Here I propose a general formulation of population growth with dispersal in one-species systems. The species range is viewed as a collection of spatially separate habitats, and population growth with dispersal is described as a discrete parameter process. I examine the effect of dispersal on system stability using a series of special cases of this general formulation. A system is considered relatively stable if, for a fixed pattern of external perturbation, it exhibits a low degree of variability. Measures of variability are proposed that quantify this idea. Dispersal increases the degree of stability of many of the systems examined. This effect arises if juveniles disperse as a fixed feature of the life history and population density does not severely reduce birth rate. It also arises if adults disperse facultatively in response to overcrowding. Habitat selection augments dispersal's stabilizing tendency. Explicit inclusion of habitat locations complicates the mathematics but does not alter this qualitative dispersal effect. Dispersal does not always increase population stability. If population density strongly suppresses birth rate, obligate juvenile dispersal can actually reduce stability. In this case, more juveniles are produced by sparse than by dense populations, and dispersal causes growing populations to lose more potential recruits than they gain. Adult dispersal strongly stimulated by population growth rate can also reduce population stability for the same reason. In discrete time, dispersal can actually destroy asymptotic stability. The conclusion that dispersal can sometimes stabilize and sometimes destabilize populations also emerges from more thoroughly studied continuous-space diffusion models. The discrete-space systems studied here are generally mathematically simpler than diffusion equations, and this approach may expedite the task of combining dispersal with other population phenomena into more inclusive models.


Annual reports of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary have for many years provided all who are concerned with police efficiency with reliable and realistic material for research and assessment. Their report for 1961, presented by the Home Secretary to the House of Commons in compliance with the provisions of the Police (H.M. Inspectors of Constabulary) Act, 1945, compresses into a small compass a mass of statistics and comment on practically every aspect of police, and offers a summing up which deserves the attention of Parliament and the public. The inspectors cannot urge too strongly the propagation of " our view that every law-abiding citizen has a personal interest in maintaining an efficient and impartial police, contented, incorruptible and strong". Despite the magnitude of the problems for which solutions are only partially in sight, they" have pleasure in recording our view that during 1961 the county and borough police forces worthily maintained their high tradition and were efficient ". Increases in crime and road traffic during 1961 brought new demands on the police everywhere, particularly in the great centres of population and industry. The indications, in the view of the inspectors of constabulary, are that they are not likely to ease up in the immediate future. Statistics of convictions for indictable offences in England and Wales during 1961, compared with those for 1960, showed that the number of persons found guilty at Assizes and quarter sessions increased by 12.4 per cent, and of those in magistrates' courts by 11.3 per cent. Increases were shown in all the age groups of people, including children and young persons, found guilty in magistrates and higher courts, the highest increase being 15.1 per cent recorded in the age group of young persons aged 14 and under 17 years of age, and the lowest, 9.3 per cent, among children under 14 years of age. Percentage variations in the number of persons found guilty of indictable offences in 1961 per 100,000 of the population, compared with the corresponding number in 1960, showed the greatest increase of 14.8 per cent amongst children under 14 years of age, with 4.9 per cent of young persons aged 14 and under 17 as the lowest increase recorded.


Methods for efficiently estimating Shannon entropy of data streams have important applications in learning, data mining, and network anomaly detections (e.g., the DDoS attacks). For nonnegative data streams, the method of Compressed Counting (CC) [11, 13] based on maximally-skewed stable random projections can provide accurate estimates of the Shannon entropy using small storage. However, CC is no longer applicable when entries of data streams can be below zero, which is a common scenario when comparing two streams. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for entropy estimation in general data streams which allow negative entries. In our method, the Shannon entropy is approximated by the finite difference of two correlated frequency moments estimated from correlated samples of symmetric stable random variables. Interestingly, the estimator for the moment we recommend for entropy estimation barely has bounded variance itself, whereas the common geometric mean estimator (which has bounded higher-order moments) is not sufficient for entropy estimation. Our experiments confirm that this method is able to well approximate the Shannon entropy using small storage.


The United States has had and will continue to have a compelling interest in the establishment of a permanent international criminal court (ICC). Such an international court, so long contemplated and so relevant in a world burdened widi mass murderers, can both deter and punish diose who might escape justice in national courts. Since 1995, the question for the Clinton administration has never been whether there should be an international criminal court, but rather what kind of court it should be in order to operate efficiently, effectively and appropriately within a global system that also requires our constant vigilance to protect international peace and security. At the same time, the United States has special responsibilities and special exposure to political controversy over our actions. This factor cannot be taken lightly when issues of international peace and security are at stake. We are called upon to act, sometimes at great risk, far more than any other nation. This is a reality in the international system.


1 The venom of the green mamba, Dendroaspis angusticeps, was tested for effects on neuromuscular transmission and skeletal muscle contractility in isolated phrenic nerve‐hemidiaphragm preparations of the rat and mouse, chick biventer cervicis muscle preparations and in aneural cultures of embryonic chick skeletal muscle. 2 The venom (10 to 40 μg/ml) augmented the responses to indirect but not direct stimulation. As the venom did not have anticholinesterase activity and did not increase receptor sensitivity, it is likely that the venom enhanced release of acetylcholine. 3 Higher concentrations of venom (40 to 80 μg/ml) inhibited acetylcholine receptor sensitivity. 4 Prolonged exposure to the higher concentrations of venom produced a failure of muscle contractility. Signs of muscle degeneration were seen in skeletal muscle cultures.


An in-depth study of harmonic current reduction in European commercial buildings due to the harmonic cancellation effect when a set of single-phase uncontrolled rectifiers and a set of fluorescent lamps are connected at the same voltage level is essential, since both types of non-linear loads are very present in commercial and residential sectors. This paper provides an appropriate index to assess the global cancellation level of the harmonic currents for this study. The equivalent circuit per phase of the typical three-phase power system of European commercial installations is presented and simplified for the cancellation analysis of the harmonic currents consumed by a set of multiple identical single-phase uncontrolled rectifiers and a set of multiple identical fluorescent lamps connected at the same voltage level. The suitability and usefulness of the proposed index are shown by applying it to that analysis, which leads to some results of practical interest. This index can be generalized to any number of sets of multiple identical non-linear loads and can be applied in graphical and optimization studies that will allow a greater benefit from the harmonic cancellation effect to be obtained given the global nature of the index.


This discussion of natural family planning (NFP) examines the history of natural techniques of family planning and the recent resurgence of interest in them briefly describes and differentiates between the available techniques discusses problems of evalation of NFP techniques and examines acceptance of such techniques in different areas and cultural groups. The majority of users of NFP techniques choose them for religious or moral reasons and often view them as methods of achieving goals other than contraception such as conjugal harmony or feelings of autonomy. The NFP techniques all depend on 3 scientifically accepted assumptions: the egg is released about 14 days before ovulation the egg survives about 24 hours and sperm remain capable of fertilizing eggs for 48-72 hours. The various methods all require estimation or recognition of the moment of ovulation. Besides calendar rhythm the basal body temperature sympto-thermal and cervical mucus or Billings methods have been developed. The increased acceptance of NFP methods probably stems from their greater theoretical sophistication their harmony with the teachings of the Catholic church and fear of medical side effects of more effective methods. Efforts of NFP defenders to divide failures into various types and to exclude many of them for purposes of evaluation are misleading because actual use-effectiveness rates are likely to be more realistic for most couples in practice. Even when NFP methods are vigorously promoted in government family planning programs acceptance is usually limited contradicting the argument of some NFP advocates that failure to promote the techniques is an important factor in low acceptance rates. 1 Colombian program attracted only 1240 couples willing to participate after 20000 home visits and 372 conferences. Failure of the husband to cooperate appears to be a major drawback to acceptance and success. Despite the widespread occurrence of lengthy postpartum abstinence in Africa NFP methods are alien to cultural norms and have attracted little interest. Because of the high costs of training both the program personnel and the participating couples NFP methods are usually more expensive than other contraceptive techniques.


A clinicopathological study was made in ninety-four cases in which extremities were amputated at the Mayo Clinic for occlusive vascular disease; forty amputations were through the thigh and fifty-four were below the knee.

Dissection and microscopic examination of the forty limbs amputated above the knee demonstrated the segmental nature of the occlusive arterial lesions in atherosclerosis obliterans. Limbs amputated above the knee that contained fresh thrombi in the femoral or popliteal arteries were clinically the most ischaemic of the entire series of ninety-four limbs examined.

Patients with diabetes mellitus who were subjected to amputation above the knee did not have fresh thrombi in the popliteal or femoral arteries. This correlates with the clinical finding that recent sudden arterial occlusion is relatively infrequent as the initiating factor for amputatiomi in patients with both atherosclerosis and diabetes.

The anterior tibial, posterior tibial, and peroneal arteries of limbs amputated for atherosclerosis obliteramis showed no quantitative differences in the degree of occlusion in those amputated above the knee compared with those amputated below the knee.

The old lesions of thromboangiitis obliterans may bear a strong histological resemblance to certain other thrombotic lesions, such as those secondary to emboli. The microscopic picture of thromboangiitis obliterans is not always specific and its diagnosis requires that the pathologist be familiar with the clinical history and findings in all cases.


This book is a contribution to the debate about one of the most important public issues at the turn of the millennium: the institutions and rules which are to govern the world economy. This impinges directly on the kinds of livelihoods, welfare systems, social protections, goods and services, culture, and environment which people all over the world might enjoy. Our focus is the regulation of international business and international investment flows, which has become the subject of increasing public debate and concern in recent years.


Background: Vitamin D might be beneficial in diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease through its favorable effect on metabolic profiles and biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress. We performed a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to assess whether vitamin D supplementation could improve glucose control and inflammation in type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease. Methods: The proposed systematic review and meta-analysis will conform to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocols. Seven electronic databases including Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, Wanfang Data, Scopus, Science Direct, Cochrane Library were searched in October 2022 by 2 independent reviewers. The risk of bias assessment of the included studies was assessed using the tool recommended in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (version 5.1.0). Data analysis was performed with Review Manager Software (RevMan Version 5.4, The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark). Results: This study will provide a high-quality synthesis to assess the effectiveness and safety of vitamin D supplementation on type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease. Conclusion: This systematic review may lead to several recommendations, for both patients and researchers, as which is the best therapy for type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease and how future studies need to be designed, considering what is available now and what is the reality of the patient.


Imporous MgB2 bulks with a density of 1.82 g cm−3 have been synthesized by pretreatment of B powder in an in situ solid-state reaction at ambient pressure. The results show that the MgB2 with B powder pretreatment has a significant improvement in Jc, Birr, microstructure and intergranular coupling, but with no decrease of Tc. At 20 K and 4 T, the Jc is enhanced by 4 times by the pretreatment of the B powder. For the B pretreated MgB2, the Birr at 20 K reaches 5 T and Jc at 10 K and 6 T reaches 2200 A cm−2, compared to 4.2 T and 670 A cm−2 for the B-not-pretreated MgB2. It is argued that the small amounts of highly dispersed carbon in B powder may enhance the mobility of B particles during the reaction of B and Mg, which avoids the formation of voids in the positions of Mg particles.


SUMMARY

Numerical models are presented that simulate several active tectonic processes. These models include a continent that is thermally and mechanically coupled with viscous mantle flow. The assumption of rigid continents allows use of solid body equations to describe the continents' motion and to calculate their velocities. The starting point is a quasi-steady state model of mantle convection with temperature/pressure-dependent viscosity. After placing a continent on top of the mantle, the convection pattern changes. The mantle flow subsequently passes through several stages, eventually resembling the mantle structure under present-day continents: (a) Extension tectonics and marginal basins form on boundary of a continent approaching to subduction zone, roll back of subduction takes place in front of moving continent; (b) The continent reaches the subduction zone, the extension regime at the continental edge is replaced by strong compression. The roll back of the subduction zone still continues after closure of the marginal basin and the continent moves towards the upwelling. As a result the ocean becomes non-symmetric and (c) The continent overrides the upwelling and subduction in its classical form stops. The third stage appears only in the upper mantle model with localized upwellings.


© 2007 The Authors 1001 JEADV 2007, 21, 977–1010 Journal compilation © 2007 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology The patient was treated with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone), and rituximab. Primary cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (PCBCLs) are defined as B-cell lymphomas originating in the skin without evidence of extracutaneous disease at presentation and for 6 months after diagnosis as assessed by adequate staging procedures. PCBCLs are rare and constitute approximately 5–10% of all cutaneous lymphomas. Clinically, PCBCLs usually present as solitary circumscribed reddish to livid papules, plaques or nodules and occasionally present as multiple grouped or disseminated cutaneous lesions. Skin lesions with ulcerated surfaces can be present. The majority of these PCBCLs are primary cutaneous large B-cell lymphomas (PCLBCLs). In the new WHO/ EORTC classification of cutaneous lymphomas, PCLBCLs are divided into three groups: large B-cell lymphoma, leg type (LBCLLT); follicle centre lymphomas, diffuse type (FCLDT); and large B-cell lymphoma, other (LBCLO). Patients with LBCLLT are older, develop extracutaneous disease more often, and have a significantly poorer prognosis, with 5-year survival rates of 52%. Lesions of LBCLLT are indeed located on the legs in the great majority of cases (80%). Clinically, when LBCLLT is located on the leg, it may present as a small solitary tumour on the lower leg, confluent large tumours on the knee, distinct large tumours on the lower leg on the background of chronic venous insufficiency, a large tumour involving almost the entire frontal aspect of the lower leg, or a large ulcerated lesion involving almost the entire lower leg. As a different clinical picture, a case masquerading as chronic venous ulcer has been reported. To the best of our knowledge a case of LBCLLT presenting with a migratory lesion has so far not been reported. TR Ekmekci,*† A Koslu,† D Sakiz,‡ B Barutcuoglu§ Departments of †Dermatology and ‡Pathology, §Sisli Etfal Research and Teaching Hospital, TDV 29 Mayis Hospital, Istanbul, *Corresponding author, Ihlamurdere Caddesi No: 153/19 Besiktas, Istanbul 80690, Turkey, tel. +90 212 259 20 18; fax +90 212 234 11 21; E-mail: email@example.com; email@example.com


Fungi today occur on virtually every plant part, living and dead, and represent a significant proportion of fungal diversity. Arborescent seed ferns characterized by large, tongue-shaped leaves with reticulate venation (Glossopteris) represent the dominant floral element in the Permian of Gondwana. However, documented evidence of fungi associated with the leaves of these plants is exceedingly rare. Partially degraded Glossopteris leaves from two upper Permian permineralized peat deposits from Antarctica yield scattered evidence of fungal colonization in the form of hyphae, spores, sporangia, and mycelia. Intact leaves from the same deposits are typically free of fungi, suggesting that the fungi in the degraded leaves were saprotrophs on the forest floor, rather than colonizers of living leaves. We hypothesize that the scarcity of fungi associated with Antarctic Glossopteris leaves may be related to structural and physiological adaptions of the plants to the extreme conditions that governed late Paleozoic polar ecosystems.


The stability of induced junction silicon photodiodes used to construct the predictable quantum efficient detector (PQED) has been studied over a time period of a decade by measurements of its spectral responsivity against absolute cryogenic radiometers (CR) in two independent laboratories at CMI and PTB. PQEDs operated at room temperature show a long-term temporal stability within 150 ppm over a broad spectral range during a 10-year period, well within the range of the claimed measurement uncertainty values of the CRs. This long term stability fulfills one of the fundamental requirements to establish a new primary standard for the measurement of power of optical radiation.


The effect of an intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) on Alzheimer's disease (AD) blood‐based biomarker levels and cognitive outcomes among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is unknown. We examined AD biomarkers and cognitive outcomes in the Look AHEAD Study.


Abstract This article reveals a little known and extraordinary relationship between the powerful Bank of England and hundreds of London men and women it had successfully prosecuted for circulating forged bank notes at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The relationship was conducted in writing, by prisoners in Newgate prison awaiting, sometimes many long months, ships to transport them to Australia for fourteen years. Women were the main protagonists in this correspondence, which brought them remarkable results in terms of pecuniary relief and other favours. Such favours were bestowed in a strongly gendered way, revealing not only the Bank's attitude to women in distress, but also the power of the female prisoners as they exploited the written word.


All too often, archaeologists have viewed curation as a process that manages, rather than investigates, archaeological and natural history collections. The curation crisis can be understood as the result of a serious imbalance between the continued generation of field collections and a corresponding lack of resources and facilities devoted to accessioning, analyzing, reporting, curating and otherwise caring for these collections. Researchers mistakenly prioritize 'interpretation at the trowel's edge' with emphasis on excavation and field work, without considering the problem of how and where to store the objects they excavate.
 While legislation, Curation of Federally Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections (36 C.F.R. Part 79), was intended to ensure the long-term management and care of these resources, the absence of funding at the institutional and federal levels, nonexistent enforcement of the legislation through the National Park Service, and lack of compliance from field archaeologists, have resulted in collections throughout the United States being at risk of loss through deterioration, mismanagement, and neglect. I will demonstrate that accessioning, inventorying, cataloguing, rehousing and conserving are meaningful generative encounters between scholars, objects and collections staff, not simply byproducts of research. The need for an online database specifically set up for archaeological collections is suggested as a way to address the curation crisis. Implementing digitization will enhance preservation by reducing damage to the artifacts caused by physical handling. Persons working within the field will gain a better understanding of collections care and the collections transition to the repository.


Geospatial information is used in emergency management centers, architectural bureaus, environmental protection offices and daily life. Not only are trained experts using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) but novices, e.g. government employees, rescue workers and the general public, also use GIS. Despite the success of various GIS applications, their current use and usability is still constrained by overly complex user interfaces. While keyboard and command line shortcuts can make use of GIS applications more efficient for expert users, often some functions can only be accessed through repetitive menu and wizard tool usage. These functions are "hidden" for novice users, which remain tethered by the WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointers) model of human computer interaction. Another, more often overlooked limitation of current GIS interfaces is that GIS user interfaces are designed for single-user interaction and thus do not support aspects of collaborative group work [1].


Background The problem of chronic kidney diseases (CKD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have not been fully studied. The role of biological therapy (BT) is poorly understood. Objectives Aim of the study was to examine the prevalence, risk factors and histological variants of CKD in RA, and impact of pharmacotherapy. Methods 135 patients with RA from 2013 to 2018 were enrolled in this study. Age, gender, duration of RA, drug therapy, ESR, CRP, DAS28, renal function, proteinuria (PU), histological variants were analyzed. Arterial hypertension, weight index, serum lipids and glucose levels were also assessed. Results The incidence of CKD in RA was 30.4% (41 from 135). CKD 3-4 stages with eGFR < 60ml/min/1.73m2 was detected in 14.8% patients. The duration of the disease, high ESR and DAS28 score, NSAIDs treatment and hyperlipidemia were risk factors for CKD in RA (Fig 1). We also found negative correlation between the DAS28 and eGFR (Fig. 2). Amyloidosis was the most common histologic pattern (51.52%), followed by chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) (24.24%) and tubulo-interstitial nephritis (24.24%). Among CGN mesangial glomerulonephritis was the most frequent (Table 1). Renal amyloidosis was associated with a duration of RA, presence of systemic symptoms and CRP level. The levels of PU were lower, and eGFR levels were higher in patients treated with BT than in patients treated with synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) (Fig 3). Conclusion CKD is often developed in patients with high RA activity. Treatment with biological agents is associated with a lower PU and higher GFR levels. References [1] Tokoroyama T, Ando M, Setoguchi K, Tsuchiya K, Nitta. K. Prevalence, incidence and prognosis of chronic kidney disease classified according to current guidelines: a large retrospective cohort study of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Nephrol Dial Transplant (2016) 0: 1–8 doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfw315 [2] Masako Kochi, Kentaro Kohagura, Yoshiki Shiohira,Kunitoshi Iseki, and Yusuke Ohya Inflammation as a Risk of Developing Chronic Kidney Disease in Rheumatoid Arthritis. PLoS One. 2016; 11(8): e0160225 [3] Kim HW, Lee CK, Cha HS, Choe JY, Park EJ, Kim J. Effect of anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and chronic kidney disease. Rheumatol Int. 2015 Apr;35(4):727-34. doi: 10.1007/s00296-014-3146-4.Abstract AB1302B Table 1 Renal histopathologic findings in RA patients (n=33) Histological forms n % Amyloidosis: 21 63.7 Chronic glomerulonephritis:- Mesangial GN:IgA nephropathyIgM nephropathyMembranoproliferative GN- Minimal change disease- Membranous nephropathy- Diffuse nephrosclerosis 127412113 36.321.212.13.06.03.03.09.1Figure 1Figure 1Figure 1 Disclosure of Interests None declared


The termination of the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS 1) in October 1998 and the subsequent delay of the launch of its successor, the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), caused a troublesome interruption in the availability of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data to the several research institutions and government agencies in Japan that had been studying surface deformation by SAR techniques since the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA, formerly the National Space Development Agency of Japan) launched JERS 1 in 1992.

SAR is an all-weather type of sensor that is suitable for the derivation of disaster mitigation information, and—as shown, for example, by Massonnet and Feigl [1998]—interferometric SAR (InSAR) techniques can be used to derive precise ground surface deformation maps associated with earthquakes, volcanism, landslides, and slow tectonic motions, as well as with oil pumping and water withdrawal, with fine spatial accuracy. The electromagnetic similarity (coherence) between two SAR images acquired over the same area before and after an event—for instance, an earthquake—is measured, and where appropriately high coherence is achieved, the change in the distance between SAR and the ground target can be derived with fine (centimeter) precision. Both airborne and spaceborne SAR systems are commonly used, although the latter often are preferred due to their long-term monitoring capacity and global coverage.


To ensure the security of resource and intelligence sharing in 6G, blockchain has been widely adopted in wireless communications and applications. Although blockchain can ensure the traceability and non-tamperability of data in the concatenated blocks, it cannot guarantee the honest behaviors of users in the application before the generation of transactions. Thus, additional technologies are required to ensure that the source of blockchain data is reliable. In this paper, the detailed procedure is designed for the application-oriented task validation in the blockchain-enhanced computing resource sharing and transactions in ultra dense networks (UDN). The corresponding queuing model is built and analyzed with the consideration of the wireless re-transmission and the probability of malicious deception by users. Based on the analysis results, the UDN deployment is optimized to save network cost while ensuring latency performance. Numerical results verify our analysis, and the optimized system deployment including the number and service capacities of both base stations and mobile edge computing (MEC) servers are also given with various system settings.


"It is very important for countries to stimulate their economic prosperity and reduce poverty. While it is commonly accepted that education of all forms enhances economic performance of a country, yet the question of which level of education, secondary or tertiary, is more important to fuel the economy is not conclusively answered. The finding in Avraham Cohen's PhD thesis is that education, as measured by published research, is strongly associated with Artificial Intelligence index of countries. Also, he found that AI is strongly associated with GDP. His findings encourage the idea that higher education, which is needed for Artificial Intelligence (AI), will be a dominant factor for economic growth in general; hereby, policy makers should invest in higher education to ensure economic affluence. Enrollment rates for higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa are by far the lowest in the world and the academic research output in the region is among the world's lowest. Because of a belief that primary and secondary schooling are more important than tertiary education for poverty reduction, the international development community has encouraged African governments' relative neglect of higher education. Using methodology of fuzzy logic-based soft regression, this study challenges these beliefs and demonstrates that economic growth is almost exclusively determined by higher education. Also, the importance of higher education relative to secondary education is more so in recent years relative to a decade or two ago. Motivated by this finding, I propose to find the right branch of higher education for every country based on its economic competitive advantage that will impact its economic growth best. Keywords: Education, Economic Growth, Artificial Intelligence, fuzzy logic, soft regression"


cm), its power (over 3 times as many aphids Aphids, are trapped as in a 30 cm diameter Moericke yellow trap) and the fact that it catches the insects alive. Vectors, In a test, alates of Aphis gossypii were not affected by a 15 mn period in the suction trap in their capacity to Virus. transmit cucumber mosaic virus to young muskmelons.


The wastewater generated by domestic and industrial activities cause severe environmental problems such as pollution, odour problems and sometimes epidemic. The legislation for wastewater disposal has become more stringent and it is mandatory to treat wastewater to the levels stipulated by statutory authorities. To meet the treatment criteria and disposal standards, the design procedures for units in wastewater treatment plant (WTP) are computerised by using C++ computer programming language. After providing input parameters, results obtained from software matched fairly with the design of units in practical WTP.


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major problem worldwide, representing the fifth most common tumor among the general population (1). Several molecular pathways seem to be involved in HCC growth and progression, realizing an intricate mechanism of proliferative and angiogenetic stimulation and inhibiting apoptosis. The recent identification of these molecular pathways has improved our knowledge of HCC tumorigenesis and has setted up a more specific approach to HCC treatment. However, since non advanced HCC is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation, the recent novelties in pharmacologic inhibition of HCC growth mechanisms have opened new interesting opportunities in recipients' immunosuppressive treatment. M-TOR inhibitors belong to the group of rapamycine analogues, are used as second line immunosuppressive drugs and capable to inhibit one of the most active molecular pathways in HCC cells: the m-TOR pathway. In this review, we explain the mechanism and the molecular elements involved, up- and downstream, in m-TOR activation, providing an overview of the other features of HCC tumorigenesis too. Moreover, we describe the effects of m-TOR inhibition on HCC cells in vitro and in animal models, as well as on liver transplant recipients at risk of or with a manifest tumor recurrence and on de novo post-transplant malignancies. Finally, we discuss the possible efficacy of a proper combined therapy, well tolerated by patients and active against multiple molecular targets, to obtain a synergistic effect on the tumor mass with the greatest benefit for patients' survival and quality of life.


A nickel layer on the surface of polyurethane foam was prepared by electroless plating and electro-deposition process.The main factors affecting the thickness and quality of the layer such as pH value,temperature,current density were explored.Optical microscopy,scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrometer were used to observe the surface morphologies,cross-section microstructure and composition of electroplated nickel layer.Experiment results show that the thickest coating obtained at pH = 4.2 is 76 μm.The coating thickness increases with increasing current density with scorched coating appeared when the current density is 11.8 A/dm2,and the optimal current density is 9.6 A/dm2.The temperature to obtain the thickest coating is 60℃ with a coating of 95 μm.Deposition thickness increases with deposit time increase.In the optimized deposition conditions,a bright,uniform and flawless nickel coating can be obtained.


UK-based James Walker has developed and tested valve stem packing that is capable of handling chemically aggressive and corrosive media.


Users increasingly own multiple devices with a number of network interfaces. These devices support different communications technologies that enable the creation of multi-technology Personal Area Networks (PANs). Yet, without a routing solution, connectivity between any two devices in the PAN is not guaranteed. State of the art PAN routing solutions are complex, do not guarantee shortest routes, and are not fully backwards compatible, precluding the plug & play integration of legacy devices in the PAN. We propose GLUE, a simple and backwards compatible PAN routing approach, based on transparent bridging and a novel spanning tree mechanism. Simulation and experimental results show the feasibility of our solution, a reduction of one order of magnitude in the route configuration delay, and its good performance in terms of data throughput and delay, when compared against state of the art solutions.


Summary We analyze remediation alternatives for a soil contaminated with 137Cs, which sorbs strongly to clay aggregates where water flux is negligible. The mobile portion of the soil (macropores) retains little water and cesium. Some of the remediation alternatives involve infiltration of seawater enriched with KCl, to promote mobilization of Cs through exchange with K. Therefore, a fully coupled reactive transport model is used to test these alternatives. We conclude that flushing is a viable alternative, provided that some recommendations, derived from the modelling exercise are followed. These include high rate periodic infiltration and draining, as well as performing infiltration from independent cells to limit the effect of preferential flowpaths.


The policeman specially detailed to protect a person´s body is appointed with the purpose of protection for national agency or a local government. He...


Recent research in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports has shown that the death rate for golfers is 40 percent lower than other people, which corresponds to a 5 year increase in life expectancy. The golfers with the lowest handicaps are the safest. I am not so sure about this. I am certain that most golfers feel the opposite: that the stress of the game must surely shorten one's life not lengthen it. The British journalist A A Gill described golf as "a game of ceaseless torment, with brief flashes of possible contentment that are cruel illusions".


Adsorbent CuO/γ-Al2O3 for adsorption of SO2 were prepared by impregnating Cu(NO3)2.3H2O solution. Five types of adsorbent were obtained 5Cu (intended Cu concentration of 5%, actual of 4.92%, 8Cu (7.68%), 15Cu(14.13%), 22Cu (20.80%) and 27Cu (25.80%). For activity test, model gas containing SO2 with a concentration of about 0.757 mol.m-3 were passed through the bed of 1 gram adsorbent at a flow rate in the range of 1.4-1.8 mL.s-1. Adsorption of SO2 were carried out at a constant temperature of 300, 350, 400 or 450 °C. Increasing sulfur loadings (gram of sulfur per gram of adsorbent) were observed with increasing adsorption temperatures, but not with increasing Cu content in the adsorbent. Among those types, adsorbent of 8Cu was considered as the best with respect to the sulfur loading (3.71 g of sulfur per 100 g of adsorbent). Adsorbent 5Cu had actually a better sulfur loading, but it was suspected being contributed also by adsorption of SO2 on γ-Al2O3. The shrinking core model was used in the kinetic study of adsorption using 8Cu and with additional assumption of a spherical particle. Compared to film diffusion and pore diffusion controlling step models, the reaction rate limitation was the best to fit the experimental data. The reaction rate constant for this model at temperatures of 300, 350, 400 and 450 °C were 0.015, 0.027, 0.030 and 0.042 kg.m.mol-1.min-1, respectively. The activation energy was 21.37 kJ.mol-1 and the frequency factor was 1.45 min-1. Copyright © 2016 BCREC GROUP. All rights reserved


DEAR EDITOR, The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) identified treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis as an area for research. No recent studies have assessed treatment patterns and outcomes among patients hospitalized for psoriasis in the U.K. This study evaluated clinicianand patient-reported outcomes, treatment patterns and hospital length of stay (LOS) in patients admitted to hospital for plaque or erythrodermic psoriasis, and enrolled 61 eligible patients across nine U.K. hospital sites from 15 November 2013 to 2 June 2014. Inclusion criteria included the following: ≥ 18 years; willing and able to provide written informed consent; able to read, understand and complete questionnaires; admitted as an inpatient with plaque or erythrodermic psoriasis. Patients were ineligible if they had participated in an investigational drug trial in the previous 6 months; or had a serious/unstable medical or psychological condition that would compromise participation. Study site personnel recorded eligibility criteria; patient clinical characteristics; clinician-reported outcomes, including Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), Body Surface Area (BSA) affected by psoriasis, and Physician's Global Assessment (PGA; 5-point scale) at admission and discharge; psoriasis treatments; and LOS. Patients reported psoriasis-related symptoms; health status [12-Item Short Form Health Survey, v2 (SF-12v2); EuroQoL 5-Dimensions, 3-Levels (EQ-5D-3L)]; mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), productivity (Work Productivity and Activity Impairment, WPAI) and dermatology-related quality-of-life index (Dermatology Life Quality Index, DLQI) at admission, and at discharge, employment status, psoriasis-related symptoms, EQ-5D-3L and DLQI. Study materials were approved by the National Research Ethics Service Committee London-Stanmore (London, U.K.). Descriptive statistics are reported among those responding to each item. Changes in continuous scores/outcomes from admission to discharge are assessed with a paired t-test and summarized for patients with both admission and discharge measures. Multivariate linear regression with the stepwise selection procedure was conducted to ascertain predictors of LOS with candidate predictors (age, sex, PASI score at admission, comorbidities present in ≥ 20% of the sample, duration of psoriasis, and previous hospitalization). Statistical analyses were performed using SAS version 9.3 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, U.S.A.). The mean age was 45 5 years; 50 8% were male. Mean time since psoriasis diagnosis was 20 0 years. Most (78 7%) had ≥ one previous psoriasis-related hospitalization. The mean number of clinician-diagnosed comorbid conditions was 2 5, with psoriatic arthritis (34 4%), depression (24 6%) and arterial hypertension (21 3%) the most commonly reported. At admission, mean scores indicated substantial impairment in health status, mood and productivity (SF-12v2 physical and mental component summary: 35 4 and 32 1, respectively; HADS: 9 7 anxiety, 9 6 depression; WPAI: 68 7% activity impairment, 79 2% work impairment; see Table 1). Mean PASI improved from admission to discharge (25 2– 12 1), as did EQ-5D-3L (0 34–0 60), total DLQI (20 1–12 0), and psoriasis symptom scores (see Table S1; see Supporting Information). For 35 patients with PASI scores at both admission and discharge, 18 (51 4%) achieved a 50% reduction in PASI (PASI50), and eight (22 9%) achieved a 75% reduction in PASI (PASI75); 16 (45 7%) had a PASI > 10 at discharge. For 47 patients with a DLQI score at both time points, 28 (59 6%) achieved a ≥ 5-point DLQI improvement from admission to discharge. Prior to, during and post-hospitalization, topicals were the most frequently used, followed by systemic therapy, phototherapy and biologics (Table 1 and Table S1; see Supporting Information). The mean (range) LOS was 17 0 (2–71) days. For patients achieving PASI75, the mean LOS was 18 1 vs. 13 1 days for those not achieving PASI75. Multivariate regression analyses (coefficient estimate, P-value) suggest that higher PASI at admission (0 27, < 0 01), arterial hypertension (7 64, 0 03), and time (months) since diagnosis (0 02, 0 05) contributed to longer LOS. In recent years, there has been a decline in the number of overnight hospital stays for psoriasis. Treatments received are consistent with NICE and European clinical guidelines recommending phototherapy or systemic therapy in combination with topicals for moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Nevertheless, the proportion of patients prescribed biologics at discharge was lower than expected, because 68% reported a mean PASI or DLQI score > 10 at discharge after receiving intensive treatment in the inpatient setting. Our inpatient sample may reflect a more complex population with difficult-to-control psoriasis, who may be unresponsive or contraindicated to biologics. Study limitations include the modest sample size, which, based on enrolment logs, represented 57% of patients


In a solar MCAO system, the formula of isoplanatic angle gain multiples was derived and the best conjugate height of Hefei region was thoughtfully discussed. The results show that the isoplanatic angle gain varies with the conjugate height and the seasons. The isoplanatic angle gain of the three conjugated system is much superior than that of the double conjugated system.


The advances of genetic research have contributed greatly to our understanding of inflammatory diseases. Several genes associated with chronic inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and Sjögren's syndrome have been identified as important regulators of the immune system [1–3]. We are also beginning to understand how these inborn factors interact with different kinds of environmental triggers to promote development of autoimmunity and autoimmune disease [4, 5]. While the polygenetic nature of autoimmune disease may prove difficult to exploit for novel therapy development, understanding of the genetic polymorphisms associated with disease has proven important for stratification of patient cohorts when analyzing the influence of external risk factors. Environmental factors appear to confer increased risk of disease in select genetic settings, and to develop effective prevention it is important to understand these interactions in detail. The recent progress in genetics and pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases will be discussed at the '3rd Nordic Meeting on Genetics and Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Diseases' held at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm late August this year. A prime goal for the conference is to provide a meeting platform and discussion forum for geneticists and immunologists to facilitate interaction and stimulate collaborations. The meeting will include teaching sessions, plenary lectures and abstract presentations. The abstracts communicated to the meeting are published in this issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology and represent advances in a wide spectrum of inflammatory diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Sjögren's syndrome, congenital heart block, Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. The 3rd Nordic Meeting on Genetics and Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Diseases also honors professor and neurologist Tomas Olsson, Karolinska Institutet, with a work shop dedicated to neuroinflammatory diseases for his 60-year birthday. During his scientific career professor Olsson has studied neuroinflammation both experimentally and in humans, focusing mainly on autoimmunity. Prime achievements have been one of the first demonstrations of autoreactive T cells in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) [6], further development of the experimental model autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) [7], its dissection genetically to identify critically regulated bottlenecks in neuroinflammation [8, 9] and early studies on the cytokine network in MS and EAE [10]. The genetic dissection in the EAE model led to the identification of Vav1 and IL22Ra as important genes in both the experimental model and in human MS [11, 12]. During the last few years, Olsson has been active in collecting large MS case-control cohorts to study MS susceptbility genes [13], lifestyle and environmental risk factors, and how these interact to cause MS. In these studies, Olsson and his research team identified smoking and Epstein–Barr virus as risk factors in the context of HLA-genes [4, 5]. Current work of professor Olsson and his lab is on functional understanding of the identified genes and environmental factors causing MS, with the aim to develop better prevention and more selective therapy. The full meeting program is available at http://www.ceric.se/NMGPIM/NMGPIMMeeting.html.


Introduction: Racial and ethnic diversity in the geosciences, including planetary science is exceptionally low, even relative to other STEM fields. Alarmingly, these demographics have not shifted significantly over the past 40 years, even as gender representation improved, and despite sustained attempts to achieve diversity [1](Bernard & Cooperdock, 2018). This result does not reflect a lack of study, but — to some degree— a lack of effectiveness, especially in achieving retention beyond the undergraduate degree [2] (Whittaker and Montgomery, 2014). Growing and sustaining diversity in academia and research labs requires addressing the climate and culture— including career-advancement structures [3] (Rice and Alfred, 2014)– a macrosystem approach to diversity and inclusion [4] (Wolfe & Riggs, 2017). In other words, mentoring early career planetary scientists with systemically underrepresented and marginalized (URM) identities is not enough; institution-scale and discipline-scale cultural change is critical [5] (Ovink & Veazey, 2011). Planetary science, and geosciences more broadly, will suffer if we fail to hire, support, encourage, and mentor faculty who actively support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts to achieve success in tenure and promotion. Institutional barriers impede progress because traditional evaluation criteria focus on research metrics (and secondarily teaching within academia), with minimal acknowledgment of service, which is where "diversity activities" commonly fall. Activities such as mentoring URM students in research, implementing inclusive teaching and mentoring practices, and collaborating with postdocs and junior faculty are undervalued. In addition, the invisible labor carried out by many URM scientists is often ignored in traditional evaluation systems (e.g. one-onone listening sessions, educating uniformed colleagues, providing peer mentoring and support for other URM colleagues). Constraints on faculty time impede implementation of effective teaching and mentoring practices, which can improve diversity, inclusion, and equity in the geosciences [6] (Riihimaki & Viskupic, 2020). If these practices occur and go unrewarded in evaluations or tenure and promotion processes, change for the better may also fail; motivations reflect expectancies of effort and outcome, and thus individuals lose motivation when the outcome is unvalued [7] (Walker & Symons, 1997). Recognizing and rewarding equitybuilding activities as valid and valued work is a big step toward removing educational disparities in STEM; sustained change requires such changes in systematic/institutional practices [2]. Therefore, we suggest that evaluations of faculty, research scientists, postdocs, and other PI-level roles, must be scrutinized, deconstructed, and revised within our institutional systems to lower the barriers for meaningful DEI work that will support and engage current and future URM students within planetary science and the geosciences more broadly. While numerous studies have documented the bias in academic reward systems that affect women and URM faculty, few studies have investigated and demonstrated how reward system can be revised to IDEA outcomes. This project focuses on geoscience faculty, as faculty have a significant impact on the climate and culture within undergraduate and graduate programs, thus influencing future scientists at a critical juncture in the their career and personal development (Figure 1). However, we hope that our work can be adapted to evaluations of other professional Planetary Science roles, including research scientists, project leads, principle investigators, program managers, and other management, leadership, training, and mentoring positions.


This experiment was conducted to determine the optimum temperature and day-length condition for laboratory multiplication of Green Rice Leafhopper, Nephotettix cincticeps Uhler, and to obtain basic information for deriving temperature dependent growth rate function. The insects which were reared in have relatively short nymphal periods and high adult emergence rate compared with the insects which were reared in The adults which emerged in laid significantly smaller number of eggs than the adult reared in during their nymphal stage. Day length in did not have any influence to the nymphal growth, adult emergence rate and egg laying of the insect. The growth rate of the insect did not have linear relation with rearing temperature.


Based on the needs analysis observations on November 24, 2018 at Probolinggo Brabe 2 Elementary School, class II students during the learning process tended to be passive to the mathematical competence of multiplication material. This is because the teacher conveys the material that has not been supported by learning media that are fun and interesting to students. The teacher places more emphasis on the ability to memorize numbers than the process of building concepts. The teacher has never developed the media both existing media and developing new media, so the need for media development can help teachers and students in the teaching and learning process. This study aims to develop BATUKALI (Calculating Multiplication) media in Mathematics Material II Grade of Elementary School.
 This study uses the type of ADDIE development research, namely analyze, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. As a source of data are class II students at SDN Brabe II Probolinggo, with a total of 10 students. Data collection techniques using a validation questionnaire sheet. Before going through the implementation phase, the BATUKALI media was validated by 3 validators, namely material experts, media experts, and teacher responses to determine the effectiveness of the media.
 The results of the BATUKALI (Multiplication Hole) media study on class II math subjects in Elementary School were with the validity level of 96% and 93% material aspects in the media aspect. After implementation, researchers obtained 97% effectiveness for teacher responses and 97% for students' attractiveness responses with very effective criteria. This shows that with the BATUKALI (Hole Counting Multiplication) media, teachers and students have been helped and increased motivation in learning. The results of this study will produce products in the form of BATUKALI (Multiplication Hole) media on mathematics subjects multiplication so that students learn with fun, creative, and critical thinking.


Ancient China has the typical patriarchal culture characteristics.Under the influence of the patriarchal culture,ancient Chinese patriotism considers loyalty to the sovereign and love for the countrymen as the basic connotation,has the nationalistic tendencies,and considers whole unification as an important historical theme.Patriarchal culture not only gives ancient Chinese patriotism excellent tradition,but also makes it inevitably have the class limitations and historical conservation.


The proposed cost-benefit model for counterterrorist investment transforms the difficulty of the implementation of the reduction in resources allocation into an opportunity to reform the aviation security system. The research is important for designing an effective security system, based on maximizing the probability of achieving an optimal cost-benefit ratio, in terms of security objectives with limited resources. Also for Romania, where the airport infrastructure will be expanded considerably in the next period, airport management should consider designing security strategies with the help of such cost-benefit analyses. The applications presented demonstrate that the cost-benefit analysis is a decision-making support tool created to evaluate and compare the costs and benefits of security measures against terrorist threats. Key-words: security, aviation system, cost-benefit analysis, terrorism risk.


The large amount of data being generated and that data stored is growing in an exponential manner, it is often used in part to the continuing advances in computer technology. While "big data" has become a highlighted buzzword since last two year, "big data mining", i.e., mining from big data, has almost without any delay followed up as an come into existence, interrelated research area. Big data is set to offer companies tremendous insight. But with terabytes and petabytes of data pouring in to organizations today, traditional architectures and infrastructures are not up to the challenge. IT teams are burdened with ever-growing requests for data, ad hoc analyses and one-off reports. Decision makers become frustrated because it takes hours or days to get answers to questions, if at all. This paper put up an overview of big data mining and discusses the related challenges and the new opportunities. The discussion resolve into a review of data mining challenges with big data for processing and managing big data as well as the endeavor expected on big data mining. We address broad issues associated to big data mining and/or big data, and point out challenges and issues topics as they shall at proper time flesh out.


In order to account for (100) and/or (111) oriented heteroepitaxial growth of CdTe on (100)GaAs, we have proposed a theoretical model based on the formation, during the early stage of the growth, of stable clusters of chemically bound tellurium atoms. In this model we consider not only geometrical features, but also the constraints for symmetries, bond - angles and bond-lengths associated with the growth of CdTe along the requested orientation. In analysing the applicability and the use of this model in more general cases, we are able to express, through lattice mismatch, relatively precise criteria for explaining and predicting possible regularities in the heteroepitaxial growth features on (100) surfaces of zinc blende crystal structures. As an example, it is explained why ZnTe, which is very similar to CdTe, is always (100) oriented on (100) GaAs and never (111). It is also shown why for ternary compounds the (111) oriented growth is obtained only for compositions x < 0,17 in the case of ZnxCdi-xTe on GaAs and x < 0,53 for MnxCdi-xTe-GaAs.


This paper is concerned with heat transfer from a heated surface with uniform heat flux to a two-dimensional water jet. It describes quantitatively the results on the effect of pure forced convection on heat transfer with boiling in a flow of subcooled water. Experiments were carried out in two flow fields of an impinging water jet, at the stagnation point and in the parallel flow zone. Approximation of the superposition, that is, the total heat flux at forced convective boiling consisting of pool boiling heat flux and pure convective heat flux, held fairly good up to the burn-out heat flux region.


This paper investigates a certain type of numerical range introduced by Stampfli. In particular, we investigate the convexity of this set of elements of operators on Hilbert spaces and its relationship to the algebra numerical range implemented by elements of a W*-algebra.


Individuals as consumers in the EU and the U.S. are increasingly utilizing data collecting solutions on a daily basis to benefit from smart and efficient lifestyles. By providing personal data directly or indirectly to data service providers, processors or controllers; commercial actors have advantageous possibilities to track, obtain, process, monitor, transmit, and store personal data to improve businesses based on consumer behavior.

The processing of personal data in and between the EU and the U.S. is a critical issue that threatens the fundamental right to privacy and data privacy. Individuals lack the ability to control personal data, and are not fully able to consent to what functionalities or operators that can obtain the personally attributed information. The commercial data practices for processing personally attributed data need more sustainable solutions in order to maintain an appropriate exchange of personal data, and the prospering of innovation and economical growth in and between the EU and the U.S.

This thesis argues that commercial actors, as in data providers, processors and controllers, shall consider a sustainable and eco-system thinking strategy when conducting or developing data practices in the EU and/ or the U.S. It is also argued that individuals as data subjects must correspondingly be better informed and aware of their right to data privacy. In order to formulate sustainable data processing practices and compliance within the commercial sector, there are three major underlying factors that must be analyzed. (1) In order to protect data privacy, individuals and commercial actors must understand why it is important to protect privacy, and the importance of sustainable data development. Secondly, (2) the legal protection of data privacy in and between the EU and the U.S. must be evaluated whether they are protecting individuals' privacy sufficiently. Finally, (3) to implement practically applicable data compliance practices among commercial actors, the technical solutions must be adjusted and analyzed in order to see how sustainable data privacy protection best can be managed.

International frameworks and policy-making, national regulators, and law enforcement mechanisms can serve as guidelines and supervising entities. Thus, this thesis set forth that the best protection of data privacy is a matter of the relationship between the individuals and the commercial actors. Sustainable data privacy protection must derive from incentives among business actors, and be addressed on a narrow scale with understanding of the importance of sustainability.


This study by Beck et al. characterizes the atmospheric negative ion composition of various tropospheric layers (from 100m to 3200m) above the SMEAR II research station in the Finnish boreal forest. By deploying an API-TOF mass spectrometer in a Cessna 172 aircraft, the authors resolved the vertical distribution and diurnal variation of naturally charged molecular ions and ion-clusters from the stable boundary layer up to the free troposphere. While the ion composition of the stable boundary layer coincides with the simultaneous measurements placed at the field station on top of a 35m tower above the forest canopy, the other layers showed a clearly distinguishable ion composition. In the residual and mixing layers, the ion composition is strongly dependent on the origin of air masses, the turbulent mixing, and the photochemistry throughout the day. Most of the detected ions during daytime are comprised of sulfur-containing compounds, while the nocturnal ion compositions are more diverse. The detection of various halogens and carboxylic acids as well as the absence of HOMs in the free troposphere indicates that this layer is mainly influenced by long-term transported air mass. I agree with the general comment by reviewer 1. The authors realized a difficult technical measurement and showed through comprehensive investigations the composition and chemical processes of negative ions in various tropospheric layers and their diurnal evolution. The methods are extensively illustrated and clearly written, enabling a good evaluation of the results by the scientific community, and promoting a continuation of the study in this field of research. However, the manuscript lacks a detailed discussion and developed conclusion of the atmospheric implication to obtain a comprehensive understanding of ion chemistry and its role for NPF in the various tropospheric layers. I would recommend the manuscript for publication in ACP as a measurement report after the following minor comments have been addressed.


In the tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway, isoforms of glutamyl-tRNA reductase (HEMA2) and ferrochelatase1 (FC1) are mainly expressed in nonphotosynthetic tissues. Here, using promoter-β-glucuronidase constructs, we showed that the expressions of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) HEMA2 (AtHEMA2) and FC1 (AtFC1) were induced in photosynthetic tissues by oxidative stresses such as wounding. Transcript levels and β-glucronidase activity were rapidly induced within 30 min, specifically in the wound area in a jasmonate-independent manner. Transcriptome analysis of wound-specific early inducible genes showed that AtHEMA2 and AtFC1 were coinduced with hemoproteins outside plastids, which are related to defense responses. Ozone fumigation or reagents generating reactive oxygen species induced the expression of both genes in photosynthetic tissues, suggesting that reactive oxygen species is involved in the induction. Since cycloheximide or puromycin induced the expression of both genes, inhibition of cytosolic protein synthesis is involved in the induction of these genes in photosynthetic tissues. The physiological functions of AtHEMA2 and AtFC1 were investigated using insertional knockout mutants of each gene. Heme contents of the roots of both mutants were about half of that of the respective wild types. In wild-type plants, heme contents were increased by ozone exposure. In both mutants, reduction of the ozone-induced increase in heme content was observed. These results suggest the existence of the tetrapyrrole biosynthetic pathway controlled by AtHEMA2 and AtFC1, which normally functions for heme biosynthesis in nonphotosynthetic tissues, but is induced in photosynthetic tissues under oxidative conditions to supply heme for defensive hemoproteins outside plastids.


Variation in regional paediatric circumcision rates suggested some circumcisions were being performed unnecessarily. In 2016, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) released a clinical commissioning guide on foreskin conditions to standardise the indications for circumcision. We retrospectively audited the foreskin procedure practice at our urology department and its adherence to RCS clinical commissioning guidance.

 We assessed electronic health records for all paediatric patients (<17 years) having undergone a foreskin procedure from 1st Jan 2018 to 1st Jan 2019. Records were assessed for referral source, trial of medical treatment (steroid cream), indication, operative management carried out, daycase or inpatient cases, and histological analysis.

 198 patients (mean age 8.7, range 2-16) underwent foreskin procedures in the set time frame. 98.9% were referred from GP surgery, and the remainder directly from A&E. 29.8% had documented trials of steroid creams prior to surgery. 51.5% of procedures were performed for 'non-retractile foreskin' and 11.6% for pathological phimosis. 87.4% of patients underwent circumcision and 11.1% had freeing of adhesions. All of procedures were performed as day-case. Histology was sent for 17.3% of circumcisions, with non-specific inflammation being the most common finding (46.7%), followed by lichen sclerosus (40%).

 In our series large number of foreskin procedures were carried out over a 12-month period with a minority for the only absolute indication of pathological phimosis We have introduced stringent guidelines in the department since this audit, which will prevent circumcision in children who may otherwise avoid surgery.


AURICULAR fibrillation is frequent in various forms of heart disease and in thyrotoxicosis, and its occurrence in other conditions is also recognized.1 Although this arrhythmia is often encountered...


This archive page provides information about award recipients, project abstracts, and summaries from the 2010 Emergency Management for Higher Education Discretionary Grant Program competitions.


Most corpus-based investigations capitalise on word list analyses: frequency, keyword, and key-keywords, in profiling the lexical features of a specialised language. Though the three word lists have been used in many corpus-based language studies, comparisons across these three types of word lists in characterising a specialised language has not been made to identify any salient information each word list can reveal about the target language. This paper provides comparisons of Engineering English using three types of word list: frequency, keyword and key-keyword lists. The purpose is to identify the lexical information that can be revealed by the groups of words listed according to each type of word lists. To conduct the analyses, a corpus of Engineering English (E 2 C) is created. All the word lists from the corpus are extracted using the Wordsmith software. Next, further analyses on the distribution of the vocabulary components, namely function vs. content words, and word categories i.e. GSL, AWL and Others, are conducted on all the three word lists. The findings reveal that different word lists result in different ranges of words, and the analyses of the words reveal the distinct features of the specialised language at different levels. Given such differences, this study provides insights into which word lists are to be considered in a lexical study for language description purposes. Hence, this study further verifies the importance of corpus-based lexical investigations in providing empirical evidences for language description. Keywords: corpus; lexical features; specialised corpus; language description; word lists analysis


Stewart's Modified Neglect of Diatomic Overlap Parametric Method (MNDO-PM3), reported quite recently, was used to examine the relationship between the line-width of the S-33 NMR spectra of benzenesulfonic acids and their conformations about the sulfur atom. When benzenesulfonic acid dissociates into the sulfonate anion, the most stable conformation, as determined by MNDO-PM3, is comprised of three symmetric oxygens and there is possibly a spherically symmetric conformation around the sulfur atom involving the benzene ring. The quadrupole moment of the sulfur atom thus becomes small enough so that S-33 NMR signals can be detected. 4-CH3, 4-Cl and 4-NH2 substituted benzenesulfonates, whose line-widths of S-33 NMR signals are as small as the widths of those unsubstituted, have conformations virtually the same as that of benzenesulfonate. The difference between 3-nitrobenzenesulfonate and 4-aminobenzenesulfonate is evident from the results of the calculation on conformational deformation from a symmetric structure, and this would explain the larger line-width of the spectra. A quinone-like structure of 4-oxidobenzensulfonate based on a very broad signal of S-33 NMR spectra is also supported by the finding of a much shorter bond length between the phenyl C1-carbon and sulfur atom. Calculated data for the 3-O- substituent is less definite than those for 4-O- derivative. Consequently, they are all consistent with the finding that, though the signal is quite broad, it can still be observed.


Ontologies are shared models of a domain that encode a view which is common to a set of different parties. Contexts are local models that encode a party's subjective view of a domain. In this paper we show how ontologies can be contextualized, thus acquiring certain useful properties that a pure shared approach cannot provide. We say that an ontology is contextualized or, also, that it is a contextual ontology, when its contents are kept local, and therefore not shared with other ontologies, and mapped with the contents of other ontologies via explicit (context) mappings. The result is Context OWL (C-OWL), a language whose syntax and semantics have been obtained by extending the OWL syntax and semantics to allow for the representation of contextual ontologies.


On 6 November 2006 the Magistrates Court of Haifa, Israel, rendered a judgment in this case, analyzing in detail the nature of the immunity awarded to air carriers and anyone acting on their behalf under the Tokyo Convention of 1963. The decision dismissed a passenger's claim against Air Canada, holding that the necessary element to establish immunity under the Tokyo Convention, i.e. that the crew members had reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed, or was about to commit, on board the aircraft, the forbidden acts, had been established, thus relieving the air carrier from any liability.


Pope RP. Herbert RD, Kirwan JD, eta!: A randomized trial of preexercise stretching for prevention of lower-limb injury. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2000;32(2):271-277 During the study, the stretch group had fewer lower-limb injuries than the control group (158 vs 175), but the difference was not statistically significant. The incidence oflowerlimb injury in the recruits was 3.5 per 1,000 training days or 5.5 injuries per 1 ,000 hours of physical training. The most common injuries in both groups were tibial stress fractures, followed in order by patellofemoral joint injuries and ankle sprains. No significant differences were found for the all-injuries risk, soft-tissue injury risk, or bone injury risk between the stretch and the nonstretch groups.


combination of concordant atrio-ventricular and discordant ventriculo-arterial connections, is a potentially lethal congenital malformation. It represents the most common cardiac cause of cyanosis in the neonate. If left untreated, nine-tenths of the patients will die within the first year of life. Since the early 1980's, the arterial switch procedure has become the corrective operation of choice, because it provides both physiologic and anatomic correction of this congenital malformation. The overall mortality of this operation is now low, but the coronary arterial patterns exhibit marked variability in terms of aortic origin and epicardial course. This was previously largely of academic interest, but such abnormal patterns, origin, and epicardial course of the coronary arteries certainly increase the operative difficulty. Indeed, some, but not all, have reported increased mortality and morbidity when the patterns are abnormal. Of more importance, perhaps, is that obstruction of the translocated coronary arteries has been found to be responsible for many deaths and a substantial number of re-operations.1 The long-term prognosis for patients corrected using the arterial switch procedure will certainly depend on continued patency, adequate growth, and normal function of the translocated arteries, as well as adaptation of the neoaortic valve to the systemic diastolic pressure. The purpose of this review is to examine various aspects of the coronary arterial anatomy in complete transposition before and after the arterial switch operation. The aim is also to provide a comprehensive analysis of the available information on the longterm prognosis for these patients.


The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for dynamically controlling a secondary cell (SCell) in a mobile communication system, capable of supporting carrier aggregation (CA). According to one embodiment of the present invention, provided are a method of setting an SCell of a base station in the mobile communication system, which includes the steps of: identifying a CA operation mode; determining an amount of traffic for a terminal; determining the setting of the SCell for the terminal, based on the CA operation mode and the amount of the traffic for the terminal; and transmitting a message of requesting the SCell setting to the terminal, based on the determination, and a base station of operating the method. In addition, provided are the terminal making a communication with the base station and the method of setting the SCell for the terminal.


Based on the deformation theory of elastic beams, the coupling effect between the coupling displacements of a point on the middle line of beam and large overall motion is presented. The coupling matrix library and Jourdain's variation principle and single direction recursive formulation method are used to establish the general coupling dynamical equations of flexible multibody system. Two typical examples show the coupling effect between coupling displacements and large overall motion on the dynamics of flexible multibody system consisting of beams.


PURPOSE: A display apparatus and a method of manufacturing an optical sheet are provided to reduce the periodicity of a luminance pattern by changing the luminance of a light. CONSTITUTION: A display device comprises a display panel(100) and a backlight unit. The display panel comprises a plurality of pixels(160). A plurality of pixels is defined as a plurality of gate lines and plurality of data lines. A backlight unit supplies light to the display panel. The backlight unit comprises an optical sheet(340). The optical sheet comprises a light source and a plurality of prism patterns. The prism pattern varies the path of the light. The optical sheet comprises a plurality of diffusion patterns(370).


Objective To illustrate the selection preference and corresponding influence factors of different laryngeal mask airway(LMA) in clinical anesthesia.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the change of clinical consumption of LMA ProSeal,Supreme and i-gel,and analyzed the difference of surgical subspecialties,patients' gender and age among three LMAs using Chi square test or t test.Results Altogether 13 494 patients who received LMA-assisted general anesthesia were enrolled,with most of them using LMA Supreme.The number of patients who received LMA-assisted general anesthesia increased from 2010 to 2012.As compared with the number of LMA ProSeal used,those of LMA Supreme and i-gel increased more rapidly,and majority of them were used for female patients(P0.001).LMA i-gel was preferred in mastectomy(P0.001),while LMA Supreme in gynecological procedures(P0.001).No statistical difference existed for patients' age between group LMA Supreme and i-gel,but female patients were younger than male(P0.001).Conclusions The surgical subspecialty and surgical sites were major influence factors of the selection preference of different LMAs.


In order to investigation the effects of different concentrations of Silver-Thiosulfate (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 mM), Humic acid (10, 50, 100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 ppm), S-Carvone (0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 mM) and medicinal plant extracts, Mentha, Rosemary, Summer savory and Thymus (1, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%) on vase life of cut 'Red Old' rose flowers, three separate experiments based on completely randomized design with five replication were conducted in postharvest laboratory of Horticultural Department of Mohaghegh Ardabili University in 2009- 2010. Cut flower were pulse treated for 24 hours in first experiment and for 2 hours in next experiments. The result of first experiment revealed that high alcohol concentration in essential oils led to death of flowers at first day. Lower concentration of humic acid (10 and 100 ppm) and 0.25 mM of STS gave the better results but high concentrations of this compounds (humic acid in 10000 ppm and STS in 1 and 2 mM) had negative effects on vase life of cut flowers. In the second experiment the results showed that plant extracts in all treatment times and applied concentration (10 %) did not have significant effects on all traits. But STS at rate 0.25 mM produced the highest vase life compared to control. Among all applied humic acid concentrations, 100 ppm had better results. The results of third experiment also indicated that STS at rates 0.25 and 1mM, extended the vase life of cut flowers up to 12 days compared to control and also had significant (p≤0.05) effects on other traits. Humic acid treatments except 1000 ppm and S-Carvone at rates 0.1 and 0.25 mM had positive effects on relative fresh weight, solution uptake and flower diameter. But higher concentrations of S-Carvone (0.75 and 1mM) had negative effects on postharvest characteristics of cut rose flowers. Mentha and Rosemary Extracts maintained relative fresh weight of cut rose flowers compared to control. However, Summer savory extract decreased relative fresh weight . In addition, Thymus and Rosemary extracts had positive effects on solution uptake. Generally, in 3th experiment, all treatments enhanced the vase life of cut rose flowers compared to control.


Many countries maintain nationwide groundwater networks to monitor the status of their groundwater resources. For effective groundwater resource management, it is fundamental to understand the groundwater dynamics measured in the individual monitoring wells. Nationwide monitoring networks typically cover multiple aquifer systems with different degrees of environmental complexity. The analysis of the data of such networks thus requires flexible modeling approaches. In this study, we assessed the applicability and performance of lumped-parameter models using impulse response functions, as implemented in the Pastas software, to simulate hydraulic head data from the nationwide groundwater monitoring network in Switzerland. The selected 28 monitoring wells in the network are situated in unconsolidated, relatively shallow aquifers across Switzerland. Given the very diverse topography in the study area, snowmelt processes affect some aquifers, while groundwater-surface water interactions are important in the valleys. Different linear and nonlinear models were tested to take precipitation and potential evaporation


The broad and sharp absorption systems of anthracene in the 362−376 nm region have been confirmed to be due to dimeric species by measuring the resonantly enhanced two-photon ionization mass spectrum. The hole-burning spectrum indicated that two stable isomers exist in the S0 state. The decay time of the excimer emission (300 ns) from the broad system is much longer than that of the emission from the sharp system (15 ± 5 ns), indicating that the electronic nature of the excited state is very different between the two systems. The difference in the excited-state potentials of the two systems has been discussed on the basis of the vibronic structures and the emission lifetimes.


In order to improve the teaching effect of American science fiction literature, based on artificial intelligence virtual reality technology, this paper constructs an auxiliary teaching system of intelligent American science fiction literature. Moreover, this paper analyzes the time complexity and space complexity of constructing point cloud spatial topological relations and finding the nearest k neighboring points. Simultaneously, this paper uses CUDA to find k nearest neighbors on the GPU, analyzes the point cloud denoising technology, uses the KD-tree to construct the point cloud topology in the DBSCAN-based denoising method, searches for the k nearest neighbors to complete the mark of the core point and the boundary point. In addition, this paper combines artificial intelligence virtual technology and intelligent algorithms to construct the framework of the auxiliary teaching system of American science fiction literature, and analyze its functional modules. Finally, this paper designs experiments to verify the performance of the model. The research results show that the system constructed in this paper can meet the needs of auxiliary teaching of American science fiction literature.


Decrease in the contrast of the reflected light at the mask pattern boundary, in particular EUV mask decrease in contrast is suppressed of the reflected light at the boundary portion of the mask pattern edge, and to provide an EUV mask blank for use in production of the EUV mask . On a substrate, a reflective layer for reflecting EUV light and an absorber layer for absorbing EUV light, but a reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, which is formed in this order, In at least part of the said substrate, a portion where the absorber layer during the patterning is removed, adjacent portions the absorber layer is removed, and the site where the absorber layer is not removed at the time of patterning, during the reflective mask blank for EUV lithography, characterized in that a step is provided.


This article addresses the stabilization control issue for the postcapture tethered system by tethered space robot (TSR). Due to the physical characteristics of space tether by nature, there exists no control inputs on the in-plane/out-of-plane channels of the tether; therefore, the postcapture tethered system is a typical multiinput and multioutput underactuated system. In this article, we propose an energy-based controller for the underactuated system subject to input saturation and the nonnegativity constraint of the tether tension. First, we give the dynamic model of the postcapture tethered system, with consideration of the three attitude angles of the postcapture combination, the in-plane/out-of-plane angles, and the tether length. Second, we list the analysis process of the system's equilibrium points. Third, we give the detailed controller design process, and verify the stability of the system by invoking the Lyapunov techniques and the extended Barbalat's lemma. Finally, numerical simulations and comparison results with the hierarchical sliding mode controller are conducted to validate the performance improvement of the developed control strategy.


We study two finite element methods for solving time-harmonic electromagnetic and acoustic problems: the discontinuous Petrov-Galerkin (DPG) method and the hybrid discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) method. The DPG method for the Helmholtz equation is studied using a test space normed by a modified graph norm. The modification scales one of the terms in the graph norm by an arbitrary positive scaling parameter. We find that, as the parameter approaches zero, better results are obtained, under some circumstances. A dispersion analysis on the multiple interacting stencils that form the DPG method shows that the discrete wavenumbers of the method are complex, explaining the numerically observed artificial dissipation in the computed wave approximations. Since the DPG method is a nonstandard least-squares Galerkin method, its performance is compared with a standard least-squares method having a similar stencil. We study the HDG method for complex wavenumber cases and show how the HDG stabilization parameter must be chosen in relation to the wavenumber. We show that the commonly chosen HDG stabilization parameter values can give rise to singular systems for some complex wavenumbers. However, this failure is remedied if the real part of the stabilization parameter has the opposite sign of the imaginary part of the wavenumber. For real wavenumbers, results from a dispersion analysis for the Helmholtz case are presented. An asymptotic expansion of the dispersion relation, as the number of mesh elements per wave increase, reveal values of the stabilization parameter that asymptotically minimize the HDG wavenumber errors.


Erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium merozoites is mediated by molecular interactions between parasite proteins and host receptors. We describe molecular, genetic, biochemical and structural studies to understand the functional roles played by a family of erythrocyte binding proteins (EBPs) from malaria parasites in the process of red cell invasion. These together with field-based immuno-epidemiology studies have been used to build the rationale for the use of EBPs as malaria vaccine candidates. Parasite proteins such as EBPs that mediate interactions with host receptors are commonly localized in apical organelles. Successful invasion requires timely secretion of these parasite proteins during invasion. We describe here efforts to understand signalling mechanisms that trigger timely secretion of EBPs and other parasite ligands from apical organelles during invasion. Such signalling pathways may provide novel drug targets for inhibition of invasion and parasite growth.


Highly correlated ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been used to study the energetics and mechanism governing the reaction between the radical 1CH2 and H2O in gas phase and in solution....


Analyzing 814 thesis on soccer was published in 24 sorts of open and typical sports periodicals in Chinese from 1994 to 2000. We can draw the following conclusion: the fruit of soccer scientific research has increased steadily in recent years; the scientific research bodies have still worked almost discretely and spontaneously, the general research level has a bit improvement; the research contents have their unbalanced characteristics: most paper focused on technique and tactics as well as teaching and training theory; the study of sports medicine, sports physiology, sports biochemistry and sorts psychology has been little increased, which has its practicability and nature of going beyond the present, however, it has lagged behind the present of international soccer research. As for the research methods, though they has been explored widely, the research methods adopted in the articles are behind which can not meet the demand s of present soccer research in China.


We studied the nematic isotropic phase transition by applying the functional renormalization group to the Landau-de Gennes model. We derived the flow equations for the effective potential as well as the cubic and quartic "couplings" and the anomalous dimension. We then solved the coupled flow equations on a grid using Newton Raphson method. A first order phase transition is observed. We also investigated the nematic isotropic puzzle (the NI puzzle) in this paper. We obtained the NI transition temperature difference ${T_c-T^*}=5.85K$ with sizable improvement over previous results.


Due to the increasing application of high voltage dc transmission, bidirectional dc to dc converters for high voltage applications will play a key role in future power grids. The recently presented modular multilevel dc converter (M2DC) is a new topology suitable for highvoltage bidirectional dc conversion. Two operational modes - inductive coupled mode and resistive coupled mode - of the M2DC are defined according to the characteristic of the arm impedance. Transfer functions of both operational modes are theoretically derived, which show that the M2DC could be configured to be either voltage source or current source. This feature offers the M2DC full controllability over output voltage and output current, making it suitable for different application scenarios. Simulation and experimental results of a 4 submodules tuned filter version M2DC are presented for verification of its functions.


In seeking to explain the events observed close to the Earth's bow shock known as hot, diamagnetic cavities (HDC), or active current sheets (ACS), attention has focused on the microphysics of the interaction of a magnetic field directional discontinuity and a collisionless, supercritical shock. Here we investigate the case of a tangential discontinuity (TD) convecting into a shock at some arbitrary angle. As a first stage we adopt an approach in which test particles represent ions specularly reflected at the shock front. Widely different behavior is possible depending on the sense of ion gyration relative to the TD. Particles can be injected into the plane of the TD so that they travel upstream trapped close to the TD. This implies that ACS events, presumed to be the result of the interaction of the solar wind with a large density reflected component, are detached from the bow shock. For other geometries, ions interact with the TD but stay close to the shock, implying that ACS events are modifications of the shock. The TD can deprive a limited spatial region of a downstream reflected-gyrating ion population (necessary for the quasi-perpendicular supercritical shock to be steady), and so we can anticipate where the shock will not be in equilibrium, and consequently where strong reflection may occur. The detailed behavior of the shock in such a situation must be investigated with self-consistent simulations.


Septoria leaf blotch, caused by the fungal pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici, is one of the most damaging diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum), a crop plant of significant worldwide importance.
Using the system of Virus-Induced Gene Silencing, to create transient knockdowns of target genes, a novel wheat gene, TaR1, was identified as playing a key role in the host response to this pathogen. Silencing this gene leads to the earlier onset of disease symptoms, but reduced reproduction of the causal pathogen.
Sequence analysis, confocal microscopy and protein-protein interaction assays were used to determine that the protein TaR1 localises the nucleus, where its function involves the binding of histones. Precisely, TaR1 is able to bind the Histone 3 subunit, specifically methylated on Lysine 4.
Through this action, the host defence response is delayed, and successful pathogen colonisation is promoted. It is hypothesised that this is an example of the pathogen 'hi-jacking' TaR1 from its original function, in order to complete its lifecycle.


58 self-harming patients in psychiatric treatment have been investigated by a self-report questionnaire with focus on self-harm methods and frequency, circumstances of the selfharm episode, motivation for and effect of self-harm and suicidal attempts. The participants in the study have on average used 8 different self-harm methods. 93% have cutthemselves, 57.7% have done so more than 50 times. 93% were usually alone when injuring themselves and 41.8% felt no pain associated with self-harm. Affect regulation is the most frequent motif, and the majority reported a significant reduction in negative emotions such as anger, fear and guilt after the self-harm episode. 68.4% had attempted suicide, 41.5% more than 5 times. Participants with a history of attempted suicide have more frequently been abused in childhood. The study documents that psychiatric patients have severe forms of self-injury, and finally clinical implications are discussed.


Introduction: Many epidemiology studies present breast cancer as the most common type of cancer in woman. Nevertheless, the majority of women survive after therapy. The quality of life plays a major role in breast cancer patients during the diagnosis phase as well as therapy and post-therapy stage.
Purpose: The purpose of the study is to report the quality of life of breast cancer patients and also the evaluation of the quality of life improvement methods.
Material and Methods: The method used is citation of articles published in English and Greek Databases (Medline and Pubmed) using the following keywords: Quality of Life, Breast Cancer, Quality of Life Methods. Research took place at the Technological University of Cyprus (TEPAK) Library and the articles chosen were available in full text via the university's system.
Result: In most studies it is shown that alternative therapies can improve the quality of life. While some studies showed that alternative therapies did not significantly improve the quality of life of the patient, a great improvement on the psychological level and on other symptoms concerning the cancer that affect the quality of life has been documented.
Conclusion: Using alternative methods can improve the cancer patient's quality of life and this is an important outcome for the patients. Even though the citations and research used are in favour of using alternative methods, these methods are not included in the mainstream health system.


A current growth in the field of information technology is certainly innovative in nature. In size and ease of access, knowledge and information are growing. Prospect decision makers in many fields will be accessible with extraordinary new tools for growth. In fields like health, agriculture, human resources, education and business improvement, transport or environmental improvement the consequences actually could be innovatory. Communication and IT have huge potential particularly for growing nations and in furthering sustainable growth. India and Pakistan two growing nations of Asia pacific now a day doing great performance in the field of IT and have different advantages on each other in this field. Indian city Bangalore is known as Silicon Valley of India due to its great contributions in IT field of the country. Karachi city of Pakistan also well recognized in this field. IT industry of both cities working under different IT policies like Karnataka state of India in which Bangalore city is located has its own IT policy under through this industry is going on and Karachi city of Pakistan which is situated in Sindh province of Pakistan has no IT policy and IT industry of Karachi city is working under National IT policy of Pakistan. Study based on how Karachi and Bangalore contribute in the economic development of their respective countries through IT industry, what kind of institutional arrangements both cities have in respect of innovation system and to know whether there is National Innovation System, Regional Innovation System or they are Industrial Clusters.


Background: This study was performed to evaluate the patency of fallopian tubes with hysterosalpingographyand sonosalpingographyin females with complaint of infertility and to correlate the results of sonosalpingogram with that of hysterosalpingogram in assessment of tubal patency in infertility. Methods: Females with complaint of infertility were evaluated by HSG (Hysterosalpingography) and SSG (Sonosalpingography) between 7th and 12th day of menstrual cycle. HSG was carried out using Siemens fluoroscopy machine. The flow of contrast was followed and tubal patency was assessed. SSG was carried out using Siemens ACUSON X300, with transvaginal probe (4-9MHz). Normal saline was infused slowly and the endometrial cavity was evaluated. Then color flow was used to evaluate each of the adnexa for free spillage of saline (waterfall sign) and results of both the techniques were correlated. Results: Altogether 94 tubes were evaluated by HSG & SSG each. On HSG, out of 94, 65 tubes were patent and 29 tubes showed blockage. On SSG, 68 tubes were patent and 26 tubes showed blockage. Results of both the techniques were correlated by Kappa value which came out to be 0.923. There was very good agreement between SSG and HSG. Conclusions: There was 92.3% agreement (KAPPA value = 0.923, Standard error = 0.437, 0.95 CI = 0.8373-1) between SSG and HSG which suggests that SSG is at least similar to HSG in its effectiveness for evaluating tubal patency and has the potential to replace HSG as routine, first-line outpatient infertility investigation.


Canopy knockdown of arthropods using mist-blowing was carried out in Brumas, Sabah (north-east Borneo), in plantations of exotic (non-indigenous) tree species ( Acacia mangium, Eucalyptus deglupta, Gmelina arborea, Paraserianthes [= Albizia ] falcataria , and Pinus caribaea ), plus secondary natural forest and dense understorey within E. deglupta stands. Each habitat had three 1 m 2 samples taken four times in one year. The average arthropod species richness within the stands of the exotic tree species ranged from 27 in E. deglupta , to 68 in natural, secondary forest. The total number of individuals caught ranged from 137 in G. arborea to 1628 in secondary forest. The dense and plant-species rich understorey within E. deglupta stands yielded both higher numbers of species and individuals than the eucalypt trees themselves, indicating the importance of allowing the development of a luxuriant understorey for the enhancement of conservation and biodiversity. Though arthropod biodiversity is reduced by the conversion of tropical forests to plantations, abundance and richness are still substantial in the latter habitats.