Objective To investigate the etiological and epidemiological characteristics of fungal keratitis in Jilin province of China and to establish a rapid and specific method for molecular identification of the prevalent fungal pathogens.Methods Corneal scrapings were collected from 225 patients with suspected fungal keratitis.Fungal strains were isolated and identified based on their morphology and physiological characteristics.The epidemiological characteristics of all isolated strains causing fungal keratitis were statistically analyzed.Species-specific primers of Fusarium solani (F.solani) were designed and used together with the universal fungal primers to establish a multiplex PCR assay for identification of F.solani in corneal scrapings.Results 156 out of 225 patients (69.3%) were diagnosed as fungal keratitis by fungal culture followed by the examination of morphological and physiological characteristics.A total of 168 pathogenic fungi strains were isolated,most of which were Fasarium spp.(49.4%),followed by Aspergillus spp.(17.9%) and Candida spp.(14.3%).F.solani was the predominant pathogen accounting for 34.5% in all patients.Most of the patients (87.5%) were farmer and male patients (57.1%) accounted for the majority of 156 patients as well.Corneal trauma (38.5%) was considered as the main predisposing factor.The established multiplex PCR could specifically amplify a 300 bp nucleotide fragment of F.solani.It could be used for a rapid identification of F.solani in corneal scrapings.Conclusion Fusarium genus,particularly the species of F.solani,was the predominant pathogen for fungal keratitis in Jilin province of China.Corneal trauma was the most important predisposing factor.The established multiplex PCR could identify fungal infection from corneal scrapings rapidly and specifically.These findings are very important for the early diagnosis and treatment of fungal keratitis.

Key words:
Pathogenic fungi ;  Fungal keratitis ;  Fusarium solani ;  Rapid identification


Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies are clinically heterogeneous disorders that can affect multiple systems besides skeletal muscle and/or CNS and are usually defined by morphological abnormalities of muscle mitochondria. There are several distinctive syndromes, such as the Kearns-Sayre syndrome; myoclonus epilepsy with ragged red fibers (MERRF); and mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and strokelike episodes (MELAS).Auditory function was evaluated in 5 patients with mitochondrial encephalomyopathies including one case of the Kearns-Sayre syndrome, 3 cases of MELAS, and one case of unclassified form of the disorders. Sensorineural hearing loss was observed in four of 5 cases but other neurotological disorders such as vestibular dysfunction were not detected in any of these patients.Although hearing impairment has been reported in patients with Kearns-Sayre syndrome, there have been few reports on the detailed audiometric testing results of MELAS or MERRF. Our audiometric examination revealed that the hearing loss in patients with MELAS was sensorineural in nature and that deterioration of hearing was considerably progressive with the passage of time. However, the precise site of the lesion in the auditory system could not be confirmed because diagnostic audiometric test batteries were not always applicable to these patients since they often became progressively demented or totally deaf during the course of their illness.


We study the differential uniformity of a class of permutations over F 2 n with n even. These permutations are different from the inverse function as the values x − 1 are modified to be ( γx ) − 1 on some cosets of a fixed subgroup (cid:4) γ (cid:5) of F ∗ 2 n . We obtain some sufficient conditions for this kind of permutations to be dif-ferentially 4-uniform, which enable us to construct a new family of differentially 4-uniform permutations that contains many new Carlet-Charpin-Zinoviev equivalent (CCZ-equivalent) classes as checked by Magma for small numbers n . Moreover, all of the newly constructed functions are proved to possess optimal algebraic degree and relatively high nonlinearity.


grace. The end of the sacrament is two-fold: proximate, which is the sanctification of the one receiving, and ultimate, which is eternal life.


Abstract This article investigates possible determinants of forecasting error for new prime-time network television programs. Each season, advertising industry forecasters attempt to predict the audience shares for new fall programs. Advertising expenditures are made on the basis of these projections, though historically these forecasts have been very inaccurate. Through an integration of audience behavior theory and decision—making theory, this paper attempts to identify factors that explain the magnitude of uncertainty, and hence the magnitude of forecasting error, surrounding the predictions for new programs. The results indicate that the presence of a returning network lead-in or lead-out significantly reduces the amount of forecasting error. In addition, the results indicate that forecasting error has increased significantly over time. The overall explanatory power of the model suggests that content and audience characteristics must be incorporated into the analytical framework as well.


Objective To compare the effects of peripherally inserted central catheter(PICC)through different parts for neonates.Methods From May 2012 to August 2013,52 neonates with PICC were randomly divided into elbow venous puncture group(n=26)and scalp venous puncture group(n=26).The number of bleeding,catheterization success,phlebitis,skin irritation or damage in 2groups were compared.Results The number of bleeding at intraoperative and 24 hours after operation in the scalp venous puncture group were less than that in the elbow venous puncture group.The number of skin irritation or damage in the scalp venous puncture group were also less than that in the elbow venous puncture group. There were no statistical significance in number of catheterization success and phlebitis of 2groups.Conclusions The neonates with poor elbow vein condition or dysfunction of blood coagulation should choose scalp venous puncture.


In this study, the speed control of a DC shunt motor was achieved by optimising the PID controller through the genetic algorithms method. In optimisation process, the rise and the settling times and the overshoot were attempted to considerably minimise under no-load condition. The results of the proposed method were compared with the Ziegler-Nichols method under the same condition and were better than those of the Ziegler-Nichols method in terms of minimising the rise and the settling times and the overshoot.


This paper investigates a new method of probabilistic encryption scheme based on the third-order linear feedback shift register sequence (3-LFSR). The message can be hidden in the exponent. From the definition of LFSR residue problem in Zn, the proposed encryption scheme has property of semantic security, and messages can be concealed better than exiting deterministic public-key encryption schemes.


The development of innovative products and their realisation by means of advanced manufacturing methods and process combinations is more becoming a key issue in international competitiveness. The industrial production is subsequently influenced ever more by the possibilities that Rapid Technologies -Rapid Modelling and Reverse Engineering, Rapid Prototyping and Tooling, Rapid Manufacturing can offer. Reverse Engineering (RE) is the process of digitising a physical object to obtain computerised data for further development as opposed to manufacturing a product from a digital model, e.g. CNC machining. This paper reflects experiences gained in the use of RE approaches for industrial applications, comparing specifically the use of tactile methods and digitising techniques based on photogrammetry principles. Process capabilities and the internal process chain are scrutinised. Practical case studies are presented and discussed with an emphasis on project lead times and dimensional accuracy obtained. Particular attention is paid to challenges related to surface recreation and manufacture of tooling for various components. The purpose of the paper is therefore to highlight the capabilities and wide range of applications for Reverse Engineering, while at the same time outlining pitfalls and limitations of this remarkable technology.


To the Editor: Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic with broad gram positive coverage including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Monitoring of vancomycin can include both peak and trough levels; because peak levels are not considered clinically useful, the routine monitoring of these levels is not recommended in the adult, pediatric, and neonatal populations. With the emergence of vancomycin-intermediate and vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VISA and VRSA) and new clinical guidance, traditional trough levels for vancomycin have also changed. In February 2011, the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) advocated for an increase in trough levels to 15-20 mcg/mL for MRSA in pediatric patients. A retrospective review of laboratory data and pharmacy purchasing data on vancomycin from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2010 was conducted in a tertiary care free-standing pediatric hospital. In May 2009, a Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Pediatric Critical Care began clinical work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). As part of an effort to increase more judicious monitoring of vancomycin, educational interventions were designed for the hospital. Medical residents rotate through the PICU for 2 months during their second year. Lectures by the pharmacy specialist and clinical practice allowed the residents to become more familiar with vancomycin monitoring. In October of 2009, a grand rounds was presented to the medical staff on vancomycin monitoring. A separate lecture was also presented to the hematology and oncology medical staff. Nursing education included lectures to the PICU staff on 2 occasions. An interactive workshop for all medical residents was conducted by the clinical specialist to allow for additional clinical practice of vancomycin monitoring. In both 2007 and 2008, there were approximately 1,300 vancomycin peaks obtained. In 2009, there were 1,118 peak levels, which represent an 18% decrease from 2008. In 2010, there were 612 peak levels, which represent a 45% decrease from 2009 and a 55% decrease from 2008. As compared to 2008, the number of vancomycin random levels obtained decreased by 22% in 2009 and 94% in 2010. The number of trough levels decreased by 11% in 2009 and 13% in 2010. To account for the recommendation of increased vancomycin trough levels, pharmacy vancomycin purchasing data were obtained. The amount of vancomycin purchased remained the same in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, there was a 10% increase from 2008. There was a 4% increase from 2009 to 2010 and a 13% increase from 2008. From 2006 to 2010, the overall increase in vancomycin purchasing was 37% (see Figure 1). From 2008 to 2009, the estimated savings due to the decrease in the number of vancomycin levels obtained was $156,000. The cost savings from 2009 to 2010 was estimated at $145,000. These data provide evidence that despite an increase in vancomycin use hospitalwide, there has been a decrease in the number of vancomycin peak, random, and trough levels reported. Prior to the education sessions, it was routine practice for many of the medical residents to order vancomycin peak levels. After presentation of the current evidence and recommendations to the medical and nursing staff, there has been a significant decrease in the number of peak levels ordered. These results produced a considerable cost savings for the hospital. Despite multiple educational sessions, peak vancomycin levels are still being obtained throughout the hospital, and additional strategies are being designed to decrease these numbers further.


The inhibiting effect of ceftriaxone on the corrosion of Al in HCOOH solution was studied by means of weight loss, thermometry, hydrogen evolution and potentiodynamic polarization techniques, complemented with surface examination using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The obtained results showed that ceftriaxone are excellent inhibitor in HCOOH solution. The inhibition efficiency increases with inhibitor concentration. Polarization curves indicate that ceftriaxone was acted as a mixed-type inhibitor. The adsorption of the inhibitor on Al surface was found to obey Langmuir isotherm and showed a physisorption mechanism. The thermodynamic activation and adsorption parameters were calculated and discussed. Keywords: Ceftriaxone, aluminum, corrosion inhibitor, potentiodynamic polarization, adsorption, gravimetry and gasometry


Contents: Preface. D.A. Gruenewald, G.A. Smith, Introduction: Making Room for the Local. Part I: Models for Place-Based Learning. C.E. Knapp, Place-Based Curricular and Pedagogical Models: My Adventures in Teaching Through Community Contexts. M. Graham, The Fringe of Nirvana: Aesthetic Places and the Art Classroom. M. Sorensen, STAR: Service to All Relations. J. Bartsch, Youth as Resources in Revitalizing Communities. E. Seneschal, Environmental Justice in Egleston Square. R. Barnhardt, Creating a Place for Indigenous Knowledge in Education: The Alaska Native Knowledge Network. Part II: Reclaiming Broader Meanings of Education. D.A. Gruenewald, Place-Based Education: Grounding Culturally Responsive Teaching in Geographical Diversity. R.M. Pyle, No Child Left Inside: Nature Study as a Radical Act. R. Tompkins, Overlooked Opportunity: Students, Educators, and Education Advocates Contributing to Community and Economic Development. P. Theobald, J. Siskar, Place: Where Diversity and Community Can Converge. Part III: Global Visions of the Local in Higher Education. M.M. Morris, Place in Leadership Formation: The Institute for Educational and Community Leadership. F. Elbaz-Luwisch, Multiculturalism, Conflict, and Struggle: Place as Meeting Ground in Israeli Education. J.I. Cameron, Learning Country: A Case Study of Australian Place-Responsive Education. M. Dubel, D. Sobel, Place-Based Teacher Education. D.A. Gruenewald, G.A. Smith, Afterword: Creating a Movement to Ground Learning in Place.


The Taurus mountains area is one of the most interesting areas of Turkey as regards flora and vegetation. The region is situated on a transition zone between the Mediterranean and continental climate and contains many microclimate areas because of its topographic character. Therefore, studies on the flora and vegetation of the Taurus mountains give quite different results. The studies on the catchment area of Goksu valley and environs which exhibit Mediterranean climate and is a part of the central Tauruses were ccarried out in 1995-1996. In this study, Braun-Blanquet's floristic system principle was used and six associations (five of them new) were determined. As a result, the ecological relationship between plant, climate and soil was explained. A- Steppe Vegetation 1. Scutellario-Astragaletum microcephalii Ass. Nov. 2. Fritillario-Marrubietum globosii Ass. Nov. B- Forest Vegetation 1. Micromerio-Juniperetum excelsae Ass. 2. Cochleario-Pinetum nigrae Ass. Nov. 3. Mycelido-Abietum cilicicae Ass. Nov. 4. Rhamno-Quercetum pubescentii Ass. Nov.


The paper points out the problems about motivation system for managers in state-owned enterprise's stem from the false hypotheses of the object motivated. Because we continue to use hypotheses of ″ political person″ and ″labor″ under planned economic system, the present motivation system doesn't accord with the factual motivated object under market economic system; thus the motivation system for the managers in state-owned enterprises does not work and even leads to just the proves counterproductive. The paper discusses two different manager hypotheses in two different economic systems, which is used to design motivation system for managers in state-owned enterprises. Furthermore, with the two hypotheses of ″ self-interest man″ and ″entrepreneur″, the designing ideas of motivation system for the managers in state-owned enterprises are put forward.


Predictions of the United States presidential election vote outcome have been growing in scope and popularity in the academic realm. Traditional election forecasting models predict the United States presidential popular vote outcome on a national level based primarily on economic indicators (e.g., real income growth, unemployment), public approval ratings, and incumbency advantage. Many of these forecasting models are rooted in retrospective voting theory (Downs 1957; Fiorina 1981), essentially rewarding the party in office if times are good, punishing it if times are bad. These models have successfully predicted election results by modeling economic performance and incumbent approval ratings (Campbell 2012; Fair 1992; Fair 1996; Klarner 2012). For example, Abramowitz's (2004; 2005) "time for a change model" predicts election results using economic performance during the first half of the election year, the number of years the incumbent party has been in office, and presidential approval. For a full review of 13 presidential forecasts for the US 2012 election, see PS: Political Science and Politics October 2012 (45 (4): 610–75). Although national models are the most common, researchers have also started to use state-level predictions for presidential and congressional outcomes, with mostly positive success (Berry and Bickers 2012; Jerome and Jerome-Speziari 2012; Klarner 2012; Silver 2012). These models use similar predictors, such as incumbency, economic conditions, and home-state advantage, and predict the per-candidate percentage of popular vote. Unfortunately, with state-level models, many of the economic variables used in predicting national models are unavailable beyond 10–15 election cycles (compounded also by 1959 additions of Alaska and Hawaii), so state-level models naturally have a shorter period of analysis than do national models.


To the extent that NLP is used by QA systems, it is mostly limited to tokenization, named entity recognition, stemming, POS tagging, and shallow parsing. More sophisticated NLP such as (deep) syntactic parsing is hardly ever used. In the present paper I investigate why this should be the case and try to establish how deep syntactic parsing as developed in the field of corpus linguistics might contribute to improve the overall performance of such systems.


: The article explores the modern socio-philosophical dynamics of late capitalism and its crisis, and considers the new functioning principles of the post-capitalist model of the future. It is emphasized that the main characteristics of the new social post-capitalist model will be automation of labour, reduction of the working week, unconditional basic income, which guarantees a sufficient amount to live on. A special attention is paid to the main human value, namely to be together and overcome the " end of the social " , to the desire to achieve something universally significant; however, capitalism is constantly tightening competition, which makes many people fall into frustration. Thus, the authors aim to search for instrumentalism in the development of a social state, post-capitalist type of society existence. The article focuses on the significant problem of our time : inequality, with " new peasants " , " new lords " , " new global aristocracy " , including not only financial institutions, but also digital platforms. It is noted that the structure of complex networks shows why modern capitalism tends to neo-feudalism. The integrated networks undermine equality and strengthen hierarchy through inclusiveness, free choice and democratic participation. Therefore, the search for new models of coexistence in the global world becomes an urgent scientific problem for the socio-philosophical discourse.


This review is an investigation of Ruthenium catalysed cycloaddition reactions like [2+2] and [2+2+2] of alkynes and alkenes whereas [3+2] is of various azide and alkynes respectively. Click chemistry allows the assembly of new molecular entities by efficiently and reliably joining two molecular units together stably and irreversibly. *Correspondence


Fast depletion of fossil fuels, rapid increase in the prices of petroleum products and harmful exhaust emissions from the engine are the driving factors in undertaking this research for finding the suitable alternative fuels. The present work deals with the Performance, Emission and Combustion characteristics of Biodiesel derived from acidic oil, which is a by-product of soybean oil refining process. Biodiesel was extracted using two-step esterification and transesterification process from the raw acidic oil. Different blends were prepared on the volume basis and one separate blend was prepared using 2% antigel additives in one of the combination. Tests were conducted with diesel and prepared blends on single cylinder, four strokes, multi-fuel, water cooled engine at compression ratio of 17.5 with different loading conditions. Present investigation indicates reduction in performance parameters as the engine is fuelled with different blends of biodiesel, but significant changes are observed with regard to combustion parameters and reduction in CO, HC. Further, increase in NOx, CO2 is observed during the use of similar blends of bio-diesel. Further the same engine is run with the addition of 2% Antigel Additives in one of the blend, BD20, which has given results which include significant reduction in BSFC, exhaust gas temperature, NOx percentage and integrated heat release rate. Simultaneously it is associated with increase in brake thermal efficiency, HC and CO percentage and peak in cylinder pressure. The prospective results have opened a new avenue of opportunity with regard to conversion of available waste oil to useful biofuel.


This study examined the social network that emerged on Twitter surrounding a mobile reporting class as they covered a national breaking news event. The work introduces pedagogical strategies that enhance students' learning opportunities. Through NodeXL and social network cluster analysis, six groups emerged from the Twitter interactions tied to the class's Twitter account, and four of the six were anchored by a student journalist in the class. By gathering their own social network around them, the students had the opportunity to experience what Hermida calls ambient journalism.


As the field expands from portable electronic devices to large energy storage devices such as electric vehicles, more reliable and innovative battery technologies are more important than ever.
 Currently, there are three types of lithium battery packaging: cylindrical, prismatic and pouch. Cylindrical batteries with a cylindrical shape and structure were one of the first mass-produced battery types and are still mass-produced and dominate in some applications. On the other hand, prismatic batteries are gaining popularity due to their high capacity, thin form, and efficient use of space. Due to the angular shape, multiple cells can be easily connected to form larger packs. Finally, pouch batteries are known for their lighter construction, using a sealed flexible foil as the packaging material.
 Each of these battery types offers a set of advantages and disadvantages. There is no clear winner, but the battery you choose can influence your product design in many ways. For example, each of these battery form factors can have a different temperature distribution and heat transfer model.
 In this study, a cylindrical battery and a pouch-type battery of the same capacity were manufactured using the same four major materials (positive electrode, negative electrode, separator, and electrolyte), respectively, to study the cell chemical characteristics of Li-ion secondary batteries. In particular, it is intended to provide a field to which each type of lithium ion secondary battery can be applied by understanding the characteristics of thermal and deterioration.


Russian Federation's newly revised Energy Strategy 2035 implies shifting from relying on raw materials to innovative use of resources; it prioritizes qualitative change in the structure of energy consumption over quantitative increase, while also focusing on improving the quality of energy services, upgrades, and energy saving; the document emphasizes the need for technological innovation and more energy-efficient energy production. One aspect of the strategy concerns the monitoring and prediction of electricity consumption at various facilities, which requires qualitative analysis of inputs, data processing and further use. There is no single universal data processing method; the existing ones have many drawbacks, being unable to adjust for the specifics of electricity consumption on the site, not sufficiently accurate, computationally intensive, etc. Singular spectrum analysis has significant advantages and only minor flaws. SSA as a method for short-term prediction of electricity consumption at mining facilities is in line with Russia's energy strategy. Besides, accurate short-term predictions and the adaptability of mathematical modeling to change in electricity consumption trends are critical for predictive electricity management in the mining industry. However, papers covering the issue are non-existent, a situation that calls for research. Developing and implementing novel prediction methods as part of automated energy management systems will enable operators to accurately predict the emergence of problematic points of energy use to manage the load schedule more efficiently.


In this study, we investigated the structures, photoluminescence (PL), and lasing characteristics of the ZnO nanorods prepared by using chemical bath deposition. The continuous-wave HeCd laserexcited PL spectra of the ZnO nanorods exhibited two emission bands, one in the UV region and the other in the visible region. The UV emission band has its peak at 3.25 eV with a bandwidth of 160 meV. However, the PL spectra under 355-nm, 35-ps pulse excitation exhibited a spectrally-narrowed UV emission band with a peak at 3.20 eV and a spectral width of 35 meV. The lasing phenomena were ascribed to the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) caused by coupling of the microcavity eect of ZnO nanorods and the high-intensity excitation. Above the lasing threshold, the ASE peak intensity exhibited a superlinear dependence on the excitation intensity. For an excitation pulse energy of 3 mJ, the ASE peak intensity was increased by enlarging the length of the ZnO nanorods from 1 µm to 4 µm. In addition, the PL spectrum under 800-nm femtosecond pulse excitation exhibited second harmonic generation, as well as the multiphoton absorption-induced UV emission band. In this research, ZnO nanorods were grown on seed layers by using chemical bath deposition in an aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)2 and hexamethyltetramine. The seed layers were prepared on conducting glass substrates by dip coating in an aqueous colloidal dispersion containing 50% 70nm ZnO nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy clearly revealed that ZnO nanorods were successfully grown on the seed layers.


This paper presents a study on the use of the Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT) in education. In this work, we propose a sentiment analysis model of tweets related to the use of the ChatGPT in education. The purpose of this research is to identify common sentiments, topics, and perspectives that are expressed towards ChatGPT in the education field based on the data collected from Twitter. Twitter was used to collect 11830 tweets about the use of ChatGPT in education. Topics and emotions expressed in the tweets were extracted using NLP algorithms and organized into distinct groups. Also, the most frequent words in the positive and negative opinion words are determined. The findings of the paper indicate that most tweets about ChatGPT are either positive or neutral, with a small percentage expressing negative sentiments. In addition, the study analyzes the sentiments expressed in tweets about the employment of ChatGPT in education using four different classifiers: Naive Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Random Forest (RF). According to the results, the SVM classifier has the highest accuracy of 81.4 percent.


Face recognition has been an interesting field to explore. Although some previous researches have successfully proved to detect faces, there are still some difficulties to automatically recognize whose faces in one image. Human face is a dynamic object which a high degree of variability exists in its appearance. Therefore, every face has their own uniqueness. These unique features could be used for recognizing one from the other. This research is intended to offer new approach on the field. It is done by combining three methods for both detecting and recognizing faces. It begins with applying Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) to detect faces on a picture, then employing Gray Level Co-Occurrence Matrix (GLCM) to extract their features. Finally, K-Nearest Neighbor is used to recognize the owner of the face. This combination of methods is proven to get significant result of face detection but only fair result of face recognition. In addition to the research, an application has been developed. After doing research and development of this application, it can be concluded that the combination of the methods could become another approach for face recognition.


A survey of fish fauna of the rivers such as Kundalika river at Kolad, Krishna river mouth at Wai village, Nira river at Serola village, a tributary of Krishna River at Venegoan belonging to Raigad District and Satara districts of Maharashtra, Northern Western Ghats was done for a period of one year during June 2012 to June 2013. In the present study, the freshwater fish fauna of some rivers of western Maharashtra were documented. The fish diversity was explored from rivers and the collected specimens were fixed in 5% formalin and about 35 fish species belonging to 16 families and 30 Genus were recorded. Cyprinids were the most dominant group represented by 13 Genus. Raigad District is under severe threat of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Further, introduced exotic fish species like Gambusia affinis, Piaractus brachypomus, Poecilia reticulata and Pangasius hypophthalmus are becoming a major threat to the indigenous fish fauna of Raigad District. Implementation of ecosystem based adaptation plans and conservation measures are Necessary to protect the diverse, endemic and threatened fish fauna of Raigad District.


Two new ferroelectric liquid crystals, 4-[(S)-1-(ethoxycarbonyl)]ethyl 4-[4-(9-decenyloxy)biphenyl]azobenzoate (10) and its ester analogue 4-[(S)-1-(ethoxycarbonyl)]ethyl {[4-(9-decenyloxy)]biphenyl-4'-yl}carbonyloxybenzoate (17), and side chain polysiloxane copolymers and terpolymers containing various amounts of 10 and 17 as mesogenic side groups have been synthesized. Their mesomorphic and physical properties have been characterized. Both 10 and 17 exhibit isotropic, SmA*, SmC*, and Sm(I or F)* phases. The copolymer with 17 as the mesogenic group and terpolymers having low content of the azo compound 10 show a SmC* phase over a large temperature range down to room temperature. The copolymer with the azo compound 10 as the mesogenic group is amorphous.


Introduction: Sickle cell disease (SCD) men display priapism. Berkeley and Townes SCD transgenic mice also display priapism phenotype associated with increased corpus cavernosum relaxation. Primary mechanism underlying priapism appears to be due to reduced nitric oxide bioavailability, which leads to downregulation of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) in the penis. Previous clinical studies reported that priapism is associated with increased intravascular hemolysis at SCD. Intravascular hemolysis releases components that impair nitric oxide signaling, such as hemoglobin, asymmetric dimethylarginine and arginase-1. It is well-established that nitric oxide scavenging by cell-free hemoglobin contributes to vascular dysfunction. However, no detailed study has investigated the role of intravascular hemolysis on pathophysiological alterations of erectile function. Since intravascular hemolysis can influence the biological activity of nitric oxide pathway, we hypothesized that excess concentration of plasma hemoglobin may contribute to priapism in SCD. Therefore, in the present study, we have used a murine model of intravascular hemolysis induced by phenylhydrazine (PHZ) to evaluate the effects of intravascular hemolysis on the nitric oxide-mediated corpus cavernosum relaxations.
 Methods: Intravascular hemolysis was induced in C57BL/6 mice by intraperitoneal injection of PHZ. C57BL/6 mice were injected with PHZ at 50 mg/Kg and then reinjected with 50 mg/Kg 8h later. Mice were killed in isoflurane chamber at 2 days after the first injection with PHZ. Strips of corpus cavernosum were mounted in isolated organ baths, and the relaxing responses to acetylcholine (ACh; endothelium-dependent response) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP; endothelium-independent response), as well as electrical-field stimulation (EFS; nitrergic relaxation) were obtained in corpus cavernosum strips precontracted with the α1-adrenergic receptor agonist phenylephrine (10 µM).
 Results: Plasma hemoglobin was significantly higher in PHZ compared to control mice (11±1 and 4±1 µM, respectively; P<0.001), which demonstrate the increase in the rate of intravascular hemolysis in PHZ-treated animals. The cumulative addition of ACh (0.001-10 µM) produced concentration-dependent corpus cavernosum relaxations in both groups, but maximal relaxations were significantly higher in PHZ (59±4 %; P<0.05, n=7) compared to control mice (45±4%). Likewise, SNP (0.01-10 µM) produced concentration-dependent corpus cavernosum relaxations, but, again, the maximal relaxations induced by this agent were significantly higher in PHZ (87±2%, P<0.01) compared to the control group (74±1%, n=7). Similarly, the nitrergic relaxations caused by EFS were also significantly higher (P<0.05) in PHZ mice compared to control mice (32 Hz: 79±2 and 66± 1%, respectively; n=5).
 Conclusion: Our study shows that intravascular hemolysis leads to increased nitric oxide-mediated cavernosal relaxations, indicating that PHZ mice exhibit priapism phenotype. It is likely that hemoglobin act to inactivate nitric oxide, thus reducing the amount of bioavailable nitric oxide, which may lead to downregulation of PDE5 in the penis. One may speculate, therefore, that the reduced degradation of cGMP by PDE5 in PHZ mice may lead to the enhancement of nitric oxide-mediated cavernosal relaxations. To confirm this hypothesis, we will evaluate the expression of PDE5 and cGMP levels in PHZ mice penises.
 Financial Support: FAPESP.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


A company's reputation can be crucial in attracting and retaining talented employees. And brand's relevancy is a synthesis of all the efforts put towards an employee and potential candidates who then interpret this is a good working place. The importance of branding is high as it strengthens competitive advantage, and its relevancy is also seen during the process of attracting and retaining talented employees to a company promoted as a desired working place. As a response to numerous challenges on the job market, companies tend to compete in branding strategies - from dedicated branding to broad corporative branding. Despite the fact that communication made on social media, with the goal to build a positive image and reputation, is less susceptible to control than traditional media, the process of creating a positive perception of the brand leads to companies using mediums which enable a real and interactive contact with target audience. Numerous research show that posting information on social media, as available, frequent and cheap communication channels, establishes a two-way communication and ensures there is feedback.


The activity of the reticulohistiocytic system of the isolated perfused liver was measured under the influence of piracetam (Nootrop). Also the parameters of liver function under the influence of piracetam were determined. If the energetical properties were not optimal it was shown that the phagocytic activity increased under the influence of piracetam. Also the parameters of liver cell function increased. Under optimal energetic properties there was no changing of the phagocytic activity but the liver cell parameters decreased.


This viewgraph presentation reviews the work in environmental physiology done at Johnson Space Center (JSC). The work is aimed at keeping astronauts healthy. This is a different approach than treating the sick, and is more of an occupational health model. The reduction of risks is the main emphasis for this work. They emphasis is to reduce the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) and acute mountain sickness (AMS). The work in environmental physiology encompasses the following areas: (1) Pressure: hypobaric and hyperbaric (2) Gases: hypoxia and hyperoxia, hypercapnia--closed space issues, inert gas physiology / respiration (3) Temperature: hypothermia and hyperthermia, thermal comfort, Protective clothing diving, aviation, mountaineering, and space (4) Acceleration (5) Noise and Vibration (6) Exercise / Performance (6) Acclimatization / Adaptation: engineering solutions when necessary. This presentation reviews the work done at JSC in the areas of DCS and AMS.


The miRNA profiles of samples with global miRNA decrease were analyzed using Affymetrix miRNA microarrays following the inducible genetic deletion of Dicer1. Surprisingly, up to one-third of deregulated miRNAs identified upon Dicer1 depletion were found to be up-regulated following standard robust multichip average (RMA) background correction and quantile normalization, indicative of normalization bias. These findings highlight the importance of miRNA microarray normalization for the detection of miRNAs that are truly differentially expressed.


Critical Care Medicine www.ccmjournal.org e595 The authors reply: The letter by Burrell et al (1) describing the percutaneous cannulation experience by intensivists at Alfred Hospital provides important information for intensivists involved in extracorporeal life support (ECLS) programs and nicely complements our reported experience (2). Our ECLS program has historically provided predominantly respiratory support, and our cardiac support experience is more limited. Our ECLS experience consists mostly of venovenous cannulation with a smaller venoarterial cohort. Burrell et al (1) describe their cannulation experience, which includes a large venoarterial cohort. Aspects of the Alfred Hospital experience deserve mention. The first is their success with arterial cannulation with a low complication rate. Arterial cannulation entails more inherent risk than venous because arterial injury can lead to substantial more morbidity than venous injury. The 8% arterial complication rate reported, although higher than their venous rate (2%), is not unexpected and would not be considered excessive. Some of their complications required surgical management, so the availability of surgical services would seem advisable. Another aspect is the larger number of intensivists (16) available to perform cannulations. Although this would seem to dilute the experience of each intensivist, the approach of having more than one intensivist cannulating a given patient (as we do) increases the exposure to the procedure and helps maintain cannulation skills. secured. A second patient's internal jugular venous access cannula was accidentally dislodged and removed but was resecured without major consequence. Overall average ECMO duration was 4 ± 4 days for VA ECMO and 14 ± 4 days for VV ECMO. Survival to hospital discharge was 73 of 122 (60%) for VA ECMO (including extracorporeal CPR) and 32 of 45 (71%) for VV ECMO. In total, seven of 167 patients (4%) had hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke, and there was one blood stream infection, and one confirmed cannula related infection. In conclusion, intensivist-led cannulation is also possible for a predominantly VA ECMO service and is associated with an acceptable complication rate. The authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest.


Monitoring ionic content of returned fluids after various acidizing treatments gives insight into actual chemical acid-spending processes that occur downhole. In this study, laboratory tests and field treatments were performed, and the resultant dissolution processes were monitored. Results show that the high siderite concentration (6 to 12%) in the Sadlerochit formation accounts for most ({approximately} 60 to 70%) of the hydrochloric acid spending, as well as {approximately} 10 to 15% of carbonate spending and {approximately} 10 to 15% of clay dissolution during HF acid treatments. The HF spending was primarily on quartz/chert in the laboratory, Field results, however indicate that the secondary clay dissolution process was the primary HF spending reaction.


Introduction to the January 2002 issue of Notes and Records. In the first century of the Society's existence a number of important developments were taking place in Italy, especially in astronomy and biology. The portrait shows Erasmus Darwin. (Copyright © The Royal Society)


T he Radiological Society organised aBreastUltrasound and Mammography Workshop as part of the 1999 South African Radiology Congress at the CSIR Conference Centre from 23 to 26 September 1999. The congress was organised with the co-operation of the faculty members of The International Breast Ultrasound School (IBUS). Speakers attending the Congress were Dr Edward Azavedo and Dr Gunilla Svane from the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm and Dr Roberta Chersevani from Gorizia in Italy. A wide spectrum of topics was discussed starting with the basics of mammographic criteria and ending up with future developments in senology. The panel of speakers continued to reiterate the importance of quality assurance and quality control in senology as well as the accreditation of radiologists involved in breast imaging. These are two topics which will have to be addressed by the Radiological Society in the very near future. We cannot continue breast imaging in South Africa without some form of accreditation of the people doing the imaging and some sort of control over whether there is any quality assurance in institutions doing breast imaging. A further fact that emerged from the Congress, as well as from the discussions, is the continuing question of MR imaging of the breasts. There is a very long learning curve in MR imaging of the breasts and it seems that this examination should only be performed in institutions where they have a high turnover of cases and where they have experience. It is an open question whether this examination should be performed in South Africa at all. The syllabus that was given out during the Congress contains a handy number of lectures including some interesting lectures about fine needle


" We chose Hitachi Data Systems primarily for the scalability and cost-effectiveness of its solution. But we have also realized a significant improvement in performance levels and application response times with this storage upgrade. "


Objective: To observe the distribution of senile plaque deposition in transgenic mouse brain.Methods: Male heterozygote mice were mated with female C57BL/6J mice.DNA of each pup was extracted from the tail of mice and amplified by PCR.The brain section of heterozygote mice identified by PCR and aged 2.5 month,4.5 month and 8 month were stained with thioflavine S and Aβ to study the deposition of senile plaque.Results: Seventeen APPswe/PS1ΔE9 double transgenic mice were identified as positive from 39 pups(positive rate,43.6%).Immunostaining found senile plaque was detected in 4 month and 8 month old transgenic mice brain.There was no senile plaque deposition in mice brain aged 2.5 month.The number and area of the plaques increased with age.Conclusion: Senile plaque forms in APPswe/PS1ΔE9 double transgenic mice brain as early as 4 month.This kind of double transgenic mice is an efficient animal model for the study of Alzheimer's disease.


This study sought to establish the influence of of industrial reforms on performance of sugar manufacturing firms in Western Kenya. Target population were the employees of sugar manufacturing firms. Simple random sampling technique was used to arrive at the sample size of 254 respondents using Yamane Formula. Primary data collection instruments mainly the questionnaires was used in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in this study. The findings revealed that farming methods accounted for 58.3% of performance, given R-square (r 2 ) of 0.583. Further, the coefficients of determination, R-square (r 2 ) of 0.457 implied 45.7% of the variance in performance of sugar manufacturing firms was attributed to product diversification. The coefficients of determination, R-square (r 2 ) of 0.559 implied 55.9% of the variance in performance of sugar manufacturing firms was attributed to corporate social responsibility. In addition, the coefficients of determination, R-square (r 2 ) of 0.519 implied 51.9% of the variance in performance of sugar manufacturing firms was attributed to marketing strategies. The researcher recommended sugar manufacturing firms to be actively get engaged in improving the farming methods since they have an influence on the performance. Sugar manufacturing firms should actively engage in product diversification since it improved their performance. Sugar manufacturing firms need to engage in corporate social responsibility activities since it has an effect on the performance. Sugar manufacturing firms need to get involved in employing different marketing strategies since it has an influence on their performance.The findings of the research was useful to investors, shareholders, management, policy makers and employees of sugar manufacturing companies. This study also contributes to the existing body of knowledge and forms a basis of reference in future studies. Key Words: Farming Methods, Product Diversification, Corporate Social Responsibility, Marketing Strategies


We used the molecular dynamics method to estimate the interfacial energy. We constructed a model of a bicrystal about 2000 atoms in volume in the shape of a sphere which contained atoms in bcc configuration in one half and in fcc configuration in the other. The crystal lattice parameters of the phases were: a bcc =0.2864 nm and a fcc =0.03586 nm, corresponding to the alloy iron −32wt% nickel. The halves of the bicrystal were joined in planes (011) bcc //(111) fcc . The angle φ was varied between 0 and 5.264° in order to produce the different orientation relation


The competing values framework (CVF) has emerged as an integrative and consolidating mechanism to facilitate an examination of those factors that contribute to effectiveness in organizations. The CVF is adopted to investigate systematically the extent to which specific dimensions of the environment impact on the effectiveness of participative managerial control processes in terms of enhancing performance. The results based on a sample of 323 section managers from a wide range of public sector organizations throughout Australia suggest that they find complexity to be the crucial environmental dimension that influences the effectiveness of participative control processes in enhancing performance. The findings suggest that public sector managers may not be subject to the same environmental constraints as their counterparts in the private sector.


This article introduces the concept of the Assessment Purposes Triangle in order to illustrate the balancing of purposes that needs to be considered in assessment for educational quality. The triangle is a visual aid for stakeholders making value judgements about equitable resource allocation in an environment of scarcity. The article argues that each of the three basic purposes of assessment, Assessment to support learning; Assessment for accountability; Assessment for certification, progress and transfer need to enjoy appropriate attention to support quality education. Accountability and certification, progress and transfer are inherently high stakes due to systemic pressures such as institutional funding, accreditation with various bodies, legislative requirements, national and international competition, and public and media pressure. It is thus likely that resources will be diverted to these purposes from the lower stakes Assessment to support learning. The article illustrates the inherent dangers of over-emphasising certain purposes to the detriment of others in any educational system. It also discusses the power inherent in assessment and argues for a harnessing of this power for quality education through catering for the three basic assessment purposes in an equitable manner. All actors in an educational system should be cognizant of the goals of the education system as a whole when developing and engaging with assessment. The article provides a conceptual tool for stakeholders in educational assessment to engage with these goals when considering the allocation of appropriate resources to each of the assessment purposes.


We present two rulesets, Domino Shave and Clockwise Hackenbush. The first is somehow natural and, as special cases, includes Stirling Shave and Hetyei's Bernoulli game. Clockwise Hackenbush seems artificial yet it is equivalent to Domino Shave. From the pictorial form of the game, and a knowledge of Hackenbush, the decomposition into ordinal sums is immediate. The values of Clockwise Blue-Red Hackenbush are numbers and we provide an explicit formula for the ordinal sum of numbers where the literal form of the base is $\{x\,|\,\}$ or $\{\,|\,x\}$, and $x$ is a number. That formula generalizes van Roode's signed binary number method for Blue-Red Hackenbush.


In various essays from the 1950s collected in The Dyer's Hand (1963) as "The Well of Narcissus" and "The Shakespearian City," W. H. Auden attempts to establish a connection between the timeless world of primary narcissism and the order of politics. He argues in "Hic et Ille" that the political demagogue succeeds by converting the frustrations and anxieties of individual narcissism into a political project which creates a "public mirror" where the collectivity can find an identity and outlet for its self-regard. Shakespeare's History Plays, he argues in "The Prince's Dog," depict a world in which the primary realm of wish represented by Falstaff, an infantilised Lord of Misrule and improbable Narcissus, confronts the historical consciousness concerned with governance and political order, the institution of monarchy embodied in the "Prince of this World," Prince Hal. This antithesis can be used to elucidate a series of famous poems written in the 1930s in which Auden attempts to understand the popularity and appeal of totalitarian politics to an exploited underclass. Auden, following the model adumbrated by Reich, Fromm and other "Left" Freudians, sees fascism, in its capacity to appeal to the infantile wish-fulfilment fantasies of the average "sensual man-in-the-street," as articulating the unconscious of the masses in the interests of its own corporatist fantasies, which ultimately lead to world war. The poems considered here include, from Look Stranger! (1936), "The earth turns over," "Now the leaves are falling fast," "Easily, my dear, you move" (later called "A Bride in the 30s"), "Epilogue" and, from Another Time (1940), "In Memory of Ernest Toller" and "September 1, 1939." In the latter, "Imperialism's Face" is briefly perceived as our own, making us accomplices of its misrepresentations and atrocities. Auden's idea of how ideology conscripts the unconscious has many points of convergence with that of Louis Althusser. Another Time, on the verge of global war, tries to envisage a Freudian therapy that redeems primary narcissism from its fascist usages. It remains a desperate dream, in this watershed volume.


Abstract. The level of blood‐group A1‐specified α, 3′‐N‐acetyl‐D‐gaIactosaminyl‐transferase in the serum of recently‐delivered women was found to be appreciably lower than the level of this enzyme in the serum of non‐pregnant adults and of newborn infants; a similar but less striking decrease was observed in the levels of the A2‐specified α, 3′‐N‐acetyl‐D‐galactosaminyl‐transferase and the H‐specified α, 2′‐L‐fucosyltransferase. Although the red cells of newborn infants are known to have relatively few A and H antigen sites, the serum of neonates was found to have a level of A1‐ and A2‐dependent N‐acetylgalactosaminyltransferases and H‐dependent fucosyltransferase as high as, if not higher than, the serum of non‐pregnant adults. This finding is compatible with the fact that the haemopoietic tissue contributes only about 20% of the serum transferase level.


A factor isolated from rabbit reticulocyte white ghosts by Triton X-100 treatment blocks protein synthesis at the elongation-termination stage. Factor-treated ribosomes were found to have an identical buoyant density to that of control ribosomes. When incubated with either reticulocyte ribosomes or ribosomal RNA, the factor products specific cuts in the 28-S ribosomal RNA compenent without damaging the 18-S RNA. Incubations of pancreatic or T1 RNase, with ribosomal RNA, at similar protein-synthesis inhibitory concentrations effected a complete breakdown to oligo and mononucleotides. When challenged with isolated 28-S or 18-S reticulocyte ribosomal RNA, the highly purified factor only attacked the 28-S RNA species. There was no accumulation of nucleotides or oligonucleotides and we concluded that the membrane factor causes inhibition of protein synthesis by having a specific endonucleolytic cleavage activity.


Oral tolerance induction in early life is a promising approach for food allergy prevention. Its success requires the identification of factors necessary for its persistence.


Abstract This paper discusses the German idiomatic expression einen/den Teufel tun 'do a/the devil' which is used for emphatic rejection. It is shown that this expression is a PPI, as it cannot occur in the scope of negation. I will motivate that the asserted content of the expression is negation. With German being a non-negative concord language, the co-occurrence of several expressions of negation is usually avoided. This typological fact leads to two different judgement patterns for sentences with einen/den Teufel tun and a negation marker. The expression also contributes a conventional implicature that expresses an attitude of the subject. This conventional implicature shows an interaction with negation similar to that of evaluative adverbs. I will argue that the PPI-hood of the considered expression is fully reducible to its properties as an idiomatic negation marker in a non-negative concord language and its multi-dimensional semantics.


The behaviour of edge plasma in STP‐3M Reversed Field Pinch is investigated by using a probe with triple electrode. It can be scanned from the boundary of the confined plasma to 122 mm outside and simultaneously measure three signals, such as floating potential, and ion and electron saturation currents. Measurements of the edge plasma far from the confined region made clear that energetic ions are emitted from the core plasma to the outside. The energetic ions are accompanied with the clumps of electrons. Furthermore, measurements by using the probes with three electrodes show that these ions go through energetic electrons in the limiter shadow. These energetic electrons flowing the edge region drive the inversed current to the main current driving in the core region.


A precise sealing ring support frame of a turbocharger comprises a sealing ring support frame body, and a sealing ring groove and a thrust groove are formed in the sealing ring support frame body. The precise sealing ring support frame is characterized in that a transitional chamfer not larger than R0.2 is formed in the edge of an inlet of the sealing ring groove in the sealing ring support frame body, and a transitional chamfer not larger than R0.2 is formed in the bottom of the thrust groove in the sealing ring support frame body. Strength of a root portion of a thrust groove end piece is increased, and the problems about serious deformation and breakage due to stress are solved. Meanwhile, the collision problem in a rotating process is solved, and the precise sealing ring support frame of the turbocharger has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, low rejection rate and the like.


In Europe, 16 studies based on general population samples show a wide range of prevalence estimations ranging from 0.2% to 11.8% for Internet addiction and from 2.8% to 25.1% for at-risk use. Differences are due to assessment instruments, age groups, regions under study, and whether surveys focus on Internet gaming alone or on broader use of different Internet applications. The disorders are associated with male gender, younger age, mental health problems, and unfavorable social conditions. Prevalence estimations in most of the European studies show that relevant proportions of the population suffer from problematic Internet use, particularly in young age groups. Effective prevention and early intervention and treatment are necessary to face this new disorder. Future studies would benefit from generally accepted criteria and assessment tools for problematic Internet use.


Map of the Discoveries in Australia [cartographic material] : copied from the latest M.S. surveys in the Colonial Office - Arrowsmith's Australian Maps - Arrowsmith's Australian Maps is a biographical, bibliographical and archival database of SUBJECT with links to related articles and images. ADD MORE DESCRIPTION AS REQUIRED


0ld ways die hard. Amid all the evidence that our world is radically changing, we cling to what has worked in the past. We still think of organizations in mechanistic terms, as collections of replaceable parts capable of being reengineered. We act as if even people were machines, redesigning their jobs as we would prepare an engineering diagram, expecting them to perform to specifications with machine like obedience. Over the years, our ideas of leadership have supported this metaphoric myth. We sought prediction and control, and also charged leaders with providing everything that was absent from the machine: vision, inspiration, intelligence, and courage. They alone had to provide the energy and direction to move their rusting vehicles of organization into the future.


Dr Homler is correct in that transmission of varicella virus from persons with localized herpes zoster (HZ) most commonly results from direct contact with skin lesions. However, studies have shown that patients with HZ shed virus into the environment even when the lesions are covered, and aerosolized viral DNA has been detected in rooms of patients with localized HZ.1 A recent report describing an outbreak of varicella in a nursing home that was traced to an elderly patient with localized HZ further supports airborne transmission.2 None of the persons with varicella had direct contact with the index case of zoster. On the basis of genotypic analysis, all the cases were shown to have the identical virus, and viral DNA was isolated from the environment of the index case, making a strong case for airborne transmission of the virus.

Dr Homler raises concerns about the potential for serotonin syndrome with the drug combinations recommended for treatment of postherpetic neuralgia. Potential drug-drug interactions abound in daily clinical practice, and the clinician must be ever vigilant. A striking number of drugs and drug combinations have been associated with the serotonin syndrome. Dr Homler is correct in pointing out the potential interaction between serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors and tramadol. However, when introduced sequentially and in low incremental doses, as recommended in our article, we do not think the risk for problems is high. One estimate in the literature suggests that the risk is on the order of 0.6 cases per 1000 persons.3


The purpose of this study was to investigate different effects of various practice schedules in handball task. 30 participants have been divided into three equal practice groups randomly. Participants have performed a task under blocked, random and serial practice schedules and they were tested in acquisition phase conducted on five consecutive sessions with knowledge of results (KR). Delayed retention test and transfer test had been done on the next day without KR. On the basis of results of this study, there were not significant differences between various practice schedules in acquisition phase, retention and transfer tests. These findings were consistent with Magill and Hall (1990) hypothesis that the learning benefits of contextual interference are more likely to occur, when skill variations are from different classes of movement.


We present the growth habits of GaAs and InGaAs quantum wells grown by organometallic‐molecular‐beam epitaxy (OM‐MBE) on (100) GaAs substrates with micron‐range corrugations aligned along the [011] direction. The growth habits resemble those obtained by molecular‐beam epitaxy, but with several obvious differences, which are discussed on the basis of their different growth mechanisms. These differences reduce the importance of the geometric factors for OM‐MBE which dominate in MBE. We observe lateral compositional variations in the InGaAs quantum well. The patterned samples exhibit enhanced luminescence efficiency compared to reference flat samples.


: Critical thinking is one of the skills students must have in the 4.0 and 21st-century industrial revolutions. Students who have low critical thinking skills will have difficulty in solving the PISA model HOTS type of UN questions. This study aims to analyze the need for teaching materials that are by following the Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) approach that can improve students' critical thinking skills. Research conducted is development. The research subjects were grade VII students of SMPN 1 Banguntapan Bantul. The object of research is critical thinking, learning approaches, and teaching materials. Data collection instruments in the form of observation guidelines, test questions, questionnaires, and interview guidelines. While model research this is the fourth-D. The critical thinking skills of students are still low. The learning approach that can be applied to improve critical thinking skills in students is RME. Social arithmetic is one of the materials that are difficult for students. The characteristics of students have not been integrated into the teaching materials used. Teachers need worksheets that are by following RME approach that can improve critical thinking skills on a particular material. This research can be developed in the development of worksheets with RME approach to improving critical thinking skills.


In view of the arrival of knowledge economy era and the widespread utilization of modern scientific information technology,the article explains the necessity of the management innovation of college's library.college's library should adopt humanist management,comprehensive knowledge management and quality management.the article constructs a set of college's library managerial modes meanwhile the article points out college library should stick to humanism,comprehensive knowledge management and quality management.


COVID-19 vaccines, especially mRNA-based ones, may be associated with BP with distinctive clinical characteristics, which occur more frequently in young individuals, are frequently accompanied by taste changes, and have a fast and good recovery.


We propose a dynamical model of price formation on a spatial market where sellers and buyers are placed on the nodes of a graph, and the distribution of the buyers depends on the positions and prices of the sellers. We find that, depending on the positions of the sellers and on the level of information available, the price dynamics of our model can either converge to fixed prices, or produce cycles of different amplitudes and periods. We show how to measure the strength of competition in a spatial network by extracting the exponent of the scaling of the prices with the size of the system. As an application, we characterize the different level of competition in street networks of real cities across the globe. Finally, using the model dynamics we can define a novel measure of node centrality, which quantifies the relevance of a node in a competitive market.


This article reports on PET-mode transaxial spatial resolution for a new hybrid PET/SPECT system. This system is based on a rotating dual-head tomograph using LSO/NaI scintillators and is capable of depth-of-interaction (DOI) measurement. For this LSO PET/SPECT, each detector head contains two 84/spl times/120 planar arrays of crystals-one array NaI, the other LSO. LSO and NaI crystals are each 0.44/spl times/0.44/spl times/1 cm. In PET mode, each head is radially offset 36 cm from FOV center. Relative orientation of the two heads is 158 degrees. Dual-level DOI discriminates LSO versus NaI by scintillation pulse decay time. While significant for good image resolution, dual-level DOI isolates gamma detection only to the (1 cm) long axis depth of each individual crystal. Critical to delivery of excellent spatial resolution are additional methods to precisely characterize the depth of the centroid of the probability of gamma interaction along the crystal long axis. This depth is measured to /spl plusmn/0.01 cm for each of 4 planar arrays and applied for more accurate LOR positioning in super-fast real-time rebinning hardware. With DOI and measured centroid depth applied. FWHM transaxial spatial resolution is 0.4 cm at FOV center and 0.6 cm at 10 cm off center. Without DOI, resolution degrades as much as 33%.


A 21-year old man was reffered to the clinic with the chief complaint of the swelling on the upper lip.The specimen from the upper lip indicated malignant lymphoma histologicaly.Clinical course was very progressive and combination chemotherapy with VEMP was not so effective. The patient was dead at 4 months after onset.In this report, the clinical course is presented concomitant with autopsy findings.


Numerical results based on the generalized cluster theory of the CPA (a) are presented. Like Nickel and Butler, we find that for homogeneous off-diagonal elements CPA (1) (a three-site cluster in one-dimension) gives rise to nonanalytic solutions for the average Green's function. However, if the hopping integrals are substantially different from one another, analytic solutions are obtained for the average Green's function.


The need of quality materials for thermal insulation and restoration of building constructions is without question an up-to-date subject. Considering the growing trend in the field of reduction of building construction energy intensity and reduction of CO2 production a general assumption at development of new thermal insulating plasters is the reduction of thermal conductivity and also reduction of density in mature conditions which results in general saving of raw materials necessary for production of 1m3 of applied plaster. Aim of the paper is to acquaint readers with results of research and development of "advanced" thermal insulating plasters obtained within the cooperation of Brno Technology University and Vienna Technical University. Main object of research works was a development of plasters that would show a very good ratio of thermal insulating and mechanical properties, low density, high durability and resistance to humidity and salt influences mainly in case of its possible applications within reconstructions of existing building objects with higher moisture content.


This paper analyzes instantaneous power compensation theory through comparing p-q theory and cross-vector theory which were proposed by Akagi and Nabae respectively in three-phase four-wire systems. The two compensation theories are identical when there is no zero-sequence voltage component in three-phase three-wire systems, However, when the zero-sequence voltage and/or current components exist in three-phase four-wire systems, the two compensation theories we different in definition on instantaneous real power and instantaneous imaginary power. Based on the analysis, this paper presents instantaneous power compensation method that can eliminate neutral current completely without using energy storage element when the zero-sequence current and voltage components exist in three-phase four-wire systems.


1 1. Background 2 1.1 IPhone Application 3 1.2 Way finding 3 2. Research 4 2.1 I learn to code Xcode 5 2.2 Case studies 5 3. Ideation 6 3.


with the contest between Marxists and anarchists. Socialist hope of a general European revolution was dashed by the defeat of the Paris Commune, ably discussed by the author. Paris, the center of revolutionary action in the past, no longer could be turned to. In Britain, the condition of the working class had been improving so much that the workers turned to trade union bargaining and extension of the franchise in preference to conflict with the governing classes. Italy and Spain, where the greatest possibilities for revolutionary action existed, turned to anarchism rather than to socialism. Marx himself came to accept the fact that &dquo;the chances


The application of crisis management team (CMT) is important in successful crisis management. However, it has been proved that individual CMT members with unique approach to decision making might hinder their team's performance. This paper addresses the issue of solving CMT's internal conflicts. It focuses on the intangible factors played a role in the process in which CMT works. Applying the concept of interpretive community developed in social studies on journalism, this paper constructs a model, which represents CMT as an interpretive community sharing three kinds of interpretation targets: organization's image repairing strategies, mass media's approach to crisis event, and expectations and inclination on the part of organization's key stakeholders.


In order to studying paddy rice drying mechanism and effects of drying quality, following researches have been carried out in this paper: A kind of mix-flow grain drying test-bed is designed. The test-bed productivity is 50 kg·h-1, three level mix-flow, one level converse-flow cooling. Grain roller rotate speed is 9. 33 r·min-1 and transporting auger rotate speed is 23. 2 r·min-1, fan type is 4-72-11No2. 8A.


This study explores the way how a firm with limited resources acquires knowledge from customers, and more importantly how it strengthens itself via evolution of business strategies in diversified markets. This research chooses an ATV (All Terrain Vehicles) manufacturer and its suppliers as the research objects and adapted single case-holistic method. Qualitative data was collected via eight in-depth interviews with senior managers of the company and its suppliers. It is discovered that a business can jointly develop technologies with its customers to create its own product design while performing the ODM strategy. Also, it enhances the design capability to ODM customers after the gaining of market knowledge while applying the OBM strategy in other markets. The spiral interaction effects of complementary knowledge from different markets will strengthen the product development capability. Meanwhile, it decreases the risk of customers shift caused by market competition. The practical implication is that a manufacturer must master both its production and supply chain management capabilities and apply existing and new partners' knowledge generation and knowledge leverage. Furthermore, it also needs to adjust its strategic positioning and business flexibility to accumulate and strengthen its capabilities. This exploration can help provide the spiral interaction of product knowledge and market knowledge from diversified markets and sustaining competitive advantage. This study hopes to offer the necessary explanation about capability growing via resources cross-stimulation.


A voltage and a current mode A/D Converter based on a novel integer divider circuit have been recently proposed by the authors. The mismatch and process or temperature variation problems have to be considered during the design as well as the real time operation since they affect the linearity of the conversion and in extreme cases they can lead to complete operation failure. A number of current and voltage mode calibration and post processing techniques that can be applied to several A/D Conversion architectures have been designed, based on the behavior of the proposed converters. The calibration methods can guarantee the correct real time operation of these converters while the presented post processing technique improves by up to 6dB the achieved Signal to Noise and Distortion Ratio of an 8-bit ADC designed by the authors.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the demand for big data and analytics curriculum, provide an overview of the curriculum available from the SAP University Alliances program, examine the evolving usage of such curriculum, and suggest an academic research agenda for this topic.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, the authors reviewed recent academic utilization of big data and analytics curriculum in a large faculty-driven university program by examining school hosting request logs over a four-year period. The authors analyze curricula usage to determine how changes in big data and analytics are being introduced to academia.

Findings

Results indicate that there is a substantial shift toward curriculum focusing on big data and analytics.

Research limitations/implications

Because this research only considered data from one proprietary software vendor, the scope of this project is limited and may not generalize to other university software support programs.

Practical implications

Faculty interested in creating or furthering their business process programs to include big data and analytics will find practical information, materials, suggestions, as well as a research and curriculum development agenda.

Originality/value

Faculty interested in creating or furthering their programs to include big data and analytics will find practical information, materials, suggestions, and a research and curricula agenda.


This paper considers management of habitat quality in coastal zones. It highlights contradictions between modern needs and past modes of development, including industrialization, agrarian development, and urbanization, emphasizing that prevention of future habitat degradation is associated with education and public awareness, as well as new or revised local legislation governing unurbanization, thus reducing cumulative effects of man on aquatic habitats.


The crown of pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr) of Subang district, Indonesia, is proven to contain bromelain, which has been characterized and has protease and antioxidant activity. These findings show that crude bromelain has the potential to be developed into herbal preparations. The purpose of this study was to formulate and evaluate crude bromelain granules from the pineapple crown of Subang district, Indonesia. Granule was chosen, due to the advantages, i.e. better flow properties, prevent constituent segregation, physical and chemically stability, and content uniformity. Crude bromelain was formulated by wet granulation with povidone as a binder. The granule was evaluated using compendial methods, i.e. moisture content, repose angle, bulk density, tapped density, Hausner's ratio and Carr's compressibility index. The evaluation results showed that crude bromelain granule met the requirements of good granules. The crude bromelain granule has protease activity of 7.73 ± 0.12 IU/mg and antioxidant activity of 3516.67 μg/ml. Crude bromelain can be formulated into granule with protease and antioxidant activity.


English norm in the Inner Circle countries or specifically the Anglo-American norm has long been viewed as the standard in English language teaching and learning at colleges and universities in China. After introducing English varieties and nativised varieties in particular, the paper presents problems resulting from the tendency in Chinese universities. And then it focuses on how to address these issues: Practices in colleges' deciding on teaching staff, content and methods need to be adjusted; college students' learning objectives and attitude toward English learning should be optimized; the curriculum of English courses should be enriched and accordingly assessment of students' English learning efficiency should be redesigned. However, it has also been noted in the end that reform of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Chinese universities needs not only English teachers' participation but also other forces to take positive roles, such as administrators at colleges and policy makers in the education department. Keywords—World English; English varieties; ELT; Chinese


FIELD: information technology. SUBSTANCE: online video game or application hosting system has a hosting service, having one or more servers performing one or more video game or application twitches to provide one or more streams of compressed interactive streaming video with short latency, transmitted over a network which includes public network components to at least one client apparatus, situated away from at least one of the servers. The system performs operations for receiving and providing control signals to the servers, performing one or more video game or application twitches on the servers, providing streams of compressed interactive streaming video with short latency and decompressing the compressed interactive streaming video with short latency. Said operations are performed with such a short latency that a user interacting with at least one of the one or more video game or application twitches has the perception that the video game or application twitch instantly responds to control signals. EFFECT: reproducing compressed interactive streaming video with short latency regardless of the power of the client apparatus. 25 cl, 40 dwg


The procurement activities in organizations typically involve critical decisions made by managers. In order to make a good decision, they need to assess certain relevant criteria. Procurement decision-making faces several challenges such as selecting the best vendor with the right mix of product, price and method to procure it. After studying three multi-criteria decision techniques that have been widely used in procurement decisions, namely, the multi-attribute utility theory, Linear Goal Programming and analytic hierarchy process techniques AHP which is the technique that identified as the foundation on which to build a decision support system for procurement decisions in the University of Babylon, Iraq as a case study. A framework is developed to simplify the design and work of this DSS prototype solution at the university. The research attempts to address the issues regarding information fusion by automatically integrating multiple information sources to enhance the procurement decision-making process through empirical and theoretical findings on the interdependencies that characterize the relationships between information fusion and management decisionmaking. A pre-implementation study is carried out in order to ascertain the usefulness of this prototype solution in promoting user-centered decisions by explaining the various influences of different decisionmaking on the information systems and procurement processes at the University of Babylon, Iraq. The major contribution of this study is to develop tools that aid practitioners in decision-making processes regarding procurement decisions such as DSS planning, DSS technique identification and implementation. The proposed DSS procurement solution is consistent, not complex, not difficult to use and that the properties of the DSS solution is sufficient and not excessive, as well as highlighting the benefits and limitations of the proposed solution.


The paper outlines the leading theories and concepts in categorizing the concept of green economy. The idea of an environmental friendliness, competitive, green economy is interpreted as contributing to sustainable development and effectively use of resources. Green economy helps solving problems of the slowdown in economic growth and job losses, as well as the continued deterioration of environmental quality and ecosystem degradation. All this defines the green economy as an approach to achieving sustainable development. Economic growth measured by the size of the gross national / social product cannot continue to be used without the appearance of environmental problems. he green economy has become one of the pillars of major international and European strategies and is being considered as an approach leading to a structural transformation of the economy.The results of the Green Economy research distinguishnine strategic areas: sustainable consumption and production through responsible consumers and producers; knowledge society through information development and training; government to help adapting to new business realities; climate change and energy; sustainable transport and mobility; conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity and natural resources; public health and risk prevention with an emphasis on environmental quality; demography and migration and social inclusion; challenges in the field of sustainable development; global poverty reduction.The theme of green economy is more and more relevant for Bulgaria, it is constantly being discussed and there is an increasing awareness of the importance of this transition to a green economy, which is associated with the high price that a society has to pay. But this is the only way our generationto take care of the coming generations and thus conserve the planet's resources.


FOR some mysterious reason which we have not been able to discover, many chemists who discuss either publicly or privately the salary plight of the chemist, refer again and again to the highly favorable position of the bricklayer in the way of financial remuneration. One could hardly pick a weaker argument for better pay for professionals. For the good of the profession, let us drop the bricklayer story, for it is full of holes. To use it leaves us open to the accusation that we are eitlier naive or are willing to distort facts. Neither accusation is helpful to the cause. We have the most recent report of the U. S. Department of Labor on union wage scales in the building trades (fourth quarter of 1951). According to this report, the high for bricklayers at the end of the year was $3.50 per hour, the low was $2.48, and the average was $3.06. If we ...


This paper discusses the main problems in the teaching of such course and proposes some reform measures and suggestions in the way of teaching philosophy,teaching methods and assessment methods,etc.some reform measures and proposals that are raised to adapt to the school personnel training mode,improve analytic geometrythe quality of teaching.


141:1880–1886. 8 Rosa MJ, Just AC, Kloog I, Pantic I, Schnaas L, Lee A, et al. Prenatal particulate matter exposure and wheeze in Mexican children: effect modification by prenatal psychosocial stress. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 2017;119:232–237.e1. 9 Bui DS, Walters HE, Burgess JA, Perret JL, Bui MQ, Bowatte G, et al. Childhood respiratory risk factor profiles and middle-age lung function: a prospective cohort study from the first to sixth decade. Ann Am Thorac Soc 2018;15:1057–1066. 10 Peto R. The horse-racing effect. Lancet 1981;2:467–468. 11 Liu GY, Kalhan R. Impaired respiratory health and life course transitions from health to chronic lung disease. Chest 2021;160:879–889. 12 Kalhan R, Dransfield MT, Colangelo LA, Cuttica MJ, Jacobs DR Jr, Thyagarajan B, et al. Respiratory symptoms in young adults and future lung disease: the CARDIA lung study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2018;197:1616–1624. 13 Harmouche R, Ash SY, Putman RK, Hunninghake GM, San Jose Estepar R, Martinez FJ, et al. Objectively measured chronic lung injury on chest CT. Chest 2019;156:1149–1159.


The microwave radiometer (MWR) is a Dicke radiometer on board of the Aquarius (AQ)/SAC-D satellite. It was developed by Argentine space agency, Comisión Nacional De Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), and operates at 23.8 and 36.5 GHz frequencies. After MWR initially turned on, the first brightness temperature (TB) measurements were obtained, observing an anomalous recurrent effect when analyzing land/water crossings. The effect is present for all frequencies and earth incidence angles (EIAs) and results in a smearing of TB observations near strong contrast radiometric scenes. This paper summarizes the main features and discoveries around this anomaly leading to a general description of the problem: coupling of sequential MWR measurements. Consequently, an empirical correction algorithm is derived and validated. Also, possible causes are investigated.


I PROPOSE to limit my remarks to the specific treatment of recurrent staphylococcal infections of the skin, of the nature of carbuncles and boils. I take the meaning which the words "specific treatment" are commonly intended to convey, to be treatment by means of the infecting agent or its products, or-in other words-on the lines of recognized immunological procedures. It is not intended to suggest that this form of treatment is necessarily either the best or the only line of attack in bacterial infections. The specific treatment of staphylococcal disease has been practised for many years and recently there has been a revival of interest and a considerable addition to the literature, though it must be admitted that neither by specific, nor by non-specific, methods have we yet arrived at a satisfactory control of these infections. It should be worth while to review, however briefly and avoiding the minutiae of recent bacteriological research, the more pertinent facts concerned in this bacterial process. The infecting agent, the staphylococcus, is known to us as an example of a bacterial group the members of which produce a pigment on solid media. The harmless coccus usually present on all skin surfaces forms a white pigment and quite exceptionally a golden one. The organism present in lesions is nearly always Staphylococcus aureus, but exceptionally Staphylococcus albus. The colour of the pigment is therefore not a reliable indication of pathogenicity and further, the extracted pigment itself has no demonstrable function and appears to be either carotine or closely allied to it. Pathogenicity depends upon the production of powerful and diffusible toxins, as may be shown by growing the organism for thirty-six hours on soft agar, preferably in a partial atmosphere of carbon dioxide, pulping the agar and passing the pulp through a Seitz filter. The filtrate has recognizable toxic properties. By the absence or presence of these toxins, their actions, and their amounts, the staphylococci may be classified into saprophytes and pathogens, and the activities of the pathogens assessed. The toxic output of a pure strain tends to remain fairly constant in culture, and strains isolated at different times and from different sites in the same individual are commonly identical in their toxicity. Omitting any discussion as to whether the different toxic actions are the result of multiple toxins or the diverse effects of one toxin, the chief results in the bodies of man and animals are hbemolysis, necrosis, destruction of the phagocytes, and sudden death. Of these actions, the necrosis of tissues and the destruction of phagocytes have chief importance in human disease. The homolysin has a powerful action upon the red cells of certain animals such as the rabbit or the sheep, but little effect upon human red cells. The hbmolysin titre, estimated with rabbit red cells, however, always runs parallel with the titre of the necrosing action upon the rabbit's skin and is conveniently used to estimate the potency of both toxic actions. The leucocidin agglutinates and destroys human phagocytes and this action does not run parallel with the hamolysin. The lethal toxin produces sudden death in rabbits; its importance in human disease is uncertain. Other


The pink ribbon is an ever-present symbol of breast cancer survivorship in U.S. public culture, and over the past few decades there have been significant advances in breast cancer research and treatment (National Breast Cancer Coalition, 2013). Network news stories and magazine article reports on breast cancer are able to heighten awareness and reach a broad audience (Cho, 2006; Smith et al., 2009). However, cultural expectations, media representations, and the commercialization of breast cancer can be deceiving, often leaving out vital information related to types of cancer, treatment options, long-term recovery, and quality of life. Amid this exposure and (mis)information, Black women continue to die from this disease more often than their White counterparts (American Cancer Society, 2013). Relevant research that points to various socioeconomic reasons for this health disparity abounds: Issues such as access to quality and affordable health care, breast cancer screening rates, attitudes toward mammography, consumers lacking medical knowledge, and the fact that Black women are in poorer health to start with contribute to this gap. Other studies in recent years have begun to focus on environmental stressors, the role of religion and spirituality, and cultural expectations of Black women. However, there has been limited attention to the confluence of faith talk (spirituality), strong Black womanhood, and breast cancer culture and how these variables influence breast cancer survivorship. There is an unhealthy intimacy that dwells within the convergence of these three variables in the lives of Black women breast cancer survivors. This essay looks at this intersection using Elisabeth NoelleNeumann's spiral of silence theory. The spiral of silence theory refers to the increasing pressure people feel to conceal their views when they think their opinions are unacceptable. Constant repetition of a single point of view in media depictions of what breast cancer survivorship looks like can influence perceptions of public opinion and intensify the pressure for women to keep differing perspectives private (Noelle-Neumann, 2009; Littlejohn & Foss, 2011). When critiquing Noelle-Neumann's theory, Khoshrou and Sadeghi (2013) explicitly direct attention to the simplicity of its application at the exclusion of cultural influences. I use Noelle-Neumann's theory for its simplicity while including the cultural nuances that influence Black women's communication dynamics. Breast cancer culture, faith talk, and the myth of the strong Black woman are cultural variables that


The purpose of this research is to solve the problem of diagnosing achalasia, which the general public does not yet know about the treatment procedures. Achalasia is a condition in which the muscles of the esophagus fail to push food or drink into the stomach. This condition can cause symptoms such as difficulty swallowing, regurgitation of food into the esophagus, and weight loss. The sample data used by the authors for the process of diagnosing achalasia in this study were obtained from experts (experts) through literature study data collection techniques and field studies (interviews and observations). The expert system method implemented by the author to solve the problem of diagnosing achalasia in this study is the Naïve Bayes method. Naive Bayes is a method that can provide a solution by determining the probability values of a phenomenon. The results showed that the Naïve Bayes method was able to diagnose achalasia quickly and easily with accurate and reliable solutions. So that it can be used as a relevant alternative to help ordinary people get solutions to cure Achalasia.


Due to high content of carbon and poor weldability, the ultrasonic frequency induction cladding technique was utilized to fabricate Ni-based alloy coating on the substrate of gray cast irons. In order to investigate the microstructure and properties of Ni-based alloy coating, the techniques of optical microscopy (OM), backscattered electron image (BEI), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Vickers microhardness tester were employed. And then the immersion test and potentiodynamic polarization measurement were performed to evaluate the corrosion behavior of Ni-based alloy coating. The experimental results reveal that the coating bonds metallurgically with the substrate. Due to the elemental interdiffusion between the coating and the substrate, a solid solution zone of coating is formed. The phases of γ-Ni, Ni3B, NiSi, chromium borides and carbides can be distinguished in the coating. Chromium borides and carbides are benefit for the improvement of hardness and NiSi provides good corrosion resistance.


SUMMARY For some species in which family members are dependent on or are in close proximity to one another, a character may be composed of several conceptual components, some being contributed by related individuals. A general expression for the genotypic covariance between relatives is synthesized for such characters when mating is random. The relationships between individuals contributing to a measure of the character are important in defining the genotypic variance and the response to selection. A character of an offspring influenced by a maternal effect illustrates


The increasing penetration of wind energy in electric power systems leads to a great demand for flexible resources to regulate power fluctuations. This paper focuses on investigating the impacts of the operational flexibility of hydropower generation systems on reducing wind curtailment and load shedding in a hybrid hydro–wind power system. Considering timescale variabilities of wind power, the upward and downward regulation capabilities of hydro flexibility under sub-hour and hour dispatch scales are estimated. Based on developed flexible indicators, the ultimate access ratio of wind power penetration into the power system is obtained by using the estimated probability of insufficient regulation reserves. All these analyses are carried out under the wet and dry periods to better understand their differences with the hydro flexibility. The method and obtained results provide important guidance for the stable and high-efficiency operation of hybrid power systems.


ABSTRACT This research aims at describing the professional practices of Primary Health Care teams regarding rapid tests for STDs. It follows a descriptive study under a quantitative approach; participants include 18 municipalities, 94 Basic Health Units, and 100 staff teams working on Family Health Strategies. The sample was composed of the managers and the staff members directly involved in the testing, while the variables included adhesion to the tests and factors regarding the testing process. Data collection was performed in loco through a semi-structured instrument. Rapid tests were offered by 93% of the teams, 78.5% offering the tests to any users. In 89.2% of the staff teams, the nurse was solely responsible for collecting tests; 55.9% of members did not feel confident about reporting on a positive result, while 63.1% of those who considered the community health agent the main form of outreach assessed their performance as inadequate. Treatment against syphilis accounts for 50.5%. There is fair adhesion to testing by part of the staff teams; the focus on the nurse, however, leads to an increase in their workload, highlighting their protagonism, leading to a reflection on professional practices and paving the way for different realities to be further investigated


Degeneration of gray matter and subcortical structures after ischemic stroke has been well described. However, little is known about white matter degeneration after stroke. It is unclear whether white matter degeneration occurs throughout the whole brain, or whether patterns of degeneration occur more in specific brain areas.


President of the Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses the renowned Turkish theologian Fethullah Gulen and his supporters of organizing the failed coup in Turkey on July 15, 2016. This has become one of the main reasons for massive human rights violations and political persecution of certain segments of the population in modern Turkey.In August 2016, one month after the attempted coup d'etat, the number of asylum applications from Turkey to the EU increased by 45%. Among the countries that have granted asylum to political refugees, the top three are Germany, France and Switzerland. 14,640 Turkish citizens applied for asylum in the European Union in 2017.The target of political persecution in Turkey was certain sections of society that tried to leave their homeland legally or illegally, in order to take refuge in neighboring countries and get to Europe and the rest of the world by the shortest route.It seems that "doors" to the EU are closing for a long time to Turkey, and the part of society that has become the target of political persecution, will be a serious loss for Turkey, This factor destroys the foundation on which Turkey's European perspective stands. I believe that the time will come when Turkey will take its rightful place in the civilized world along with European states.