planning optimization method for express delivery is valuable. In this paper, the TSP theory based path planning for express delivery task is studied. According to the constraints of delivery time, load, and volume, an optimization model of multi-round trips delivery scheme is established. Finally, a Floyd algorithm and genetic algorithm (GA) based method is proposed for solution of the proposed Model. The experimental result demonstrates the validity of the model.


This study analyzes nine years (2003-2011) of research on strategy in Brazil, published in the country's main business administration periodicals in the country, and on the annals of the EnANPAD, in the division Strategy of Organizations (ESO) and the 3Es. The sample, consisting of 1524 articles, was submitted to content analysis using a dictionary of terms for classification of themes and research methodologies. The main results indicate the continued predominance of exploratory research, through qualitative case studies, and a tendency towards the growth of research on themes of international business, socienvironmental sustainability, and corporate ethics, Although these research themes are consistent with the national and global context, the abundance of exploratory research does not contribute or alter the existing theoretical paradigms of the Brazilian reality, nor does it contribute to the insertion of this community in the international forum of debate.


Objective It is to explore the relationship between drop speed and drop of blood pressure during the treatment of chronic cardiac failure with sodium nitroprusside intravenous drip. Methods 41 patients with chronic cardiac failure treated with same concentration and dosage of sodium nitroprusside intravenous drip were studied. Blood pressure was monitored every 15 minutes. Drop speed was adjusted according to the drop of blood pressure and syndrome of patients to assure mean blood pressure drop within (1.15±0.02)kPa. Results The chronic cardiac failure patients' tolerance for sodium nitroprusside intravenous drip has obvious individual difference. Drop speed was influenced by drop time and posture variation. In 41 patients the drop speeds of two patients were less than five drop/min, which of 29 patients were 6~10 drop/min, which of seven patients were 11~15 drop/min and which of three patients were more than 16 drop/min. Conclusion In order to assure safety and efficacy, blood pressure should be monitored strictly and drop speed should be adjusted immediately during the treatment of chronic cardiac failure with sodium nitroprusside.


Objective — to evaluate some qualitative and quantitative parameters of mixed saliva in patients at risk of metabolic‑associated diseases and military personnel under the conditions of the armed conflict in Ukraine.
Materials and methods. The study involved patients who were included in three groups: the main group (27 individuals at risk of metabolic diseases), comparison group (19 military personnel) and control group (10 somatically healthy individuals). The survey has been performed with the use of questionnaire to assess dryness in the oral cavity, issues of changes in oral hygiene during the last year. To investigate some qualitative and quantitative parameters of unstimulated saliva, fasting oral fluid was collected in the morning. Salivation rate, oral fluid viscosity, and type of microcrystallization were studied using standard techniques.
Results. Prevalence of persons, in whom the nature of nutrition and individual care of the oral cavity had changed, was established in all investigated groups. The study of the salivation rate revealed a significant decrease in salivation in patients of the main group and comparison groups vs the control group. The lowest secretion level was defined in patients with a risk of metabolic‑associated diseases, whose oral fluid viscosity had the highest values. The most favorable type I of crystallization prevailed only in patients of the control group, it was rare in the main group, whereas in the group of military personnel it was not found, and type II was defined in 26.3% of subjects. Negative changes in the normal life against the background of hostilities resulted in the deterioration in the physical indicators of salivation in both main and comparison groups.
Conclusions. Long‑term chronic stress causes changes in the qualitative and quantitative composition of oral fluid. The study of microcrystallization of the mixed saliva can be used as a non‑invasive diagnostic method for detecting stress as one of the risk factors for premature aging in patients at risk of metabolic‑associated diseases.


ObjectiveTo investigate and compare the behavioral changes, neuron loss of hippocampus and mossy fiber sprouting between pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (SE) model and pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) kindling model in rats.MethodsAfter two different epilepsy models were made, Vedio was adopted to observe the behavioral changes. Nissl staining and Neo-timms' staining were separately used to observe and compare the neuron loss of hippocampus and mossy fiber sprouting in the dentate gyrus (DG) at different time points during epileptogenisis.ResultsNo recurrent spontaneous seizure, no neuron loss and no mossy fiber sprouting were found in PTZ kindling model; whereas obvious neuron loss was found in CA1, CA3 of hippocampus and hilus of DG, and mossy fiber sprouting were found in pilocarpine model in parallel with recurrent spontaneous seizures. ConclusionPTZ kindling model resembles absence epilepsy in human, while pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus model resembles chronic temporal epilepsy in human. Neuron loss and mossy fiber sprouting may play an important role in epileptogenisis. Pilocarpine-induced epilepsy model can be regarded as an ideal chronic temporal epilepsy model.


Using serial-transmission 112Gb/s PM-16QAM we achieved net SE 7.12 and 6.32 b/s/Hz, and SE(x)distance 13,949 and 23,396 b/s/Hz·km, for 7% and 20.5% FEC overhead, respectively, by means of DAC-enabled spectral engineering, over high-performance PSCF.


The proper location and sizing of the elements of a marina can affect the original construction costs, the efficiency of the operation, and the psychological and physical well-being of marina personnel and patrons. Standards whose practicality have been tested in the United States are offered for appraisal by designers who practice in other parts of the world. These standards are based on more than fifteen years of marina design experience.


Health care organizations are finally embracing enterprise risk management as a way to identify their vulnerabilities. Here's how to get started.


ABSTRACT: For studies of insect taste the sensory cells of labellar taste hairs on the proboscis of calliphorid flies (e.g., Phormia) are preferred objects. Three sensory cells are electrophysiologically characterized: a sugar cell, a water cell and a cation or salt cell. Studying hairs on legs and proboscis of other families of flies we recently obtained results that extend our knowledge about the complexity of food detection in flies.


The present data time targets digitizing data and executing effective, instinctive and easy to understand frameworks to unravel human life. Making a canny truck that deals with quick charging is a jump towards an advanced and totally computerized shopping knowledge. Buying thing in enormous supermarkets with a gigantic assortment of things is time taking procedure. It can be optimized through motorizing the charging framework. A shopping truck contains a versatile computational gadget (like raspberry pi) and a customized thing recognizable proof innovation (like the radio recurrence distinguishing proof innovation). Minute charging without long lines at counters and monitoring consumption constant are the two goals of this canny truck. This paper depends on building up a venture through the intend to lessen point in time used up on shopping of regular things and make the procedure less repetitive. Besides, it empowers the customers to use their point in time on other gainful and increasingly huge exercises.


To get the mechanical properties of wiper motors without speed and torque sensors, a novel approach using wavelet ridge is introduced. The essential theory for testing mechanical properties without speed and torque sensors is discussed, and the relationship between wavelet ridge and instantaneous frequency is given. The approach to calculating the mechanical properties based on wavelet ridge is presented, which is proved to be precise and effective by the experimental results.


The issue of transportation is a linier program. Practically, variables of transportation problems may vary that emerges more than single. Fuzzy cost idea in transportation problems is required. The application of basis tree approach and NWC-Stepping Stone method is used to determine a minimum cost of purchase and delivery of commodity occurred for some suppliers. The company can do a cost-saving and be more effective in determining goods purchase from the supplier.  The method used is quantitative experiments, the primary data on the PPIC and purchasing. The results of calculation of basis tree approach on PT Busana Cemerlang Garment Industry are the feasible shipping cost $63993.55, the optimistic shipping cost $62073.74, and the pessimistic shipping cost $65913.35. The results of NWC-Stepping Stone method is $63993.55. There is a deviation $6480 with the calculation of purchase order (PO).


We present the generalization to non positive definite spectral functions of a recently proposed Bayesian deconvolution approach (BR method). The novel prior used here retains many of the beneficial analytic properties of the original method, in particular it allows us to integrate out the hyperparameter $\alpha$ directly. To preserve the underlying axiom of scale invariance, we introduce a second default-model related function, whose role is discussed. Our reconstruction prescription is contrasted with existing direct methods, as well as with an approach where shift functions are introduced to compensate for negative spectral features. A mock spectrum analysis inspired by the study of gluon spectral functions in QCD illustrates the capabilities of this new approach.


children were both greatest in the low rental areas and least in the high rental areas. They also observed a social pattern in tonsillectomy similar to that seen by Glover in England,"4 with greatest tonsillectomy rates in the higher rental areas. Within each school the streptococcal carrier rate was considerably greater in children who still had their tonsils present than in those who had undergone tonsillectomy. The authors come to the conclusion that tonsillectomy protects against rheumatic fever by reducing the streptococcal carrier rate and also the infection rate. Holmes and Rubbo propound an interesting theory to account for the social distribution of rheumatic fever, but they have far from proved their case. For example, to clinch their argument they observed that the tonsillectomy rate for rheumatic children, 26%, was even less than that for schoolchildren in the low rental area, 35%. However, this proportion is based on information on only 250 rheumatic children out of the total of 1,469 observed in the whole period, and the effect of this selection cannot be determined. Further, although a precise age distribution is not given, there is evidence to suggest that these rheumatic children may have been younger than the school groups investigated, and this would make any comparison of tonsillectomy rates invalid. Epidemiology is the art of welding together evidence from many sources. The many investigations into the social incidence of rheumatic fever illustrate this by the contributions of clinical observation, of field studies, of vital statistics, and of laboratory investigation. The story, by its contradictions and uncertainties, also shows that epidemiology demands clear interpretation of precise data.


The goals of the present study were (1) to demonstrate again that subjects in social decision tasks involving shared resources cannot be modelled as strategic money maximizers, and (2) to investigate further factors that affect the use of what we have called social decision heuristics. Subjects were led to believe that they were the first of six group members to extract points from a common pool of points. Each point extracted could possibly be exchanged for cash. The independent variables were the magnitude of the payoffs that subjects could receive (high vs. low), the divisibility of the resource (divisible vs. nondivisible), the perceived control of the last members over the group's outcomes (fate control vs. no fate control), and subjects' social values (cooperative vs. noncooperative). The results indicated that subjects anchored their decisions on an equal division heuristic. Subjects withdrew the fewest number of points when the resource was divisible, the payoffs were low, and there was fate control. The most points were taken when the resource was nondivisible, the payoffs were high, and subjects were classified as noncooperative. A model of the choice process in this task is discussed.


Decitabine, A pyrimidine nucleoside analog of cytidine, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine strongly inhibits DNA methylation, is capable of inducing cell differentiation, In a phase II multicenter trial of 66 patients with MDS (median age 68 years, range: 38 to 84), DAC was given in a dose of 15 mg/m2 IV over 4 hours every eight hours for three consecutive days; cycles were repeated every six weeks. The overall response rate was 25, 48, and 64 percent for those in the intermediate-I, intermediate-II, and high IPSS risk groups, respectively. The median survival time from the start of treatment for the IPSS high risk patients was 1.2 years, considerably longer than the expected survival of 0.3 to 0.5 years for high risk patients treated with supportive care alone. Response to Decitabine after failure of Azaitadine was mentioned only in one abstract presented in the American society of hematology meeting 2006 in 22 patients. We present a case of an 83 y/o gentleman with RAEB-2 with IPSS of 1 Intermediate I with normal cytogenetics, trilineage pancytopenia, was heavily transfusion dependent with both red cells and platelets on a weekly bases. The patient was treated initially with Revlamide for 3 months, followed by Azacitadine for total of 4 cycles, along with Exjade as an iron chelator without any objective response or reduction in his transfusion requirement. The patient eventually was switched to Decitabine 20 mg SC daily for 5 days every 28 days. The patient started to have a response after the 4 th cycle with prolongation of his transfusion intervals. After the 5 th cycle the patient did not need transfusions with platelets within normal limits. Since there is paucity of data regarding the response to these new agents, our case may be added to the small number of patients that was presented to try to create a data pool that helps clinicians to manage this difficult disease.


A growing body of evidence shows that infusing sustainability into undergraduate courses and programs can simultaneously benefit institutional goals, student learning outcomes, and society at large. In addition to being a globally relevant and urgent topic, sustainability can enhance learning of disciplinary concepts and development of broad 21st-century competencies. The authors examine the rationale for infusing sustainability into undergraduate teaching and learning and conclude by offering examples and resources for doing so.


The constrained generalized predictive control is extended for multivariable system and applied to a binary distillation column. Also, the property of tuning parameters of the control is analyzed to show tuning guideline. The performance of the generalized predictive control is examined through simulation using a rigorous process model.Set-point tracking and regulatory performances of the proposed control scheme are compared with those of the quadratic dynamic matrix control. The comparison indicates that the generalized predictive control gives improvement over the existing quadratic dynamic matrix control.


Classroom teaching reform is the key component of curriculum reform. But there are still some main problems with mathematics classroom teaching in current junior middle schools. For example, mathematics teaching position has been deviated, views on mathematics teaching material adjustment is not definite, teaching design is not professional, classroom questioning is frequent, but inefficient, and teaching method is simple and formal. Solutions to the above issues are as follows:reflection on teaching ideas and establishing advanced mathematics teaching perspective; increasing the awareness of teaching material text criticism, and enhancing teaching material adjustment; carrying out teachers' training, and promoting teachers' professional development; intensifying the effectiveness of classroom questioning and optimizing the teaching methods.


total of 143 and cases in Qena and El-Menoufya Governorates were examined for bovine tuberculosis using single intradermal cervical tuberculin test (SICTT). 109 out of 143 (76.22%) tested cattle were found positive to tuberculin test. Tissue samples from organs positive cases to tuberculin test were examined microscopically with Ziehl-neelsen stain and by cultivation on two different types of media (Middlebrook and Lowenstein Jenssen media). the were tested by were coated with bovine purified protein derivative (PPD) and short term culture filtrate (ST-CF) antigens. The test sensitivity was compared at different serum dilutions. The result was102 out of 109 cases were positive by cultivation technique with a percentage of (71.32%) and 94 out of 109 cases were positive by microscopical examination with a percentage of (65.73%). The results of ELISA and traditional cultural methods as well as tuberculin test were compared and discussed. All serum samples of tuberculin positive cow cases were tested by indirect ELISA, and showed that 26 out of 31 cow sera were positive by PPD with a percentage of (83.87%) and 29 out of 31 cases were positive by using ST- CF antigens with a percentage of (93.5%) in (1\40) serum dilution. Concerning buffalo cases, 71 out of 78 tuberculin positive sera were positive with PPD antigen with a percentage of (91%) and 77 sera cases were positive with ST- CF antigen with a percentage of (98.7%) at serum dilution (1\40). the tuberculin negative cases, out of 16 tuberculin negative cow cases there were 9 positive cases by using PPD antigen with a percentage of (56.25%) and 6 positive cases by using ST- CF antigen with a of positive cases with CF antigen with a percentage of (5.55%).


Owing to the challenges posed by crime in Nigeria on citizenry and government financial plans and the implementation, this study explores criminal activities with the aim of seeing how the crime rate can be minimised in the country. Previous studies on crime in Nigeria have made a tremendous contribution to the crime literature, but they have not examined the association between socioeconomic strain and crime and the effect of crime on economic growth statistically. Thus, this study examines how socioeconomic strain factors contribute to the development of crime, and how crimes affect economic growth in Nigeria. Based on previous research, the link between socioeconomic strain, crime, and economic growth was explained via strain theory and rational choice theory. In testing the proposition of the theory, data from 1970 to 2013 were analysed with an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to examine the relationship while the modified Wald test approach to Granger causality was used to provide the causality direction. The results showed that socioeconomic strain affects crime positively, and crime affects economic growth negatively. Besides, the causality ran from socioeconomic strain to crime and from economic growth to crime against person. Based on the results, this study suggests that socioeconomic strain should be monitored and controlled, deterrence institutions should be strengthened, and vigorous policies for various investments should be well planned and implemented to reduce crime in Nigeria. This study believes that the policy that would check and reduce crime would improve economic growth.


This article considers a few concepts and methodologies proposed by Paulo Freire and evaluates the contemporary importance of these elements in accordance with the notion of 'community of affect'. One of the most up-to-date elements in Freire's theoretical and empirical work lies in his concern with sensory aspects. The sensorium, or the sensible, was first introduced in early communication studies. It is understood as a structure which is parallel to reason. The present article intends to debate the extent to which the idea of the sensible relates to Freire, as he first approaches it in the concept of 'touching' the subject or the group during the educational process. This sensible corresponds to the link among people. It connects to what one calls the community of affect, in which the environment and the space assume an educational dimension.


In the paper it is found the explicit form of the fundamental solution of Cauchy problem for the equation of Kolmogorov type that has a finite number groups of spatial variables on which there is degeneration of parabolicity.


It is standard in computational social choice to analyse welfare considerations under the assumptions of normalized utilities. In this note, we summarize some common reasons for this approach. We then mention another justification which is ignored but has solid normative appeal. The central concept used in the `new' justification can also be used more widely as a social objective.


An improved method for the measurement of the power consumed in low pressure, radio frequency discharges is presented. The method involves the measurement of current and voltage waveforms outside the reactor, and the determination of the discharge impedance and the network of parasitics. The measured waveforms are transformed to the equivalent ones at the powered electrode, by using an electrical circuit model of the stray impedance of the cell, with experimentally determined components. A tunable shunt circuit is used for minimizing displacement currents. The equivalent circuit contains elements which account also for resistive power losses in the cell‐shunt circuit. The obtained discharge power is compared with measurements of the total power output of the generator made by a power meter. Results concerning power consumption and impedance in argon and silane discharges are presented as a function of the excitation voltage and the pressure. In both cases there is a discharge impedance drop, for higher vo...


A recent study assessed the coronary arteries of 63 hearts obtained from fetuses (n 1⁄4 20), infants up to 1 year old (n 1⁄4 18), children aged 1 to 11 years (n 1⁄4 15), and adolescents aged 11 to 18 years (n 1⁄4 10) who had died from noncardiac disease or trauma. Coronary intimal thickening was found in 10% of fetuses, a third of the infants, 73.3% of the children and virtually all the adolescents. It was concluded that intimal thickening begins already in fetal life and progresses through childhood and adolescence. Predisposition to coronary heart disease (CHD) may already exist not only in infancy but even in utero. In the late 1980s, a study from Finland assessed the coronary arteries of 94 infants aged < 1 year who died in hospital and 102 children 1 to 16 year old who died accidentally. The mean degree of narrowing in the left coronary artery during the first year of life was 17%. In children > 1 year old, the mean narrowing was 25% while in children between 12 and 15 years, it was 34%. The same group subsequently evaluated the coronary arteries of low-birthweight infants (n 1⁄4 111) who died within 30 days after birth (median: postnatal day 6). The gestational age of these infants varied between 23 and 42 weeks (mean: 35 weeks). Coronary intimal thickness had a strong positive correlation with gestational age (r 1⁄4 0.504; P < .0001) and birthweight (r 1⁄4 0.514; P < .0001). In the early 1990s, Barker formulated the so-called "Fetal Origins of Adult Disease" or "The Barker Hypothesis," according to which the pathogenesis of CHD begins in utero. Barker and his group showed that babies who are small at birth or in infancy have high rates of CHD, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes in adult life. This effect is not confined to babies with intrauterine growth restriction (defined as birth weight 10th customized centile for gestational age) but is also seen in infants born with average birth weight, which are, however, followed by below-average weight gain. He proposed that for several individuals, CHD and other diseases may be programmed already in utero. We recently evaluated potential prognostic biomarkers for cardiovascular disease in large-for-gestational-age (LGA) compared with appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) neonates. Cardiotrophin-1 (a cardiomyocyte-produced chemokine) and titin (a protein in the sarcomere of cardiac myocytes) concentrations were higher in LGA compared with AGA neonates (P < .001 and P 1⁄4 .023, respectively). A subgroup analysis in the LGA group showed that increased cardiotrophin-1 levels were observed only in diabetic pregnancies. It was concluded that both cardiotrophin-1 and titin concentrations could represent prognostic biomarkers for future cardiovascular disease. Coronary intimal thickening indeed begins in utero and progresses in infancy and childhood. Future studies should search for reliable biomarkers which could help identify those infants/ children at higher than average future CHD risk and implement primary prevention strategies (eg, lifestyle measures like weight loss, exercise, and a healthy diet) early in life. Early pharmacotherapy will need a further level of evidence.


Earth observations can help reduce the loss of life and property from natural and human induced disasters through increasing our understanding of complex environmental systems. In this context, the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) is being built through the coordination of efforts within the international Group on Earth Observations (GEO), comprised of 80 Member States, the European Commission and 58 Participating Organizations, established in February 2005. The 10-Year Implementation Plan defines a vision statement for GEOSS, its purpose and scope, expected benefits for nine "Societal Benefit Areas" (SBAs) (disasters, health, energy, climate, water, weather, ecosystems, agriculture and biodiversity), technical and capacity building priorities, and the GEO governance structure. The full value of GEOSS lies in its ability to integrate information across disciplines. Thus, GEOSS is concerned with: interlinking weather forecasting systems with other Earth observation systems; supporting efforts to advance sustainable energy; and devising end-to-end information services and sustained observing systems essential for addressing climate variability and change. The international collaborative framework of GEO allows: water experts to define the data and systems needed for improved water-cycle forecasting; international teams to monitor ecosystems and generate maps and other decision support tools; development of an Agricultural Monitoring System of Systems that will integrate in-situ and space data from multiple fields; and comprehensive monitoring critical to the conservation and sustainable use of the world's biological diversity. In particular, in the field of water, unique regional cooperative approaches are now on-going and under planning for making maximum use of, and contributing to, GEOSS. The current GEO Work Plan furnishes the blueprint for activities to implement GEOSS, and provides concrete examples of how decision makers can use the data and services available through GEOSS to address major global opportunities and challenges. This is why GEO strives to develop a GEOSS that would serve the needs of all SBAs through interconnecting existing and future Earth observation systems, interlinking observation systems, and promotion of open data sharing.


Seals examined were the eight-pad Rayleigh step, the tapered spiral groove, and two hydrostatic seals. The spiral groove configuration is the preferred choice because of superior stiffness. Second choice is Rayleigh step because of combined higher operating film thickness and good stiffness at low clearance. Recess hydrostatic has reasonable performance, but stiffness falls off at low clearance. Also, pneumatic hammer characteristics must be investigated. Experience at high pressure ratios is limited. An advantage is that it would have good low speed performance.


In this paper, we deal with convolutionally encoded MSK, DMSK and TFM signals. The matched convolutional encoding technique is used which was shown earlier to lead in some eases to the optimum Viterbi demodulation/decoder which is not more complex than the optimum receiver for the uncoded signal. Results of a systematic search for such cases are presented and discussed. >


Termination rate coefficients, kt, for the terpolymerization of mixtures containing the three acrylates: methyl, butyl, and dodecyl acrylate or the corresponding members of the methacrylate family: methyl, butyl, and dodecyl methacrylate, have been measured via the single pulse (SP)-PLP technique. In the homopolymerization of each of the six monomers an initial plateau region of almost constant kt is seen which extends at least up to 15% and, for dodecyl acrylate and dodecyl methacrylate, even up to about 50% monomer conversion. Terpolymerization kt in this region of low and moderate conversion is remarkably well described by a rather simple correlation which exclusively contains homopolymerization kt and the composition of the monomer mixture. This correlation turns out to be very useful for the modeling of kt in mixtures of monomers that exhibit such an initial plateau region of kt. For the systems under investigation, terpolymerization kt, may be estimated within ±30%. This finding is very remarkable in view of the enormous differences in homopolymerization kt, within each monomer family, e.g., kt, of methyl acrylate exceeds the corresponding dodecyl acrylate value by a factor of 50 (or 5000%). The entire set of experiments has been carried out at 40 °C and 1000 bar where the signal to noise ratio of the laser-induced single pulse experiments is very satisfactory. No reason is seen why the conclusions about modeling of terpolymerization kt should not be valid at other reaction conditions including ambient pressure. © WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, D-69451 Weinheim 1999.


Personalized multimedia content which suites user preferences and the usage environment, and as a result improves the user experience, gains more importance. In this paper, we describe an architecture for personalized video adaptation and presentation for mobile applications which is guided by automatically generated annotations. By including this annotation information, more intelligent adaptation techniques can be realized which only reduce the quality of unimportant regions in case a bit rate reduction is necessary. Furthermore, presentation layers are added to enable advanced multimedia viewers to optimally present the interesting parts of a video in case the user wants to zoom in. This architecture is the result of collaborative research done in the EU FP6 IST INTERMEDIA project.


The process of classifying vocal and non-vocal regions in an audio clip is the base for many Music Information Retrieval (MIR) tasks. In this work, we have computed novel features based on formant structure for segmenting the vocal and non-vocal regions of a given music clip. The features such as obtuse angles at formant peak, valley locations, convexity, and concavity have been proposed for this task after thorough analysis. The obtuse angles have been computed for second, third and fourth formants as much discrimination is not found for the first formant. The computed formant related features have been added to the base-line Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) in order to improve the performance. Moreover, singer formant (F5) has also been computed forming a 19-dimensional feature vector. As artificial neural networks (ANNs) are more suitable for handling nonlinear data, they have been considered as a classifier. Further, the 11-point moving window has been applied to avoid intermittent misclassifications. An accuracy of 88% is obtained using the proposed approach with a 19-dimensional feature vector.


Abstract In this paper we report on the results of a systematic study carried out on the fault and fracture systems exposed in the Majella Mountain, in the central Apennines fold and thrust belt of mainland Italy. The focus of our work was to assess the dimensional, spatial, and scaling properties of fault and fractures in carbonate rocks, in order to set up appropriate flow models for these types of potential geofluid reservoirs. The results provide information on (1) orientation, size distribution, density variations, and fractal characteristics of the fault and fracture networks affecting the Majella anticline; (2) the scaling properties and the overall architecture of different fault zone components; (3) the overprinting relationships between fault and fracture sets and the Majella fold structure. These data were used to elaborate a three-dimensional discrete fault and fracture model (DFFN model) of a ∼100 m3 geological volume, and for this to (1) evaluate the transport and storage properties of the reservoir; and (2) assess the degree of vulnerability and any possible hazard related to the exploitation and management of geofluids hosted in carbonate rock volumes.


Kapok fiber is natural half-transparent hollow tube whose inner and outer diameters are 18 and 20 mm, respectively. This fiber excels in water repellence and absorbs oil due to the capillary force. In addition, the hollow rate of this fiber is higher than those of conventional synthetic fibers. The focus of this present work is to develop a novel paper sheet which integrating Kapok fibers containing chromic materials. The solvent which contains chromic materials was absorbed into Kapok fibers due to the capillary force. We found that the paper sheet exhibits reversible color change.


Objective To study the minisatellite sequence binding of factor CBF/NF-Y involved in the transcription of the blood group ABO gene.Methods 21 Blood DNA samples,after genotyped by directly sequencing as 2 A101/A101 types,5 A102/A102 types,5 B101/B101 types,3 O01/O01 types and 6 O02/O02 types,were subjected to nucleotide sequence of the 5'regulatory region containing the CBF/NF-Y enhancer from-nt3948 to-nt3612.The purified PCR produces led to direct sequence.Results The A101 and A102 allele had one 43-bp repeats whilst the B101,O01 and O02 alleles had four 43-bp repeat.A nucleotide substitution (GA) at nt41 of the only one repeat was showed in A101 and A102 allele.The nucleotide at nt41 of the every repeat in B101 was G.And O01 and O02 alleles had a nucleotide C at nt41 of the first repeat while the nucleotide of other three repeat was G.Conclusion Allele-specific variations in ministallete enhancer region of ABO blood group gene are elucidated.All common allele in this region has polymorphic.


Abstract Multi-use forest planning is not an easy task for forest managers because of the difficulty in defining a clear set of competing goals. Multi-choice goal programming (MCGP) can get an ideal solution more quickly for the multi-use forest problems by setting various target goal values for each goal. However, decision-makers may miss a better one if the set of target goal values are far from the best ideal solution. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new algorithm (3-level MCGP) which can complete the insufficiency of the MCGP technique by combining binary search algorithm to reduce the number of comparison in MCGP method and then achieve the best ideal solution as close as possible. Building on the results of a published case by goal programming (GP), this paper demonstrates that a more favorable alternative could be discovered by the new algorithm in a few steps. Through the re-allocation of forestland by the 3-level MCGP, forest managers can increase preferred forest production without losing the other minor production. The results of this study also indicated that, the 3-level MCGP is an efficient technique that can help forest managers to obtain an appropriate resource allocation and even achieve more forest production.


[Objective] The study aimed to screen the optimum concentration of controlling plant shape for potted Scarlet sage.[Method] The seeds of S.sage Miaohuo were soaked with Pentefezol(S3307) at 5,10,20,30 and 40 mg/L resp.to study the effects of S3307 on the growth and development of S.sage.[Result] S3307 had obvious restrain effect on the germination rate of S.sage,and the germination rate decreased along with the concentration increasing.S3307 had restrain effect on both nutritive growth and leaf area,and the concentration was higher,the restrain effect was more obvious.Seed soaking with S3307 had obvious restrain effect on stem diameter and internodal length of plant,and the index of node growing leaves was increased to the maximum when the concentration was 20 mg/L.S3307 concentration was higher,the delay time of first flowering date was longer and the inflorescences length was shorter.[Conclusion] S.sage plant was dwarfed and its internodal length was shortened,leaf color was deepened,inflorescences were trim,flowering date was moderate and leaf areas were uniform in the treatment with S3307 at 20~30 mg/L,which was the optimum concentration of controlling the plant shape of Miaohuo.


Implants and implant prosthetic success rates and longevity are higher than natural teeth-supported prostheses. Due to limiting anatomical factors, implants placed in the posterior regions are often shorter than those placed in the anterior regions. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the clinical performance of short implants in a six year period. This study evaluated 348 short implants inserted in anterior and posterior regions in both jaws of 153 patients. Out of 348 inserted implants, 220 were of 9 mm and 128 of 10 mm of length, with diameters of 3.5 mm, 4.0 mm and 5 mm. Forty-five implants were placed in sites treated with the principle of guided bone regeneration. Anterior and posterior regions received 45 and 303 implants, respectively. In 19 cases the immediate installation was performed. All implants were prosthetically rehabilitated with single or multiple prostheses. Success rate was 96% (334 implants). It can be concluded that short-length implants may be used to support fixed restorations in the rehabilitation of missing teeth, with the similar success rate and longevity of long implants. UNITERMS: Dental implants, Mouth Rehabilitation, Retrospective Studies revdezrepaginado30-04indmexido.pmd 27/5/2008, 18:48 101 R. Periodontia 17(3):98-103 102 REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRAFICAS 1. Agerberg G, Carlsson GE. Chewing ability in relation to dental and general health. Analyses of data obtained from a questionnaire. Acta Odontol Scand 1981;39:147-53. 2. Albrektsson T, Zarb G, Worthington P, Eriksson AR. The long-term efficacy of currently used dental implants: a review and proposed criteria of success. Int J Oral Maxillofac Implants 1986;1(1):11-25. 3. Barboza EP, Caula AL. Diagnoses, clinical classification, and proposed treatment of spontaneous early exposure of submerged implants.Implant Dent. 2002;11(4):331-7. 4. Barboza EP. 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Huntington (2) was one of the first to draw attention to the implications of season of birth. He felt that the season of birth was related to intellectual performance and to health. More recent research has confirmed the relationship between season of birth and academic performance ( 1 ) and psychopathology (3 ) . The present study sought to operationalize the season of birth in a region by calculating the ratio of births in May to births in November. This ratio was calculated for each of the 48 continental states of the USA. For 1970-1974, this ratio varied from 1.12 for Washington and Oregon to 0.85 for Louisiana. The ratio is stable over time. The Peatson correlation over the 48 continental states between the periods 1965-1969 and 1970-1974 was 0.91. The ratios for 19701974 varied with latitude (r = 0.86), but not with longitude (r = 0.13) and also with the mean altitude for each state obtained from the Informazion Please Almasac (+ = 0.321. The higher ratios in the north were found even after controls were intro-. duced for altitude by means of partial correlations: partial r = 0.86. The mean SAT verbal and math scores for each state for 1972-1973 were obtained from Diane Rdesinski (Educational Testing Service, personal communication) and the suicide and homicide rates for each state for 1972 from the United States Vita! Stat5ics, 1972. The May/November birth ratios for 1970-1974 were correlated significantly with the SAT verbal scores (r = 0.30). with the SAT math scores (r = 0.33), and with the homicide rates (r = -0.66), bur not wirh the suicide rates (r = 0.11). The higher the state's May/November ratio of births, the better the academic performance of its high school students and the lower its homicide rate. The May/November birth ratio also varies quite considerably among nations, from 1.30 for Sweden to 0.73 for Singapore. (For nations in the southern hemisphere, the November/May ratio should be calculated.) This preliminary study has shown that the May/November ratio of births may be an heuristic measure of seasonal birth trends and may prove to have interesting correlates across regions.