CD8+- and CD4+- T cell mediated immunity is major contributing factor for defense against pathogenic fungi. Our previous studies have shown that CD8+ T cells in the absence of CD4+ T cells protected vaccinated mice from lethal challenge with Blastomyces dermatitidis. However, it has also been shown that CD4+ T-cell help is required for maintenance of memory CD8+ T cells after viral and intracellular bacterial infections. To explore the requirements for maintenance of CD8+ T cell memory against pathogenic fungi, we tested whether fungal-specific memory CD8+ T cell persist in the absence of CD4+ T cell help. Here, we show that protective CD8+ T cell memory endures without CD4+ T-cell help for at least six months after fungal vaccination in mice. Additionally, we show that type I cytokines (IFNγ and TNFα), which are requisite for mediating protection, remained intact in the memory CD8+ T cells after a recall response to a lethal pulmonary challenge in vaccinated mice. The phenotypic markers CD27, CD62L, CD122, and CD127 of memory CD8+ T cells were similar to those on CD8+ T-cells induced with helper CD4+ T cells. These findings imply that CD4+ T cell help is not required for the generation, maintenance, and recall responses of protective memory CD8+ T cells after fungal vaccination. Our studies have potential implications for the usage of fungal vaccines in immune-compromised hosts.


The title compound, C11H16O7, was obtained from the breakage reaction of the glycosidic bond of 5′-deoxy-2′,3′-diacetylinosine. The ribofuranose ring has a C2-exo, C3-endo twist configuration. No alteration of the relative configuration compared with d-(−)-ribose is observed.


When drivers are confronted with limited sight distance it is likely that boundary crossing error will increase. Normally, these errors will be compensated to some extent by selecting an appropriate speed. The aim of this research was to study the degree to which drivers actually use speed adjustment when confronted with a restricted sight distance. Boundary crossing errors and speed behavior were evaluated as a function of available sight distance in a driving simulator. Drivers were asked to drive sections of either a straight road or a curved road of almost equal total length. The sight distances were artificially restricted to 30, 40, 70 or 180 m. For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 815404.


The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and their applications are increasing every day. Those vehicles are in certain way autonomous, so they need to have a well studied and defined autopilot. In order to study autopilots it is necessary to have a dynamic model that represents how would be the behaviour of the aircarft in a real situation. However, there is a high dispersion on the use of these models. Usually, papers and articles about autopilots' studies can be found in the literature, but all of them use an own model that have been defined exclusively for the corresponding UAV they are using. Due to that, this project has the aim to construct a reference model that could be used in studies of autopilots and control techniques, non-depending on the considered UAV. Evidently, there are a lot of types of different UAVs, so it would have no sense to try to construct a model useful for a multirotor and a fixed wing aircraft at the same time. By the way, the scope of the project has been reduced to fixed wing UAVs of about 3 meters of wingspan. Moreover, regarding the three types of stability that can be differentiated in an aircraft (longitudinal, lateral and directional), only the longitudinal stability has been considered. It is the one that has more presence in the literature and it might be the more representative concerning the whole behaviour of the UAV. The goal of the project is to take into account different fixed wing unmanned aerial vehicles and compute an averaged model of all of them. Those individual models have been achieved from two different sources of information. On the one hand, articles, papers, books and other written documents have been consulted obtaining models already defined. On the other hand, some models have been created purposely for the project with the help of Digital Datcom. Due to the existing dispersion in the variables the found models use and the different ways in which they have been constructed, the most feasible way to average all of them has been considering their pole-zero diagrams. Finally, using the reference model created, it has been done a study to find out what are the structural parameters that more affect the stability of the UAV. This study joined to the reference model can be useful to make lighter the process of constructing a model before starting any study of autopilots. In addition, when designing the aircraft, they can be even useful to decide how each parameter should be in terms of stability.


Background: Today, liver transplantation is a routine procedur e in the treatment of patients with end stage liver disease and its survival rate is high. In order to promote health, nurses and other health care professionals need to discover the meanings of lived experiences after liver transplan tation. It is important for nurses to know what pat ients really experience; appropriate nursing intervention can be ext racted from such understanding. This study aimed to describe the meaning of lived experiences of liver transplant pa tients after discharging from hospital. Methods: A Phenomenological approach was chosen for the study. Unstructured and open‐ended interviews were conducted with 9 liver transplant patients. The method of analysis described by Colaizzi (1978) was utilized . Results: According to Colaizzi, seven categories emerged: su pport, gradual adaptation, transplant outcomes, con cerns, fallow up, gratitude and waiting for transplant. The patient's physical and mental problems prevente d them to fulfill personal goals before transplant. Although they had some concerns such as fear of graft rejection, the y were at the peace with the world after transplantation. Lifelong medi cations were identified insignificant for the parti cipants. Social support was essential for recovery and meeting other r ecipients in the same situation as well as sharing health and life experiences is an important aspect among liver transpla nt patients. Health professionals were universally praised in the study however the fallow up care they received from them was not desirable. Conclusion : Health professional especially nurses should take a more active role in continuing care for such clie nts. Also, the support patients give each other should be encouraged and aided by health care team.


In this paper, we propose a novel robust multiple human tracking approach based upon processing a video signal by utilizing a social force model to enhance the particle probability hypothesis density (PHD) filter. In traditional dynamic models, the states of targets are only predicted by their own history; however, in multiple human tracking, the information from interaction between targets and the intentions of each target can be employed to obtain more robust prediction. Furthermore, such information can mitigate the problems of collision and occlusion. The cardinality of variable number of targets can also be estimated by using the PHD filter, hence improving the overall accuracy of the multiple human tracker. In this work, a background subtraction step has also been employed to identify the new born targets and provide the measurement set for the PHD filter. To evaluate tracking performance, sequences from both the CAVIAR and PETS2009 datasets are employed for evaluation, which shows clear improvement of the proposed method over the conventional particle PHD filter.


Ejecta created in hypervelocity impacts of micrometeoroids on atmosphereless bodies are an efficient source for circumplanetary and interplanetary dust. The impact erodes the target surface and releases material into space. The ejecta are typically micron sized and populate a dust cloud around the parent body, whose number density decreases with increasing distance from the target. Unbound particles escape and add to the planetary dust environment. Here we explore the influence of a correlation between the fragment size and the ejection speed, such that larger fragments are (on average) launched with lower speeds. This behavior is suggested by theoretical considerations and impact experiments. We find that such a correlation provides a dynamical filter that removes large ejecta from high altitudes. The effect is stronger for bigger ejecta and for more massive parent bodies. Our results suggest that large particles found in the circumplanetary and interplanetary dust environment either originate from impacts on smaller moons, impacts of unusually large or fast impactors, or an entirely different process of dust production.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy and safety of CD34+ selected ex vivo T-cell cell depletion (TCD) versus post-transplant cyclophosphamide, sirolimus and mycophenolate mofetil (PTCy-Sir-MMF) as GVHD prophylaxis.

METHOD
We retrospectively included patients who underwent allo-HSCT with either TCD (n = 38) or PTCy-Sir-MMF (n = 91).

RESULTS
Cumulative incidence of neutrophil and platelet recovery was 92% vs 99% (p = 0.06) and 89% vs 97% (p = 0.3) in TCD and PTCy-Sir-MMF, respectively. Cumulative incidences of aGHVD grade II-IV, III-IV and moderate to severe cGVHD were 11% vs 19% (p = 0.2), 3% vs 2% (p = 0.9) and 3% vs 36% (p <0.001) in TCD and PTCy-Sir-MMF, respectively. The 2-year non-relapse mortality, relapse, disease-free and overall survival was 25% vs 8% (p = 0.01), 20% vs 16% (p = 0.2), 55% vs 76% (p = 0.004), 57% vs 83% (p = 0.004) for TCD and PTCy-Sir-MMF, respectively. Cumulative incidence of cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr infection requiring therapy was 76% vs 40% (p < 0.001) and 32% vs 0% (p < 0.001) in TCD and PTCy-Sir-MMF, respectively. PTCy-Sir-MMF platform showed faster T-cell reconstitution.

CONCLUSION
PTCy-Sir-MMF provides better survival outcomes but is associated with higher risk of cGVHD compared to TCD.


Abstract We synthesized the second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) copolymers for studying the effect of temperature on the temporal stability of electro-optic effect. Heterocyclic azo chromophore was synthesized to be bound to methacrylate and naphthalate polymer backbone. Particularly, amino methylsulfonylbenzothiazole was employed to prepare the azo chromophore. Second harmonic generation can give us the relationship between the second harmonic signal and sample temperature during corona poling. The decaying behavior of second harmonic signal was traced at different temperature that is in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature.


Coating compositions comprising a mixture of Zinc powder and an alkali metal silicate are known. Such compositions have been found to be quite useful for pro tecting metals, and particularly iron, from the weather and from sea water. Despite the usefulness of Such compositions, they suffer from the practical disadvantage that once they are prepared and placed in a closed con tainer, the silicate reacts rather quickly with the zinc giving off hydrogen. Such coating compositions can therefore not be prepared and sold in the same manner as ordinary coating compositions. Use of such composi tions has been largely restricted to instances where the compositions can be prepared at the site. Some inhibi tors have been proposed for retarding the reaction be tween the alkali silicate and the zinc dust, but such stabilization usually doesn't last more than 3 days, which is not enough for practical purposes.


In the past few decades there have appeared many new findings in the researches of the English language, many of which are playing a very important role in the improvement of the English language teaching.This paper discusses the use of some such findings in English teaching and the role they are playing in improving English teaching.


The mortality of sepsis remains high, and it is still a major cause of death in critically ill patients.But its pathophysiological mechanism remains a mystery, not yet fully clear.Endothelium play an important role in the development of sepsis.Maintaining the integrity of its surface glycocalyx to a certain extent reduces sepsis damage; and its destruction mediates a series of pathophysiological responses, including increasing vascular permeability by cell pathway or intracellular pathways, increasing the adhesion of white blood cells to endothelial cells and a variety of cytokines to promote inflammatory response, activating of thrombin to coagulation dysfunction, promoting synthesis of nitric oxide to change vascular tension.The damage of glycocalyx as a first step in endothelial cell injury can be used as early diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis, which provides new ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis.

Key words:
Glycocalyx; Sepsis; Pathophysiology


The dance as well as the art is a part of the life of each individual, but they are also a part of the general processes in society. Dance very frequently absorbs, and nevertheless at the same time reflects the conditions that are distinctive of a specific time and space. The dance body is a medium through which the reactions and responses to a specific problem or condition are articulated. In some examples, the body is used as an instrument to promote values often dictated by the centers of power and authority. However, the dancing body is also a channel through which one can follow reactions and answers to a real problems and hardship. This characteristic will be the subject of this analysis. The Middle Ages was chosen to show the manner and forms of reaction created in crisis situations. Although we have very few authentic sources for this period, it was an additional challenge to go deeper, to explore and to emphasize another function of the dance that is not aesthetic, yet socially engaged. The body is a strong articulator and although it is rarely included in general social research, it provides very interesting material and opportunities to decoded states, attitudes and positions on a collective level. The analysis deals with presenting events that feature the medieval period that have been followed and resulted in specific reactions shaped through several dance forms.


ABSTRACT In the aftermath of the 2016 election of President Trump, a veritable cottage industry of opinion pieces, blogs, and articles emerged overnight, most of which seemed to agree that only the post-truth could explain how a racist, misogynistic, neo-nationalist member of the economic elite could win a presidential election. This article, in contrast, is inspired by Barbara Christian's injunction that we question why a given statement, concept, or theory is now acceptable when before it was not. Operating in this spirit, we critique post-truth critics for neglecting the material tradition of ideological criticism in favor of epistemological explanations for understanding post-truth literature; we then offer two case studies—American drug policy and housing policy—to illustrate the racial amnesia required for claiming that only now do we live in a post-truth era.


A distributed event-triggered controller is developed for approximate leader-follower consensus while being robust to Byzantine agents for a homogeneous multi-agent system (MAS). The event-triggered strategy enables intermittent communication and sensing. Moreover, each agent can detect Byzantine adversaries within their neighbor set and selectively disregard their transmission to achieve approximate leader-follower consensus. A non-smooth Lyapunov stability analysis is leveraged to prove consensus of the MAS.


The editor of the Zoological Record has kindly informed me that the generic name Polysiphonia Finks, 1995, (class Calcarea, order Murrayonida, family Maeandrostiidae) (Finks, 1995, page 4) is preoccupied (Mrs. M. Joan Thorne, personal commun., 1996). I therefore rename it Polysiphonaria.


In this article,a three dimensional solid model of Mini Car is established by using Unigraphics.First,the model is imported for pre-processing by software Gambit,then the computing domain is gridded,and three-dimensional numerical simulation of steady flow was carried out for the car model by using CFD of software Fluent.At last,the three-dimensional velocity and pressure field for the car model are obtained.The approach provides a visual basis for the best aerodynamic design of cars.


Financial Intermediation plays an important role in the growth and development of the economy. The active participation of the non-banking financial companies' role is as crucial as the commercial banks in India. The repeated failure of these entities posed numerous questions upon the potential functioning of the NBFC's in India.


It is known that an approximation in non-compact sets is not guaranteed always same is true for concave sets which do not guarantee get the uniqness of a best approximation element. In this papers we introduce a new method to approximation in a semi-compact and pre-concave set in the metric spaces. This new method accomplished by prove some theorems which used properties of above set that guarantees existences and uniqueness of best approximation element for any element in this set, where these properties that is semi-compactness and pre-concavity alone are considered to be weak topological (metric) properties. Moreover, the other important conclusion is that the semi -compact and pre-concave set in metric space must be become a convex set, more than it must be a strictly convex set and the importance of this conclusion is clear that the convexity of sets is considered a strong properties of sets, also there are others conclusions in the folds of this research.


Capacity of existing placement sites for dredged material from the Baltimore Harbor remains extremely limited, resulting in an ongoing need to study, select, and implement new sites capable of accepting dredged material from the navigation channels within the Baltimore Harbor. The Coke Point Peninsula (the Peninsula) on the Sparrows Point property (Figure 1) was identified as a potential location to construct a Dredged Material Containment Facility (DMCF) for placement of dredged material from Baltimore Harbor through an extensive screening process by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA) and the Harbor Team (a group of community members, citizens groups, and local government officials). The Sparrows Point Facility is located on approximately 2,300 acres on the north side of the Patapsco River in Baltimore County, Maryland, approximately nine miles southeast of downtown Baltimore. The Coke Point Peninsula comprises about 300 acres of the Sparrows Point property.


Spatially and temporally static crustal magnetic anomalies are contaminated by static core field effects above spherical harmonic degree 12 and dynamic, large-amplitude external fields. To extract crustal magnetic anomalies from the measurements of NASA's Magsat mission, we separate crustal signals from both core and external field effects. In particular, we define Magsat anomalies relative to the degree 11 field and use spectral correlation theory to reduce them for external field effects. We obtain a model of Antarctic crustal thickness by comparing the region's terrain gravity effects to free-air gravity anomalies derived from the Earth Gravity Model 1996 (EGM96). To separate core and crustal magnetic effects, we obtain the pseudo-magnetic effect of the crustal thickness variations from their gravity effect via Poisson's theorem for correlative potentials. We compare the pseudo-magnetic effect of the crustal thickness variations to field differences between degrees 11 and 13 by spectral correlation analysis. We thus identify and remove possible residual core field effects in the Magsat anomalies relative to the degree 11 core field. The resultant anomalies reflect possible Antarctic contrasts due both to crustal thickness and intracrustal variations of magnetization. In addition, they provide important constraints on the geologic interpretation of aeromagnetic survey data, such as are available for the Weddell Province. These crustal anomalies also may be used to correct for long wavelength errors in regional compilations of near-surface magnetic survey data. However, the validity of these applications is limited by the poor quality of the Antarctic Magsat data that were obtained during austral Summer and Fall when south polar external field activity was maximum. Hence an important test and supplement for the Antarctic crustal Magsat anomaly map will be provided by the data from the recently launched Orsted mission, which will yield coverage over austral Winter and Spring periods when external field activity is minimal.


We measured infrared surface brightness fluctuation (SBF) distances to an isotropically distributed sample of 16 distant galaxies with redshifts reaching 10,000 km s-1 using the near-IR camera and multiobject spectrometer (NICMOS) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The excellent spatial resolution, very low background, and brightness of the IR fluctuations yielded the most distant SBF measurements to date. Twelve nearby galaxies were also observed and used to calibrate the F160W (1.6 μm) SBF distance scale. Of these, three have Cepheid variable star distances measured with HST and eleven have optical I-band SBF distance measurements. A distance modulus of 18.5 mag to the Large Magellanic Cloud was adopted for this calibration. We present the F160W SBF Hubble diagram and find a Hubble constant H0 = 76 ± 1.3 (1 σ statistical) ±6 (systematic) km s-1 Mpc-1. This result is insensitive to the velocity model used to correct for local bulk motions. Restricting the fit to the six most distant galaxies yields the smallest value of H0 = 72 ± 2.3 km s-1 Mpc-1 that is consistent with the data. This 6% decrease in the Hubble constant is consistent with the hypothesis that the Local Group inhabits an underdense region of the universe, but is also consistent with the best-fit value of H0 = 76 km s-1 Mpc-1 at the 1.5 σ level.


we enrolled patients with fracture across 49 hospitals in 18 low-income and middle-income countries, categorised into the regions of China, Africa, India, south and east Asia, and Latin America. Eligible patients were aged 18 years or older and had been admitted to a hospital within 3 months of sustaining an orthopaedic trauma. We collected demographic injury data and time to hospital admission. Our primary outcome was the number of patients with open and closed fractures who were delayed in their admission to a treating hospital. Delays for patients with open fractures were defined as being more than 2 h from the time of injury (in accordance with the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery) and for those with closed fractures as being a delay of more than 24 h. Secondary outcomes were reasons for delay for all patients with either open or closed fractures who were delayed for more than 24 h. We did logistic regression analyses to identify risk factors of delays of more than 2 h in patients with open fractures and delays of more than 24 h in patients with closed fractures. Logistic regressions were adjusted for region, age, employment, urban living, health insurance, interfacility referral, method of transportation, number of fractures, mechanism of injury, and fracture location. We further calculated adjusted relative risk (RR) from adjusted odds ratios, adjusted for the same variables. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02150980, and is ongoing.


We give a description of a 400 Hz alternating field demagnetizer producing high fields, up to 280 mT, with a spiral mu metal magnetic shield and having the ability to eliminate the parasitic effect of the second harmonic in the alternating current supplying the field coil.


Skin disease is not uncommon in the UK goat population, and many skin diseases have been reported (Tables 1 to 3). Globalisation of trade in animals and animal products has resulted in incursions of novel diseases into Europe, some of which are potential threats to goat herds in the UK.

View this table:

Table 1:
Ectoparasites causing skin disease in goats

View this table:

Table 2: Viral diseases causing skin lesions in goats

View this table:

Table 3: Other skin conditions of goats listed by likely frequency of occurrence

Examination of the whole skin together with a full clinical examination should be performed on affected animals. Acute lesions may show erythema, oedema, vesicles, pustules, papules or nodules. These are often characteristic of …


Bounded rationality concerns the study of decision makers with limited information processing resources. Previously, the free energy difference functional has been suggested to model bounded rational decision making, as it provides a natural trade-off between an energy or utility function that is to be optimized and information processing costs that are measured by entropic search costs. The main question of this article is how the information-theoretic free energy model relates to simple e-optimality models of bounded rational decision making, where the decision maker is satisfied with any action in an e-neighborhood of the optimal utility. We find that the stochastic policies that optimize the free energy trade-off comply with the notion of e-optimality. Moreover, this optimality criterion even holds when the environment is adversarial. We conclude that the study of bounded rationality based on e-optimality criteria that abstract away from the particulars of the information processing constraints is compatible with the information-theoretic free energy model of bounded rationality.


Objectives: To compare the mean serum CA-125 level between normal first trimester pregnancy and ectopic pregnancy, and to determine the cut point of CA-125 level for diagnostic aim. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Vajira hospital, Navamindradhiraj University between December 2012 and September 2013. Two compared groups were invited from 2 resources. The first group was normal intrauterine pregnant women who came to antenatal care unit. Another group was women with diagnosed ectopic pregnancy and further pathologically confirmed. Blood was drawn from each woman for standard antenatal/preoperative laboratory investigations along with serum CA-125. Levels of CA-125 between both groups were compared. The prediction of ectopic pregnancy was assessed by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Result: There were 30 normal pregnancies and 30 ectopic pregnancies in this study. No statistically significant difference was found in terms of age, parity, and gestational age between normal and ectopic pregnancy group. The mean serum CA-125 level in ectopic pregnancy group (24 ± 10 IU/ml) was lower than normal pregnancy group (48 ± 36 IU/ml) which statistically significant difference (P value 0.02). When serum CA-125 level of 30 IU/ml was used as a cutoff value for diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy; sensitivity 73.3% and specificity 73.3%. Conclusion: The measurement of serum CA-125 levels may be useful in discriminating ectopic from normal intrauterine pregnancy.


PDF is the established format for the exchange of final-form print-oriented documents on the Web, and for a good reason: it is the only format that guarantees the preservation of layout across different platforms, systems and viewing devices. Its main disadvantage, however, is that a document, once converted to PDF, is very difficult to edit. As of today (2018), there is still no universal format for the exchange of editable formatted text documents on the Web; users can only exchange the application's source files, which do not benefit from the robustness and portability of PDF. This position paper describes how we can engineer such an editable format based on some of the principles of PDF. We begin by analysing the current status quo, and provide a summary of current approaches for editing existing PDFs, other relevant document formats, and ways to embed the document's structure into the PDF itself. We then ask ourselves what it really means for a formatted document to be editable, and discuss the related problem of enabling WYSIWYG direct manipulation even in cases where layout is usually computed or optimized using offline or batch methods (as is common with long-form documents). After defining our goals, we propose a framework for creating such editable portable documents and present a prototype tool that demonstrates our initial steps and serves as a proof of concept. We conclude by providing a roadmap for future work.


Four anomalies of magnetic origin were observed at T1 = 10.7 K, T2 = 11.7 K, Tf = 22.4 K, and Tc = 23.5 K in SrFe3(PO4)3O with a geometrically frustrated magnetic lattice using different techniques. SrFe3(PO4)3O shows features typical of re-entrant spin glass with the freezing temperature Tf in zero static magnetic field and the Curie temperature Tc. These features are the sharp upturn of the dc magnetization and ferromagnetic hysteresis loops on the M(H) curves below Tc, frequency-dependent rounded maxima on both the χ′(T) and χ′′(T) curves at different positions, a very small anomaly of specific heat at Tf, and strong suppression of spin-glass behaviour by magnetic fields above 0.1 T. High-field magnetization measurements revealed the existence of a 1/3-magnetization plateau above 25 T at T = 1.7 K. Magnetic reflections were observed below Tc on neutron powder diffraction patterns. Additional magnetic reflections appeared below T2.


ACM JERIC is an electronic publication providing access to high quality, archival resources suitable for support of computing education. Resources include scholarly articles with wide applicability and potential impact as well as multimedia and visualization works, laboratory materials, and other digital objects of practical use supporting learning in the computing field. These may support course presentation or informal learning, either locally or through distance education activities. They may be downloaded for use by trainers, teachers, students, or other learners. JERIC resources support every aspect of computing education, whether the emphasis is on information, computation, hardware, software, theory, application, or newly emerging areas. JERIC defines computing broadly to include all aspects of disciplines including, but not limited to, computer science, computer engineering, information systems, information science, and software engineering. While the primary focus of JERIC is on materials for use in undergraduate learning, other levels of instruction are welcomed. All materials selected for publication in JERIC will have demonstrated their significance in support of computing education and will have been judged of high value by qualified referees. JERIC works in conjunction with the Computing Science Teaching Center, http://www.cstc.org/, where work in progress or other less formally reviewed materials are accessible. Those submitting online to CSTC are invited to request review for JERIC if they feel the significance of their work warrants archival publication. JERIC arose in part as a result of research supported by the ACM Education Board and the US National Science Foundation, through grants DUE-9752190: A Digital Library Based Computer Science Teaching Center (CSTC) and DUE-9752408: Curriculum Resources in Interactive Multimedia (CRIM). The proposal for JERIC was endorsed in spring 2000 by ACM SIGCSE, SIGMultimedia, and SIGIR. It was approved in summer 2000 by the ACM Publications Board. Ongoing activities with JERIC are supported in part by NSF-funded efforts to develop a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL). We hope that JERIC resources will support a broad international community of educators and learners. Please prepare, submit, nominate, review, or use JERIC resources. For instructions and further information, see the WWW site listed at the top of this document. We welcome you to JERIC. We are pleased to have the greeting by guest editor Rachelle S. Heller, followed by the rest of the special issue that she has managed. Professor Heller is a leading authority on multimedia in education, and has been teaching a number of courses so that those in the


The world over, public institutions appear to be responding to the calls voiced by activists, development practitioners and progressive thinkers for greater public involvement in making the decisions that matter and holding governments to account for following through on their commitments. Yet what exactly 'participation' means to these different actors can vary enormously. This article explores some of the meanings and practices associated with participation, in theory and in practice. It suggests that it is vital to pay closer attention to who is participating, in what and for whose benefit. Vagueness about what participation means may have helped the promise of public involvement gain purchase, but it may be time for more of what Cohen and Uphoff term 'clarity through specificity' if the call for more participation is to realize its democratizing promise.


Mobility management is an efficient transport policy approach, that can be applied in a flexible way. Co-operation of public and private partners is one of its main characteristics. Examples from Europe show that car trips to specific sites such as companies or schools can be reduced by 5-20 per cent depending on local conditions. Beside testing mobility management in 30 demonstration sites, the EU-funded research project MOST (http://mo.st) has analysed the framework conditions for mobility management across Europe. In the last years there has been increasing activity in many countries, e.g. the Netherlands, Great Britain or Italy. The analysis has led to the P.A.I.R.-scheme which structures the recommendations. From this scheme and the European best practise a 10-step action programme is proposed for Germany with a necessary agenda to advance the application of mobility management.


In order to seek the difference between Chinese and Swedish stock market, this thesis makes a comparison of explanatory power of macroeconomic factors between the stock markets in respective country. The vector autoregressive (VAR) models are implemented to analyze the relationship among the market returns and macroeconomic variables, i.e., GDP, CPI, exchange rate, unemployment rate and interbank offered rate in China and Sweden. The empirical result illustrated that Chinese stock market is more sensitive to the changes of macroeconomic variables than Swedish stock market. To make a clear interpretation for the estimation result, impulse responses functions and variance decompositions are applied to support the empirical test. Moreover, we analyzed the potential reasons that may cause the differences between Chinese and Swedish stock markets.


The objective of this research is to know mechanical properties of bitumen mixtures coconut charcoal powder. This research was done in Highway and transportation laboratory of Civil Department, Tadulako University. Percentage of coconut charcoal powder content based on weight of bitumen. The percentage of coconut charcoal powder in bitumen are 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% respectively and comparison with properties of bitumen without additive material. The properties of bitumen include the following: the penetration value of bitumen, the Ductility value, the softening point value, density of bitumen value, loss on heating of bitumen, flash and fire point of bitumen values.The result of this research indicates that the coconut charcoal powder in bitumen between 2% to 8% still enough for spesification except on ductility properties of bitumen values. This implies that, increment the coconut charcoal in bitumen potential influence on asphalt pavement include stiffness and brittle of mixtures.


The English Renaissance took place against a political backdrop dominated by international conflict, dynastic questions, religious tension, and economic confusion. These leitmotifs were modulated by the political styles and personal quirks of Elizabeth I and James I, and their favorites. Elizabeth refused to talk about the succession to the throne, squashed attempts to go beyond the religious settlement of 1559, and, very reluctantly, led England into a world war with Spain, putatively in defense of Protestantism. James, through adroit politics, peacefully settled the succession and took the throne of England, uniting it with Scotland through his person. He made peace with Spain, to the horror of his Protestant subjects, and tried to avoid the pitfalls of ideological warfare, despite Catholic attempts to kill him. He, too, however, was drawn into Continental conflicts in defense of Protestantism. The decisions of both monarchs stressed the economy, but probably encouraged its evolution in ways that launched British capitalism and imperialism. By 1584 it was clear Elizabeth I would never marry. The political classes, faced with this certainty, began a new political dance around their newly designated Virgin Queen, playing the charade of eternal desirability in the face of advancing age. The Queen was presiding over a Court that was increasingly filled with a younger generation whose understanding of politics, and relation to the Queen, differed from their parents'. Many of the leading political figures of Elizabeth's early reign died in the 1580s. Most importantly, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and perhaps the one love of Elizabeth's life, died in 1588. Increasingly, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, presided over a Privy Council full of younger faces. He was grooming his son Robert to take his place as the leader of Elizabeth's government, but competition was emerging as Elizabeth was attracted to younger men like Sir Christopher Hatton and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. The generational dynamic in the Court was magnified by religion. By the 1580s the established Church of England was under attack by Catholics, who believed it to be illegitimate, and by people, generally lumped together as Puritans, who wished to see its worship and governing


In this paper, a modular system is described which is capable of creating an adaptable wireless power zone by means of multiple movable resonators driven by independent RF generators. The RF generators automatically adjust the resonator tuning to accommodate variations in their mutual coupling, and they automatically frequency-lock to prevent a beat frequency in the power delivered to receivers which couple to multiple resonators.


The most influential work in the application of ontology to conceptual modeling is that of Wand and Weber (1990, 1995) who used the ontology posed by Mario Bunge (1977). However, Bunge's ontology is concerned with representing the material world - the world of material objects that possess physical properties existing independently from human perception. It has no place for human intentions, interpretations, creations, or meaning. It is unconcerned about institutional reality - the world of conceptual objects and attributes created by human intentions and for human purposes. Examples of such conceptual objects are corporations, government agencies, money, educational institutions, contracts, and transactions. None of these are material objects about which Bunge's ontology is concerned yet they are at the core of what business organizations are. Lacking constructs for such objects, Bunge's ontology is an inappropriate foundation for conceptual modeling in the context of organizational information systems.


On September 11th, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center shook the nation's sense of security and notion of imperviousness on home territory. The emotions of the people of America became immediately apparent: anger towards the attackers, sorrow for those who were lost, fear for lives and the lives of those loved, and pain for a nation that lost so much all at once. Complete and utter astonishment exacerbated these feelings; the coordination and execution of a terrorist attack so large in scope and so damaging was completely missed by a country prided on sophisticated security. The United States government responded by immediately passing legislation intended to put an end to terrorism, fill the void in national security measures, and rebuild the nation's sense of safety.


A deterministic context-free language L0 is described which is log(n)-complete for the family of languages recognized by deterministic log(n)- tape bounded auxiliary pushdown automata in polynomial time. It follows that L0 is a "hardest" deterministic context-free language (DCFL), since all DCFL's are recognized in polynomial time by deterministic pushdown automata. L0 is, moreover, a simple precedence language and a simple LL(1) language. Thus the tape complexities of these proper subfamilies are essentially the same as the tape complexity of all DCFL's.
 We show that an auxiliary pushdown store does, in fact, add some power to some restricted families of log(n)-tape bounded Turing machines. The basic result is that every two-way 2k-head nondeterministic finite automation can be replaced by an equivalent two-way k-head nondeterministic pushdown automation. This indicates, also, that every 2k-head nondeterministic finite automation language can be recognized in 0(n3k) steps. Other results relate multihead automata classes with other multihead automata classes, with families recognized by log(n)-tape bounded Turing machines with restricted tape alphabets, and with time-bounded complexity classes.


We present a generic, compact formula for the current flowing in interacting and non-interacting systems which are driven out-of-equilibrium by biased reservoirs described by Lindblad jump operators. We show that, in the limit of high temperature and chemical potential, our formula is equivalent to the well-known Meir-Wingreen formula, which describes the current flowing through a system connected to fermionic baths, therefore bridging the gap between the two formalisms. Our formulation gives a systematic way to address the transport properties of correlated systems strongly driven out of equilibrium. As an illustration, we provide explicit calculations of the current in three cases : {\it i)} a single-site impurity {\it ii)} a free fermionic chain {\it iii)} a fermionic chain with loss/gain terms along the chain. In this last case, we find that the current across the system has the same behavior for loss or gain terms and depends on the loss/gain rate in a non-monotonic way.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: system and method for provision of phototherapy to infants use a phototherapy panel on light emitting diodes to be placed in the tray for an X-ray incubator cassette. The panel contains a frame with a light-emitting surface and light sources emitting through the light-emitting surface. EFFECT: group of inventions allows using a panel suitable for stacking in an X-ray cassette tray of an incubator. 15 cl, 5 dwg


A Japanese man had been crippled by leg pain since the age of 10. He suffered from repeated pathologic fractures of the lower limbs and became bedridden after the age of 33. Neurological examination revealed hyperreflexia of the deep tendons, sucking reflex, dysdiadochokinesis and intentional tremor. He was alert and euphoric, showing frontal lobe syndrome. Xrays revealed many polycystic translucent lesions in the bones of the fingers, toes, limbs and pelvis (Fig. 1a). CT scan showed severe diffuse atrophy, predominantly in the frontal lobes. Biopsies of bone marrow and skin revealed membranous cystic lesions in adipose tissues. His general condition went slowly downhill. Babinski reflex and ankle clonus appeared at the age of 36. He suddenly developed status epilepticus at the age of 37. He gradually became dumb, and died of bronchopneumonia at the age of 43.


We discuss contemporaneous aggregation of independent copies of a triangular array of random‐coefficient processes with i.i.d. innovations belonging to the domain of attraction of an infinitely divisible law W. The limiting aggregated process is shown to exist, under general assumptions on W and the mixing distribution, and is represented as a mixed infinitely divisible moving average {X(t)} in (4). Partial sums process of {X(t)} is discussed under the assumption EW2 < ∞ and a mixing density regularly varying at the 'unit root' x = 1 with exponent β > 0. We show that the previous partial sums process may exhibit four different limit behaviors depending on β and the Lévy triplet of W. Finally, we study the disaggregation problem for {X(t)} in spirit of Leipus et al. (2006) and obtain the weak consistency of the corresponding estimator of ϕ(x) in a suitable L2 space.


The Mo2NiB2 ternary boride ceramic coating was in-situ prepared on the surface of Q235 steel by laser cladding.The microstructure and corrosion behavior of the coating were investigated by SEM,immersion and electrochemical methods.The results showed that the coating exhibited good metallurgical bond at the interface,no obvious cracks and holes were found,and the reinforced phase distribution was uniform.Compared with the substrate,the coating showed one-forth corrosion current density and the corrosion potential shifted positively in 3.5% NaCl solution,indicating that the coating significantly improved the corrosion resistance of the substrate.


Pasta i s an extrusion product which is commonly produced from wheat flour . Gluten i s key substance of wheat flour that affect quality of pasta, such as low cooking loss, low adhesiveness and firm pasta structure . However , gluten may caus e health problem for consumers with celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Rice is safe for celiac disease sufferer, but it is technologically challenging to develo p rice-based pasta. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of different ratio between xanthan gum and guar gum (2%) on the physical characteristics of macaroni pasta from rice flour . This research consisted of several steps which include flour milling and characteri zation , formulation, and final product analysis. The result showed that different r atio of xanthan gum and guar gum ha d significant effect to cooking loss, adhesiveness, springiness and hue parameters (P 0.05) . The optimum formula was noodle by hydrocolloid ratio 2% of xanthan gum and 0 % of guar gum which had desirability value of 0.798. The selected formula was organoleptically accepted by panelists and containing 9.84 % of water, 1.65% of ash, 12.05% of protein, 1.41% of fat, 75.05% of carbohydrate, 24.49% of amylose, also 33.49  of pore size.


It is conjectured that strongly coupled, spatially noncommutative N = 4 Yang-Mills theory has a dual description as a weakly coupled open string theory in a near critical electric field, and that this dual theory is fully decoupled from closed strings. Evidence for this conjecture is given by the absence of physical closed string poles in the non-planar one-loop open string diagram. The open string theory can be viewed as living in a geometry in which space and time coordinates do not commute.


The aim of this study is to identify the main approaches and develop methods for creating individual design of kitchen cabinet furniture. The kitchen with its furniture and equipment is an important part of the environment of residential buildings. Since equipping the kitchen with modern furniture, the latest materials and accessories also influences the formation of the artistic appearance of the interior, the study of the design of cabinet furniture in the living space is very important and timely at the present stage.
Methodology. The study used the analysis of literature sources on the design of furniture; structural and system analysis; synthesis of research results; computer modelling.
Results. Two main approaches to the design of kitchen cabinet furniture are identified: "from consumer to product" and "from product to consumer"; a method of creating individual design of kitchen furniture within the "from consumer to product" approach is developed; features of the "from product to consumer" approach are formulated. It is determined that the first approach is related to the individual design of furniture, in which certain wishes, requirements and ideas of the customer create the algorithm of work. These requirements can be dictated by the specifics of the interior of the room from aesthetic and functional points of view. The second approach is aimed at mass-produced kitchen furniture, which is more in line with large furniture production, where it is the manufacturer who selects the design, and the consumers adjust their desires to the offer of the company, which is more suitable for low-income consumers.
Scientific novelty. For the first time, the basic approaches to the design of kitchen cabinet furniture are defined and characterized, and methods of creating individual design of kitchen cabinet furniture within the "from the consumer to the product" approach are developed.
The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their application for designers and manufacturers in the design of kitchen cabinet furniture.


Haliotis asinina, the seawater abalone with different sizes i.e. small (1-2 cm in shell-length) medium (3-4 cm in shell-length) and large (5-6 cm in shell-length) were selected and further tested for determination of changes in the rate of oxygen consumption for 24 hours period. Three Feeding treatments included the seaweeds species Gracilariopsis heteroclada, Caulerpa lentillifera and unfed treatments were tested. The abalones for the unfed treatment were originally fed G. heteroclada, and not fed 24 h prior the experiment. The highest oxygen consumption levels were recorded for the starved juveniles (small size, 1-2 cm SL) H. asinina and lowest in juveniles fed Caulerpa lentillifera, followed by juveniles fed Gracilariopsis heteroclada. Starved sub-adult (medium size, 3-4 cm SL) abalone registered oxygen consumption levels between Caulerpa lentillifera and Gracilariopsis heteroclada fed abalone. Further, caloric requirements ranged from 28.32 cal•gm-1 (i.e. 5-6 cm SL) to 59.15 cal•gm-1 (i.e.1-2 cm SL) for the C. lentillifera treatment and from 26.39 cal•gm-1 (i.e.5-6 cm SL) to 124.79 cal•gm-1 (i.e.1-2 cm SL) for the G. heteroclada treatment. The starvation treatment has corresponding higher (for 1-2 cm SL) and lower (for 5-6 cm SL) caloric requirements, respectively. The results are discussed in the light of metabolic processes in sea-water mollusks. The relationship between the rate of oxygen consumption and dry body weight were established in the experimental animals. Regression analysis was made and {R2} was calculated; the values of [R2] were obtained to be 0.90 and 0.72 and 0.40 for the starved, Gracilariopsis heteroclada and Caulerpa lentillifera fed, respectively. [R2] values were highly significant in logarithmic relationship.


Most patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) requiring systemic chemotherapy.The combination of antiangiogenic agent bevacizumab with standard platinum-based doublet chemotherapy has been shown to benefit patients with ad-vanced NSCLC.The safety and efficacy of several multitargeted antiangiogenic tyrosine kinase inhibitors(e.g.,sorafenib,cediranib,suni-tinib,vandetanib,BIBF 1120,pazopanib,and axitinib) in combination with standard chemotherapy are also being evaluated.This paper reviewed current clinical data with the combination of antiangiogenic agents and cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC.


Synovial sarcoma is a malignant neoplasm predominantly affecting the soft tissues of the extremities of adolescents and young adults. Primary mediastinal synovial sarcomas are rare and have been recognized only recently. We report a case of this rare disease with the initial presentation of back pain. Chest plain film and computerized tomography revealed a huge right-side tumor mass with pleural effusion. Computerized tomography-guided biopsy disclosed synovial sarcoma. A general survey showed no evidence of distal metastasis. The patient received palliative debulking surgery, had a poor response to adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and expired 6 months after operation. Due to the rarity of primary mediastinal synovial sarcoma, there is no standardized therapy. Broad surgical resection is the cornerstone of therapy. We report a patient with this rare disease and review the literature.


The possibility of desensitization of the motor end-plate to ACh during tetanus — as proposed by Thesleff — and the possible role of this desensitization for production of Wedensky inhibition of the neuromuscular transmission, have been tested and are discussed.

As in Thesleff's experiments increased concentration of NaCl has been used to obtain block of contraction and pure end-plate potentials. Mechanical registration of the contractions and extracellular recording of end-plate potentials were employed.

No signs of Wedensky-inhibition could be obtained by increasing the NaCl-concentration in the bath. Previous results indicate that the state of the motor end-plate after long sustained strong increase in the NaCl-concentrations must be rather unphysiological. The present results and also previous ones quoted in the discussion do not indicate any certain desensitization of the motor end-plate to ACh under physiological conditions. A mechanism of this type can probably not be of particular significance for the production of the very rapidly occurring Wedensky inhibition seen, for example, during curarization.


Dyspnea for COPD clients is a major problem requiring major help. Apart from disturbing the comfort, dyspnea can inhibit the activity of the client. It is important for nurses to innovate interventions in reducing dyspnea in COPD clients. This study aimed to determine the effect of diaphragmatic breathing exercises as one of the interventions to reduce dyspnea. This study used a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test with a control group, 46 respondents were selected by consecutive sampling, consisting of 23 respondents in the treatment group and 23 respondents in the control group. The independent variable in this study was a diaphragmatic breathing exercise. The dependent variable is dyspnea. Data collection for variable dyspnea using the CAT scale. The statistical test used was Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test with significant α = 0.05. The results of this study indicate that intervention diaphragmatic breathing exercises can reduce dyspnea in COPD clients with ρ = 0,000. Intervention of diaphragmatic breathing exercises can reduce dyspnea in COPD clients by increasing the strength of the diaphragm muscles which are the main muscles of breathing. Further research requires pulmonary physiological examination (spirometry test) as one of the research variables.


This paper analyses a procurement setting where the supplier can make a cost-reducing investment prior to trade and the parties have to agree on signing the contract before or after the investment decision. There exist three types of equilibria which all lead to ineciently low investment and ineciently low trade when the supplier does not invest. In the rst type the parties always contract before the investment decision, in the second always after the investment decision. In the third type they mix between the two but allocations are identical. The types of equilibria can be ranked by pareto dominance.


For a class of second order nonlinear differential equations, sufficient conditions are presented to ensure that some, respectively all solutions are asymptotic to lines.


Model support effects on aerodynamic and wake characteristics of large angle cones. Melvin M. Carmel and Clarence A. Brown Jr. (JA, SYN) 99 Three-dimensional flow separations on aircraft and missiles. David J. Peake, William J. Rainbird, and Edward G. Atraghji (AIAA J, SA) 567 Distortion and turbulence interaction—A method for evaluating engine inlet compatibility. E. A. Van Deusen and V. R. Mardoc (JA), 16 Application of airfoil theory for nonuniform streams to wing propeller interaction. G. Kleinstein and C. H. Liu (JA) 137 Leading-edge slat design by a semi-inverse technique. John E. O'Pray and Peter B. S. Lissaman (JA) 143 Reduction of wave drag by antisymmetric arrangement of wings and bodies. R. T. Jones (AIAA J) 171 Flow around wing sections with high-lift devices. D. N. Foster (JA) 205 Ground effects in STOL operation. L. B. Gratzer and A. S. Mahal (JA) 236 Airfoil in a contracting or diverging stream. B. Lakshminarayana and M. T. White (JA) 354 Drift of buoyant wing-tip vortices. Robert C. Costen (JA) 406 Unsteady subsonic collocation method for wings with and without control surfaces. AtleeM. Cunningham Jr. (JA) 413 A general class of exact airfoil solutions. Richard M. James (JA) 574 Analytical method for combining the interaction of inlet distortion and turbulence. Ronald L. Panton (JA) 636 Subsonic steady and oscillatory aerodynamics for multiple interfering wings and bodies. J. P. Giesing, T. P. Kalman, and W. P. Rodden (JA) 693 Performance estimates for a supersonic axisymmetric inlet system. Norman E. Sorensen and Donald B. Smeltzer (JA) 703 Slowly oscillating lifting surfaces at subsonic and supersonic speeds. Gunter W. Brune and Arthur R. Dusto (JA) 777 A theoretical method for the analysis and design of multielement airfoils. J. G. Callaghan and T. D. Beatty (JA) 844 Computation of transonic flows past lifting airfoils and slender bodies. J. A. Krupp and E. M. Murman (AIAA J) 880 Interference of wing and multipropellers. L. Ting, C. H. Liu, and G. Kleinstein (AIAA J) 906 Calculation of compressible turbulent boundary layers with roughness and heat transfer. F. A. Dvorak (AIAA J) 1447 Lee-side vortices on Delta wings at hypersonic speeds. Dhanvada M. Rao and A.'H. Whitehead Jr. (AIAA J) 1458 Multiple element airfoils optimized for maximum lift coefficient. Alien I. Ormsbee and Alien W. Chen (AIAA J) 1620 Incipient stall detection through unsteady-pressure monitoring on aircraft wings. Hanno H. Heller, Donald B. Bliss, and Sheila E. Widnall (JA, EN) 186 Influence of helical serrations on the aerodynamic properties of a spinning body. Maurice A. Sylvester (AIAA J, TN) 223 Vortex-elliptic wing interaction. W. P. Jones (AIAA J, TN) 225 Drag of a flat plate with transition in the absence of pressure gradient. Chang-yu Liu (JA, EN) 509 V-wings and diamond ring-wings of minimum induced drag. John S. LetcherJr. (JA, EN) 605 Lift on airfoils with separated boundary layers. Nathan Ness (JA, EN) 607 The effect of several wing tip modifications on a trailing vortex. James F. Marchman III and Joseph N. Uzel (JA, EN) 684 Simplification of the wing-body interference problem. Ralph E. Graham and Jerry L. McDowell (JA, EN) 752 Equations of motion for flexibte cables. Thomas R. Rogge (JA, EN) 799 Leading-edge force features of the aerodynamic finite element method. Chuan-Tau Lan and Jan Roskam (JA, EN) 864 Vortex induced wing loads. L. T. Filotas (AIAA, J, TN) 971 Lift of wing-body combination. H. T. Yang (AIAA J, TN) 1535 A correction to "Lifting-line theory as a singular perturbation problem." Keith P. Kerney( AIAA J, TN) 1683 Comment on "Transonic airfoil design." J. Smolderen (JA, TC) 191 ——Reply by authors to J. Smolderen. M.S. Cahn and J. R. Garcia (JA, TC) 192 Comment on "A direct matrix method for the divergence problem." William P. Rodden (JA, TC) 318 ——Reply by author to William P. Rodden. V. T. Nagaraj (JA, TC) 318 Comment on "Vortex velocity distributions at large downstream distances." J. F. Marchman III (JA, TC) 382 ——Reply by author to J. F. Marchman. Andrew H. Logan (JA, TC) 383 Comments on "Convergence proof of discrete-panel wing loading theories." R.M. James (JA, TC) 383 ——Reply by author to R. M.James. J. De Young (JA, TC) 384 Comments on "Attenuation of inlet flow distortion upstream of axial flow compressors." R. M. Greitzer (JA, TC) 511 Comment on "Convergence proof of discrete-panel wing loading theories." William P. Rodden (JA, TC) 686 ——Reply by author to W. P. Rodden. J. DeYoung (JA, TC) 688


8035 Background: Hypogonadal men have adverse changes in lipids and body composition that are reversed by testosterone replacement. Studies of testostorone replacement co-administered with aromatase inhibitors show that these benefits are in part mediated through conversion of androgens to estrogenic hormones. Lipid and body composition changes may contribute to the long-term morbidity of androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer (PC). Oral estrogen therapy for PC is associated with an increased risk of thromboembolic complications, but parenteral administration may be safer. As part of a study of transdermal estrogen (TDE) in androgen-independent PC (AIPC) patients, we sought to determine the impact of such therapy on serum lipids and body composition.

METHODS
We measured serum cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, HDL (total, HDL2 and HDL3), VLDL-C, Apolipoprotein-B, and Lp(a) before and 8 weeks after starting TDE therapy (six 7.6 mg patches applied every 7 days) in androgen-deprived men with AIPC. We examined body composition with whole body DEXA and fat distribution with an abdominal MRI at the same time points.

RESULTS
Mean ± SD for variable that changed are shown in the table. [Figure: see text] No significant change was observed for HDL3, triglycerides, VLDL, or Lp(a). MRI data were available for 13 of these men. No change was observed in any of the body composition measures including: % fat, fat mass, lean mass, trunkal fat, intra-abdominal fat, or subcutaneous fat.

CONCLUSIONS
Androgen deprived men treated with TDE had significant improvements in LDL and HDL levels without raising triglyceride levels. The observed changes are sufficiently large to have the potential to reduce cardiovascular risk. Longer-term observation is necessary to determine if improvements in body composition changes would follow. Controlled studies are needed to determine the impact of TDE therapy on cardiovascular risk. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


Fascism results from economic crisis, a decline in parliamentarianism, and the threat of communism. In its origins it is a petit-bourgeois movement with a muddled programme, composed of a mixture of quasi-radical reforms and ultra-nationalism. The inconsistencies of this cunous medley of contradictions, frequently referred to as National Socialism, are overlooked or forgotten in the worship of a blindly followed leader whose word is the final dictum on all matters. Fascism comes to political power by finally gaining the support, at first surreptitious, of large-scale capital interests, which see in it a potent weapon for the defence of the status quo. To begin with, it amply justifies the hopes and expectations of this group whose backing made its ascent to power possible. In so doing, however, it abandons the progressive planks of its earlier platform and ruthlessly suppresses the elements which advocated them. So much for its origins and early development.


A fundamental goal of a wireless sensor network (WSN) is to collect and deliver data to external applications. Due to the strong constraints of these networks, routing algorithms usually consider application-specific characteristics and, consequently, there is no self-contained algorithm appropriate for every case. In particular, many WSN applications are event- driven. In such scenarios, the behavior of the network may vary a lot, which favors different algorithms at different instants. In these cases, hybrid adaptive solutions are more suitable by allowing the adoption of a better routing strategy in response to the variation of the network conditions. In this work, we evolve this approach by considering the temporal characteristic of event occurrence and detection through an estimation model. The proposed solution, called multi, predicts the need of routing infrastructure creation and maintenance for the adaptation between a reactive and a proactive strategy. To show the advantages of the proposed approach, an instance of multi is evaluated through simulations. Comparisons with its independent reactive and proactive components and other proposed solutions show improvements on energy consumption.


The objective of this paper is to propose initial steps towards the design of the next generation multi-modal driver monitoring platform to be facilitated in urban driving scenarios. The main novel ingredient is the adaptation of the proposed driver safety platform operation to the individual driver behavior (e.g., aggressive driving) and his/her current biological state (e.g., attention level). We have developed a robust driver monitoring platform consisting of automotive sensors (i.e. OBD-II) that capture the real-time information of the vehicle and driving behavior as well as a heterogeneous wearable body sensor network that collects the driver biometrics (e.g., electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG)). In this investigation, we intend to examine the effect of the driving condition on the driver distraction as one aspect of the driver monitoring platform. Distraction during driving has been identified as a leading cause of car accidents. Our aim is to investigate EEG-based brain biometric measures in response to driving distraction. Using our proposed driver monitoring platform, we study driver cognition under real driving task in two different road conditions including of peak and non-peak traffic periods. Five subjects are recruited in our study and their EEG signals are recorded throughout the driving experience. The experimental results illustrated that the power of theta and beta bands in the frontal cortex were substantially correlated with the road condition. Our investigations suggested that the features extracted from the time-frequency brain dynamics can be employed as statistical measures of the biometric indexes for early detection of driver distraction in real driving scenarios.


Due to the massive Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and substantial growth of communication traffic, Virtual Network Function (VNF) orchestration scheme is anticipated to function promptly, dynamically, and intelligently for next-generation networks. Hence, we urge the necessity to move beyond the traditional paradigm and employ VNFs on the network edge located cloudlet. Overall, multi-access edge computing can intensify the performance of delay-sensitive IoT applications compared to the core cloud based VNF deployments. In this paper, we intend to investigate how to simultaneously leverage the ensembling of multiple deep learning models for proper calibration to provide real-time VNF placement solutions. We also address the challenges associated with state-of-the-art approaches to deal with dynamic network traffic and topology patterns. Our envisioned methods, based on Convolutional Neural Networks and Artificial Neural Networks named as E-ConvNets and E-ANN respectively, suggest two proactive VNF deployment strategies. These ensembled VNF deployment strategies demonstrate encouraging performance (optimality gap nearly 7%) in terms of minimizing relocation and communication costs, and high scalability intelligence factor (around 0.93) through simulation results compared to standalone deep learning models. Furthermore, the presented results indicate the potentialities of applying deep learning-based strategies into similar research enigmas for future telecommunication network researches.


Effective control of land subsidence requires reliable predictions of ground deformation caused by mining. Apparently the extent of mining impacts are affected by the scale of disturbances of the rock strata. Intensive mining operations in the vicinity of the town Ruda Śląska in the Upper Silesia Coalfield began in the 19th century, so the rock strata in this area is now strongly disturbed. Vital information about the behaviour of the disturbed rock strata, required for the purpose of predictions, is obtained from geodetic measurements and surveying of subsidence troughs in the area. The surveying data enables us to find the relevant parameters in the Budryk-Knothe's theory for the given area. This study briefly summarises the processes occurring within the rock strata during the mining operations, in the context of the mining history, geological structure and rock properties in the neighbourhood of Ruda Śląska. Of particular interest are the results of geodetic measurements of subsidence due to mining operations continued underneath the town district of Wirek, in the period from 2005 to 2008.


The present invention, by administering an effective amount of a thromboxane A The invention also by administering a thromboxane A


Halogen-,phosphorous- and lead-free flame-retardant epoxy-based thermosets are environmentalfriendly materials and expected to be applied to the electronic materials. Nitrogen heterocyclic ring is highly efficient flame-retardant w ith low toxicity and has been covalently introduced into the backbone of the epoxy polymers,but so far the structure of such nitrogen heterocyclic ring and its flame-retardant property for epoxy resin has not yet closely correlated. Based on our previous w orks in the field,this article summarizes recent research progress for synthesis and application of the flame retarded epoxy-based thermosets containing nitrogen heterocyclic ring,including triazine,isocyanurate,azo phthalazinone,imide,benzoxazine and hydantion rings, etc. The structure-property relationships of these systems are presented in detail. Generally,introducing nitrogen heterocyclic structures into epoxy resin systems by covalent bonding can maintain the overall performance w hileendow the flame retardancy to the final materials. Moreover,nitrogen heterocyclic structure can improve the thermal stability of the cured epoxy resins. As a result,epoxy resin containing nitrogen heterocyclic structures might be a good choice to obtain halogen-,phosphorous- and lead-free flame retardant epoxy-based electronic materials. How ever,it is still a big challenge to get flame-retardant epoxy-based thermosets just depending on nitrogen heterocyclic structure in these materials. Most of the reported systems had contained low content of phosphorous for bettering the flame retardancy. As a result,it is important to intensively understand the structureproperty relationship of nitrogen heterocyclic ring-containing epoxy resin. Several methods are proposed for improving the flame retardancy of nitrogen heterocyclic ring-containing epoxy resin.


Using PCR and denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography to identify Vibrio vulnificus,detect the specific PCR products by DHPLC in non-degeneration temperature under optimal conditions.Besides its specificity,the sensitivity and stability were examined.Our results showed that PCR-DHPLC had high-specific stabilization,credibility,and shorter testing time,with the lower detectable limit of 124 CFU/mL.The DHPLC could be a new method for the detection of Vibrio vulnificus.


Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of the treatment of complicated bladder stones using ballast and holmium laser lithotripsy through ureteroscope. Methods 16 patients with complicated bladder stones were treated by the ballast and holmium laser lithotripsy through ureteroscope. Results The longest diamenter of the biggest bladder stones in every case was longer than 30 mm.In 16 cases,12 cases were diagnosed as multiple bladder stones and 4 cases as single bladder stones.Bladder stones of all the patients were fragmented after a single session without severe complications. Conclusion Treatment of complicated bladder stones using ureteroscope ballast combined with holmium laser lithoripsy is a safe,effective,less invasive and rapid recovery method.


The present invention relates to the process and equipment for production of ammonium chloride during the combined preparation of sodium carbonate and ammonium chloride, which are improvement on known thermal process to produce ammonium chloride in such areas as increasing the vacuum degree in multieffective evaporation system, use of non-metal material and special metal, especial design of deamidizing and evaporation equipment, realizing three-effect sequencial evaporating crystallization (one for salt eduction, the second for flash vaporization and final for evaporation to directly educe ammonium), and combining conventional evaporator with crystallizor into a whole. Its advantages include corrosion resistance, low consumption and high efficiency.


We clarify the hysteretic behavior observed in lithiated silicon electrodes through the development and implementation of a model that describes the main features of the observed voltage hysteresis. Specifically, slow-scan voltammetry at 0.01 mV/s is used to study hysteresis in lithiated silicon thin-film electrodes. At higher scan rates, the curves U(x), where U is voltage and x is state of charge, depend on the scan rate, but no difference is seen in the curves when scanning at slow enough rates. For example, no difference is seen at 0.01 mV/s or at 0.005 mV/s, even though the same hysteretic behavior is observed for both scan rates, i.e., the lithiation curve differs significantly from the delithiation curve. The rate of 0.005 mV/s is the slowest that could be measured with state-of-the-art equipment. However, when a lithiating scan at 0.01 mV/s is suddenly set to open circuit conditions, the voltage slowly decays upwards, whereas the voltage decays downwards when delithiation is interrupted. From this...


Based on the use of these three tests, we theorized that it may be possible to detect whether different levels of infection to PRRSV exist at a Summary Objective: To assess the presence of breeding herd subpopulations after infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Design and procedure: Ten swine herds were selected based on the inability to control postweaning PRRS problems using nursery depopulation or piglet vaccination. No vaccines had been used in breeding animals. The existence of subpopulations at a point in time and over time was assessed. Cross-sectional serologic profiles of randomly selected sows were collected and samples were analyzed for IgM and IgG indirectfluorescent antibodies (IFA), and serum neutralization (SN) antibodies at a point in time. Based on the results, sows were classified into one of two subpopulations: 'not infected' (negative on all three tests) or 'acutely infected' (IgM or IgG positive at ♢1:64 and SN negative). The ability of subpopulations to persist over time was also assessed. In conjunction with the previously described subpopulations, another subpopulation, 'antibody decay,' was assessed. This classification was based on evidence of a previous infection, with subsequent antibody decay over time. Two herds from the original 10 were selected and specific sows were serially sampled three times over a 6-month period. Results: Sows were found to be 'not infected' in eight herds (mean = 26%, range = 0%‐52%) and 'acutely infected' in five herds (mean = 14%, range = 0%‐36%). Further, all three subpopulations persisted over time and sows changed subpopulations, depending on whether viral infection took place. Implications: Breeding herd subpopulations may exist and may be a factor in maintaining persistent viral transmission in chronically infected farms.


Decompression sickness has more widespread interest today for it goes beyond an "industrial disease" (caisson disease). It may accompany diving for sport, and sooner or later we may hear of it in experimental work on hyperbaric pressures in medicine.


Researchers at McGill University and CANMET developed a heat transfer model to simulate temperature evolution in the hot rolling of long or flat steel products.


For the Trans-femoral (TF) amputee, the biomechanics of stair gait can be analyzed in only the stair descending. The information of stair ascending gait can be evaluated for only the normal side. The study with TF amputee mostly referred to the stair ascending by leading with the normal side rather than the prosthetic side as there was none of prosthesis can be the leading side to climb up the stair so none of TF amputee can make the step over step climbing up the stair. Since there was none of prosthesis can be the leading side to climb up the stair, none of TF amputee can make the step over step climbing up the stair and hence none of the stair ascending gait prediction model has been studied in transfemoral amputee, this study is aiming to figure out the stair gait ascending pattern in transfemoral amputee which imitated by the healthy person. Then, the neural network model is constructed to predict the knee angle during stair ascending, in which purpose to integrate into the controller of the prosthetic knee component to assist the stair ascending gait.


This paper looks into problems experienced by English-Korean interpreters as they interpret from World Englishes - in this case Indian English - into Korean. A simultaneous interpretation experiment was conducted on 10 interpreters, followed by retrospective think-aloud procedures. The study aims to identify the segmental and suprasegmental problems Korean interpreters find difficult to solve as they perform simultaneous interpretation. The study results revealed that suprasegmental elements imposed the greatest problems on simultaneous interpretation process. Difficulty in capturing the phonological elements resulted in poor intelligibility, thereby undermining interpreters' comprehensibility on the source text meaning. Unintelligible suprasegmental elements of Indian English included lexical stress (or pitch stress) in wrong syllables, sentence stress in function words, monotonous intonation, and lack of pauses. The syllable-timed language feature of Indian English put particular difficulty on interpreters' listening phase. Segmental elements were also found to be contributing to low intelligibility of Indian english, albeit to a lesser degree, compared to suprasegmental elements. Interpreters responded to unintelligible elements by omitting, substituting, summarizing, generalizing ST segments in the production phase, which eventually undermined the fidelity to the source text.


Triple negative breast cancer has a phenotype characterized by the absence of progesterone and estrogen receptors and the lack of HER2 overexpression. In order to find new strategies for treatment, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) in combination with chemotherapeutics were studied and tested as new therapeutic tools. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of SWCNT in the transport of cisplatin (CDDP) for improving its cytotoxic effects on MDA-MB-231 cells. The nanoconjugates SWCNT-COOH-CDDP were obtained by the functionalization of SWCNT with carboxyl groups (SWCNT-COOH) and conjugation with CDDP. MDA-MB-231 cells were exposed to different doses of SWCNT-COOH, SWCNT-COOH-CDDP (0.01–2 μg/mL), and CDDP (0.00632–1.26 μg/mL) for 24 and 48 h. Cellular viability was monitored through an MTT test. The level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were evaluated using fluorescence and spectrophotometric methods, respectively. The expressions of Nrf2, caspase-3, caspase-8, and Bid proteins were assessed by immunoblotting in the presence of 0.5 and 1 μg/mL nanoconjugates. Additionally, the effects of SWCNT-COOH-CDDP on cell migration were monitored using a wound healing assay. The cellular viability decreased and ROS level increased in a time and dose-dependent manner in the presence of nanoconjugates relative to the control. Moreover, the level of GSH rose after 24 and 48 h of exposure to 0.5 μg/mL SWCNT-COOH-CDDP, while a decrease to 78.31% was recorded after 48 h in the presence of 1 μg/mL nanoconjugates. The expression of Nrf2 decreased to 33% after 24 h of treatment with 1 μg/mL SWCNT-COOH-CDDP and increased to 80% compared to the control (100%) after 48 h. Upregulation of caspase-3 and caspase8 and downregulation of Bid post-exposure to 1 μg/mL SWCNT-COOH-CDDP was noticed. The inhibition of cell migration was observed after 24 and 48 h of exposure to 1 μg/mL SWCNT-COOHCDDP. In conclusion, these nanoconjugates induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells, probably by both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways, by triggering the oxidative stress mechanisms, and inhibited their migration potential. Citation: Badea, M.A.; Balas, M.; Cojocaru, F.G.; Ionita, D.; Dinischiotu, A. Nanoconjugates Based on Cisplatin and SingleWalled Carbon Nanotubes for Therapy of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Mater. Proc. 2021, 4, 32. https://doi.org/10.3390/ IOCN2020-07989 Published: 12 November 2020 Publisher's Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).


8 9 Abstract 10 Background, aim, and scope In the 50 years or so that 11 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were manufactured in the 12 USA and elsewhere, they were widely used in numerous 13 applications because of their desirable properties. The 14 purpose of this paper is to review and summarize in one 15 place the factual information about the uses of PCBs, as 16 well as to correct some misconceptions that have arisen 17 over the years. The focus is on applications in the USA for 18 which there is ample documentation. However, use patterns 19 were probably similar worldwide. 20 Materials and methods Review. 21 Results PCBs were used primarily as electrical insulating 22 fluids in capacitors and transformers and also as hydraulic, 23 heat transfer, and lubricating fluids. PCBs were blended 24 with other chemicals as plasticizers and fire retardants and 25 used in a range of products including caulks, adhesives, 26 plastics, and carbonless copy paper. In the USA, PCBs 27 were manufactured from 1929 through mid-1977, although 28 many products remained in service for decades after the 29 manufacture of PCBs was terminated. This article reviews 30 the historic uses of PCBs in the USA and discusses, where 31 possible, the relative sales volumes. Especially with smaller 32 volume, military, and third-party uses, documenting a use 33 and/or differentiating between a commercial use and an 34 experimental test batch is not possible. 35 Discussion A major contribution of this paper is to 36 differentiate reported commercial applications of PCBs that 37 can be documented from those which cannot. Undocu38 mented uses may include actual minor uses as well as 39 reported applications that are unlikely ever to have been 40 commercialized.


Autonomous vehicles (AVs) must always have a safe motion to guarantee that they are not causing any accidents. In an AV system, the motion of the vehicle is represented as a trajectory. A trajectory planning component is responsible to compute such a trajectory at run-time, taking into account the perception information about the environment, the dynamics of the vehicles, the predicted future states of other road users and a number of safety aspects. Due to the enormous amount of information to be considered, trajectory planning algorithms are complex, which makes it non-trivial to guarantee the safety of all planned trajectories. In this way, it is necessary to have an extra component to assess the safety of the planned trajectories at run-time. Such trajectory safety assessment component gives a diverse observation on the safety of AV trajectories and ensures that the AV only follows safe trajectories. We use the term trajectory checker to refer to the trajectory safety assessment component. The trajectory checker must evaluate planned trajectories against various safety rules, taking into account a large number of possibilities, including the worst-case behavior of other traffic participants. This must be done while guaranteeing hard real-time performance since the safety assessment is carried out while the vehicle is moving and in constant interaction with the environment. In this paper, we present a prototype of the trajectory checker we have developed at IVEX. We show how our approach works smoothly and accomplishes real-time constraints embedded in an Infineon Aurix TC397B automotive platform. Finally, we measure the performance of our trajectory checker prototype against a set of NCAPS-inspired scenarios.


In this paper, we apply computer science and software engineering techniques in, and bring benefits to, real-life applications. Specifically, we propose a design for a computeraided change detection system, which uses both image processing and data mining techniques, to help clinicians diagnose bleeding in children's brains---i.e., in medical terms, paediatric acute intracranial haemorrhage (AIH). The proposed system provides clinicians with computerized analysis of medical images in the form of computed tomography (CT) scans of the heads of children patients. This, in turn, leads to more efficient detection, diagnosis, and progress evaluation of paediatric AIH.


The distribution and retention of 'Be in mice, rats, monkeys and dogs were determined in 47r liquid scintillation counters after oral, intraperitoneal and intravenous injection. Less than 1% was absorbed from the gut after oral dosage. About 50% was excreted within 2 day after parenteral dosage. Bone was the principal site of deposition of absorbed 7Be, but the lower large intestine was the organ receiving the greatest amount of radiation from ingestion of the radionuclide. THE TOXICITY of beryllium led to a number of the lower left abdominal quadrant. Mice and investigations of its metabolic behavior in rats received intravenous doses (IV) in tail mammals.(1-9) I t was soon apparent that bone veins, monkeys in the saphenous vein and dogs is the main depot for storage of the radio in the cephalic vein. n u ~ l i d e ( ~ . ~ ) and that deposition and excretion Liquid scintillation detectors(15J6) were used depend on route of entry, chemical form and to measure the 0.48-MeV gamma-ray energy size of d ~ s e . ( ~ , ~ , ~ ) Most of this work was emitted by the daughter nucleus in the whole performed on rats, although rabbits were used body, tissue and excreta. The data were by SCOTT et and SCHUBERT and analyzed by previously described computer report on retention and excretion of beryllium programs.(16) Tissue distribution was measin one dog as well as in rats. A comparison of ured at various times after a single i.p. injection the retention and excretion in four mammalian and after daily oral ingestion of 20 ml of a species is presented in this paper, one of a series saccharin-glucose solution contaminated with of similar papers.(1°-14) 7Be. The rats avidly consumed this solution,(17) but 7Be activity was absorbed on the surface of the drinking vessel so that it was necessary to was wed for assay the vessels for activity before and after use these studies.!' I t was administered orally in order to estimate intakes. The accumulation and Parenterally to RF mice, SPrague-DawleY of 7Be in tissues during chronic exposure was too rats, Macaca speciosa monkeys and beagles. The low to permit ready assay of the individual relevant data are Presented in 1* The organs so that abdominal and thoracic viscera, animals were maintained on standard commerminus the gut, were considered as a unit at 2,4, cia1 diets and tap water ad lib. Single oral doses 6 and 8 weeks of exposure. After the single i.p. (%) were given by stomach tube to and dose, the following tissues were assayed a t 6 hr mice under ether anesthesia. Dogs received and at 1, 3,6, 10,30 and 7 1 days : pelt, liver, gut a gelatin capsule containing the Oral dose, and (esophagus to rectum, with contents), kidney, monkeys voluntarily ingested sugar cubes spleen, lung, testis, bone, muscle and blood. contaminated with an appropriate dose of 7Be. Intraperitoneal doses (i.p.) were given in METHODS Chrier-free 7Be as the RESULTS The data were not corrected for physical parenteral injection of 7Be, it was possible to describe the whole-body activity of each species with the sum of three exponentials (Table 2). * This work was performed under the auspices of decay and represent effective retentionAfter the US. Atomic Energy Commission. tory. t Obtained from the Oak Ridge National Labors-


The concentrated juice of lingonberry was used as the experimental material and we focus on some factors which have an effect on the stability of anthocyanin such as pH,temperature,storing time,metal ions and oxidants.Results showed that the stability of anthocyanin was affected significantly by the temperature and it was more stable at a lower temperature;the stability of anthocyanin was relatively steadying when the pH was from 1.0 to 3.0;K+,Fe2+and Sn2+have an protective effect on the stability of anthocyanin;the oxidants affected the stability of anthocyanin significantly and have a linear relationship with its concentration;anthocyanin from lingonberry was more stable under pH3.0,4 ℃ temperature and 5 h storing time.


Viscous fingering (VF), a hydrodynamic instability, is often observed in porous media when a less mobile fluid is displaced by a more mobile fluid. Depending on the porosity of the medium this can be classified into two classes: Darcian and non-Darcian. The fluid flow in the former is described by the Darcy's law, whereas in the later different momentum equations are required. Here, we present COMSOL simulations for miscible VF in homogeneous porous media of both types. We use Brinkman equation for modeling in the porous media, wherever Darcy's law is not applicable. For the modeling purpose, two different physics (hydrodynamics and transport of solute in porous media) are coupled. The Darcy's law results are in good match with the linear stability as well as nonlinear simulations existing in the literature. Simulation results of the COMSOL multiphysics reveal the similarities and differences between the Darcy's law and Brinkman equation.


A new kind of ion-conducting glasses based on GeS2-Ga2S3-AgI system is prepared. A relatively large amount of silver can be dissolved into this kind of glass system, and the obtained glasses are still transparent in the red part of the visible spectrum. Only a three times increase in the silver concentration can lead to approximately two hundred times increase in the ionic conductivity. The structural contributions to the ionic conductivity of the glasses are discussed. The present glasses show potential to be used as solid state electrolyte.


Design of reinforced concrete pipes focuses on circumferential bending moment. Analytical or numerical methods can be used to estimate these, but an adequate representation of the soil conditions and pipe properties is necessary. The objective of this research study is to use simple experiments (three-edge bearing tests) along with closed-form solutions to obtain the circumferential flexural rigidity of a 600 mm reinforced concrete pipe for use in calculating moments from experimental measurements of changes in curvature (without knowledge of the soil and loading conditions). The data from the experiments were also used to calculate an elastic modulus that can be used to represent the circumferential flexural rigidity of the specimen in numerical simulations without having to model the reinforcement. An assessment of the methods used in this research study is also presented. Finally, use of the circumferential flexural rigidity in interpretation of buried pipe experiments is illustrated where moments in a reinforced concrete pipeline subjected to live loading are inferred from measured strains, comparing pipes for different burial depths and configurations.


In this paper, a distributed cooperative multi-channel spectrum sensing scheme is proposed for the non-infrastructure based cognitive radio networks. The proposed scheme has iterative property and is carried out round-by-round. In each round, each secondary user selects a few primary channels as the candidates for sensing based on primary signal-to-noise ratio. Then, the users with the same selected channel collaboratively form coalitions through coalitional game and thereby multiple games are played concurrently over multiple channels. After generating stable coalitional structure, the best coalition on each channel is chosen to perform the cooperative spectrum sensing. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly increase the number of available channels, which can be sensed with predefined miss detection and false alarm probabilities.


Smallholder farmers and pastoralists produce the largest proportion of food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they remain among the food insecure populations. This paper explores the food (in)security among smallholder farmers and pastoralists using a sample of 175 households in three agro-food value chains of wheat, dairy, and beef in the north-west Mt. Kenya region. The study seeks to answer if a farmer's participation in a particular agro-food value chain determines his/her food security situation. We use the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and two Poisson regression models, parsimonious and full, to assess the household food security status and determinants of food security among the smallholder farmers and pastoralists. The results show that 61% of the households were either mildly, moderately, or severely food insecure. Households in the beef value chain experienced relatively higher incidences of food insecurity compared to households in the wheat and dairy value chains. The HFIAS scores revealed a wide gap between households with minimum and maximum score. Household size, income and income-related variables (ability to save and borrow to meet family needs), transport assets, membership in farmers' associations, and household energy were significant in determining household food security, while access to credit and to extension services was not. Strategies that focus on boosting smallholder farmers' incomes, building strong and resilient farmers associations to improve inclusive and equitable value chains have the potential to get smallholder farmers out of recurrent food insecurity.


The paper surveys relevant accounting methods dealing with information asymmetry, uncertainties, and harmonization implications on less developed capital markets. The quality of accounting information is related to more aggressive or more conservative accounting policy approaches. A strong impact is assumed to be given by following factors: low market liquidity, underestimation of bad debt, pre-mature revenue recognition, transfers of risks and ownerships ; accounting oriented on tax purposes, introduction of maximum allowable depreciation rates, unadjusted differences in employees' benefits relevant to labor legislation ; non recognition of contingency reserves for long term litigations. We draw special attention to recent International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) convergence to United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAPs), especially in harmonizing with the Financial Accounting Standards Boards statement (FAS) 130: Reporting comprehensive income (in revised IAS 1) and FAS 157 Fair value measurement. A Critical Accounting Policy Choices Index for Bosnia and Herzegowina (CAPCBIH) resulted in a very poor performance presenting significant gap in recognizing environment specifics. Furthermore, the importance of revised International Standards on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) and re-enforced role of auditors in assessing relevance of management estimates is stressed.


The Korean society has already turned into an aging society with its elderly people aged 65 or older accunting for about 9.1% of the entire population as of 2005, and as the elderly population increase with rising ratio of the older people, such senile diseases as dementia, palsy, stoke, etc are increasing shich is a serious social problem. Although elderly welfare facilities increase rapidly to meet increasing elderly population, they do not seem to be effectively operated due to unsystematic laws, much less their effective constructions and checkups and maintenances. This study examined the most facilities of Group-homes for the Elderly with Dementia compared to the elderly population in Daegu. It attempts to come up with results through an analysis of Group-homes for the Elderly with Dementia. The main purpose of this study is to propose the planning direction being Construction Planning Guide when planning Group-homes for the Elderly with Dementia.


This paper proposes a compact, energy‐efficient, and smart gas sensor platform technology for ubiquitous sensor network (USN) applications. The compact design of the platform is realized by employing silicon‐on‐insulator (SOI) technology. The sensing element is fully integrated with SOI CMOS circuits for signal processing and communication. Also, the micro‐hotplate operates at high temperatures with extremely low power consumption, which is important for USN applications. ZnO nanowires are synthesized onto the micro‐hotplate by a simple hydrothermal process and are patterned by a lift‐off to form the gas sensor. The sensor was operated at 200°C and showed a good response to 100 ppb NO2 gas.


This Land desertification has been a worldwide ecological and environmental problem. It is the significance for effective remedy of land desertification to monitor the desertification ,know well the present situation ,intensity as well as dynamic variation rules of the desertification. In recent years, remote sensing has become an important technology to monitor land desertification.Firstly, we summarize the research progress in monitoring land desertification using remote sensing data acquisition.Then, we discuss about themethods to extract information of land desertification from remote sensing image, which includes artificial visual interpretation, supervised classification, unsupervised classification, hierarchical decision tree classification, neural network classification and spectral mixture analysis£¬and also we comprehensively compare the strength and weaknesses of each method. Finally, We point out the problems in the remote sensing technology application to land desertification monitoring and put forward the development prospects in the application of remote sensing to monitoring land desertification.