We investigated cluster and toroidal aspects of isoscalar dipole excitations in $^{12}$C based on the shifted basis antisymmetrized molecular dynamics combined with the generator coordinate method, which can describes 1p-1h excitations and $3\alpha$ dynamics. In the $E=10-15$ MeV region, we found two low-energy dipole modes separating from the giant dipole resonance. One is the developed $3\alpha$-cluster state and the other is the toroidal dipole mode. The cluster state is characterized by the large amplitude cluster motion beyond the 1p-1h model space, whereas the toroidal dipole mode is predominantly described by 1p-1h excitations on the ground state. The low-energy dipole states are remarkably excited by the toroidal dipole operator, which can measure the nuclear vorticity. For compressive dipole transition strengths, a major part is distributed in the $30-50$ MeV region for the giant dipole resonance, and 5\% of the total energy weighted sum exist in the $E<20$ MeV region.


Researchers have found convincing data to suggest sport is a suitable environment for adolescents to develop intrapersonal and interpersonal life skills. However, as of yet, there is little evidence suggesting that young females transfer skills learnt in sport into other life domains, and whether females adolescents are able to retain the suggested life skills once they have withdrawn from sport. I sought to extend the literature on transferable skills from sport to other life domains by considering female adolescent perspectives after they have withdrawn from sport. My research was driven by three primary questions;
Do the perceived benefits associated with sport continue after withdrawal?
Are the perceived benefits associated with sport participation transferable across life domains?
Do different sport environments cause diverse life skills to develop?
Ten females aged 15 and 16 years old voluntarily attended formal semi structured interviews. Via inductive thematic analysis, three global themes emerged: 1) how skills are developed through sport 2) potential transferable skills and outcomes and 3) prevention of transferable skills. Through a qualitative methodological approach my results suggested experiential learning to be the most productive way of life skills development, and that in order for female youths to gain a range of life skills, the type, and environment of sport should vary, in particular female adolescents should be exposed to some form of competitive sport as the environment was reported by the girls to be the most conducive to life skills development, retention, and transfer. Ideas for future research conclude the study, such as, researchers may choose to explore a longer gap between participation and withdrawal, a more extensive break between the two may result in more reflection, and possible realisation of
iii
more life skills. Researchers could also investigate an equivalent approach with male adolescents to establish any comparisons between genders.


The objective of this study was to investigate the form and spacial distribution of Cu,by analyzing its characteristics in terms of adsorption,desorption and fixation in different marine-face sediment matrix soils in the delta region of the Yangtze River.It was shown that for different kinds of surface and subsurface soils,Cu adsorption was well regressed with the Langmuir,Freundlich and Temkin equations,especially the Langmuir equation,through which the maximum adsorption capacities were in harmony with the experimental results.Meanwhile,the Cu desorption data could be regressed by exponential equation.For most soils,the maximum adsorption capacities of Cu by subsurface soils were larger than those of surface soils,yet their desorption capacities of Cu were less than the latter.The fixed adsorption of Cu for different soils were analyzed: for surface soils,Tantu mud was the maximum of fixed Cu,and the minimum was Tansha mud;for subsurface soils,the maximum was Tanchao mud,and the minimum was Tansha mud.OM,pH and other factors might have an influence on the maximum of fixed Cu of soils.In general,if the soil had higher pH and OM values,its fixed adsorption of Cu was mostly larger than other soils correspondingly.


Abstract This study assessed the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations and heavy metal profile of traditional drum-smoked and convective kiln-smoked Bonga shad and Nigerian tongue sole. Forty samples of fresh Bonga shad and Nigerian tongue sole were purposively collected from twenty processing centers in Lagos State. The samples were divided into two batches with each batch smoked using traditional drum and kiln methods. Chemical PAHs and heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium) were analyzed. Results showed that the concentrations of major PAHs fluorene, anthracene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(a)anthracene, benzo(a)pyrene, and benzo(ghi)perylene were as follows: for Bonga shad, 0.54 ± 0.03, 0.56 ± 0.07, 0.59 ± 0.07, 0.54 ± 0.04, 0.53 ± 0.04, and 0.57 ± 0.01, respectively and for Nigerian tongue sole, 0.48 ± 0.06, 0.62 ± 0.03, 0.57 ± 0.03, 0.56 ± 0.06, 0.62 ± 0.08, and 0.61 ± 0.08 mg kg−1, respectively for drum-smoked samples while for kiln-smoked samples, the values were: for Bonga shad, 0.43 ± 0.13, 0.52 ± 0.08, 0.37 ± 0.11, 0.36 ± 0.13, 0.34 ± 0.20, and 0.38 ± 0.23 and for Nigerian tongue sole, 0.41 ± 0.18, 0.49 ± 0.06, 0.37 ± 0.11, 0.37 ± 0.10, 0.28 ± 0.07, and 0.34 ± 0.13 mg kg−1, respectively. The values for drum-smoked fish samples exceeded the maximum permissible level of 0.5 mg kg−1 (Regulation EU 1272/2013). Lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium contents of drum-smoked Bonga shad and Nigerian tongue sole were 0.12 ± 0.03, 0.20 ± 0.04, 0.22 ± 0.05, and 0.10 ± 0.03, respectively and 0.15 ± 0.04, 0.13 ± 0.04, 0.19 ± 0.05, and 0.12 ± 0.04 mg kg−1, respectively while the values for kiln-smoked Bonga shad and Nigerian tongue sole were 0.16 ± 0.05, 0.19 ± 0.05, 0.24 ± 0.05, and 0.12 ± 0.03, respectively and 0.18 ± 0.04, 0.15 ± 0.04, 0.19 ± 0.05, and 0.16 ± 0.04 mg kg−1, respectively which were within safety limits of World Health Organization. The smoking methods and fish types had significant difference on PAHs (t = 8.326, df = 5.0, p = 0.0002). In conclusion, the study showed that drum-smoked fish had higher chemical contaminants when compared with kiln-smoked fish and could pose health risks to consumers if not appropriately monitored.


Chlorella vulgaris is one of the promising microalgae strains that can produce high yield of bio-oils. The C. vulgaris was pretreated with microwave irradiation prior to extraction using supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis showed microwave irradiation pretreatment does not affect the material composition of C. vulgaris. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the microwave irradiation pretreated microalgae showed an agglomeration of the cells with the cells shape became distorted due to rupturing of the cell walls. Optimization of the SCCO2 process parameters (pressure, temperature and CO2 flow rate) was performed by using response surface methodology (RSM) with central composite design (CCD). Two factors significantly affecting the extraction yield were temperature and pressure. The model equation also predicted the optimum condition for the SCCO2 (without microwave pretreatment) at 70 , 5676 psi and 7 sL/ min while optimum condition for SCCO2 (microwave irradiation pretreatment) at 63 , 5948 psi and 10 sL/ min. High amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), -linolenic acid and palmitoleic acid were found in the extracted oil with microwave irradiation pre-treatment sample. In addition, the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) content in the microwave irradiation pretreated oil was considerably low and is desirable for biodiesel production.


This report describes a systematization project that arises on the basis that in the Maximum Security Company SEGUMAX Cia. LTDA is audited in order to be certified by the ISO norms and in this audit, it appears as a deficiency the high turnover rate of the existing personnel in the company. In order to solve this deficiency, it is proposed to implement a Personnel Retention Plan based on a diagnosis of the actual situation in the company. In order to make a diagnosis, the interview and observation were used as qualitative tools, which allowed to identify that an inadequate induction, the absence of a training system and the ignorance of the salary associated to the position, are the main problems that are affecting the performance of the entity. In order to eliminate these problems, it is proposed the Retention plan based on an exit interview to be carried out for employees who apply for leave in order to determine the main causes by which they break the employee employer link, an induction magazine that includes fundamental aspects about the company, and finally a protocol of presentation to the new workers with the aim of familiarizing them with the collective.


Many automatic mesh generation methods for the finite-element method (FEM) have been reported. However, for the case with complicated heat generation, a large amount of data depending on the position must be added to mesh data. The another examples, which need a large amount of data depending on the position, are functionally gradient material and biomechanics. In these cases, it is difficult to prepare the distributed data. This paper shows that these problems can be solved by using an improved multiple-reciprocity boundary element method. In this method, contour lines of distribution are used and these distributions are assumed to approximately satisfy the Poisson equation.


This paper simulates the five different series structures of the four-stage ladder type resonator-filter, and obtains the respective frequency response. The characteristics of the five different structures are compared, concerning the characteristics of bandwidth, shape factor and stop-band rejection, thus providing the theoretical basis for the fabrication of filters.


Document Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) can manage business processes and employee performance in an organization. This study aims to develop a system that can publish SOP documents automatically distributed to employees. In this study, an analysis of the relationship between SOP documents and employees is carried out so that it can be directly allocated to employees according to the position. Knowledge analysis of the relationship between SOP documents and employees is done using semantic network analysis. Semantic networks are used to analyze components of knowledge and the relationship between SOP documents and employees. The results of the report of the elements of knowledge and the relationship between SOP documents found 25 SOP documents were consisting of 6 types of central nodes with 156 child nodes and had 7 types of relations containing 207 relations. SOP knowledge management system is connected to the personnel information system (SIPEG) so that it makes it easier for users to find, accommodate, and manage the knowledge contained in SOP documents. System implementation is done using PHP programming language with CodeIgniter framework, Rest API, and MySQL database.


File systems for flash memory that is widely used as a storage device for mobile devices should provide not only high-performance data reads and writes but also a guarantee on the data integrity even on a power failure. In this paper, we explain the design and implementation of a file system for flash memory that considers flash memory's physical characteristics and the data layout in the file system to give an optimized write performance. This file system guarantees the reliability against various system failures including a power failure by using the transaction concept in write processing. In addition, the file system minimizes the memory usage by using a simple static mapping. In the paper, we also describe the implementation of the file system and compare its performance with other existing flash memory ille systems.


The Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), a target of criticism in the past, is under fire again. This time, members of the House of Representatives are leveling allegations of gross ...


Twenty-six accessions of sweet basil collected from different parts of the country were observed for morphological and quantitative parameters. These accessions were recorded for oil gland type, size of peltate gland (PG), sepal, flower colour, stem girth, branching pattern, growth habits and leaf colour. In addition to that, accessions were observed for herbage parameters viz ., maximum plant height, plant spread, stem girth, fresh leaf, dry leaf, herbage and oil yield, and DOB-8W was found superior as compared to checks. Maximum number of PGs on abaxial leaf as compare to adaxial leaf surface were recorded at all the three stages (young, mature and old based on leaf position on axis). Though, formation of PGs takes place in younger leaves only. Number of PGs on abaxial surface of young leaf, green leaf colour and oil content in leaf has positive relationship. The leaf colour intensity (purple) is to be marker character for evaluation of large number of accessions for oil content.


Bob Spitzer was prophetic 4 years ago when he warned that the closed DSM-5 process would lead to a flawed DSM-5 product. He advised the DSM-5 leadership to end its secrecy-- that a lack of openness would inevitably would lead to bad decisions not amenable to self-correction.


The present invention relates to novel trifluoromethyl Formulas (I) - oxadiazole derivatives, and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts in which the variables are as defined in any specification, pharmaceutical compositions things, the combination pharmaceutical, as well as, in particular neurodegenerative through inhibition of HDAC4, their use as medicament for the treatment of muscle atrophy or metabolic syndrome.


From growing food to processing food, women's paid and unpaid labour in the food system is a critical part of food security. However, women's access to land is often mediated by men as is common in patrilineal societies such as the Dagbon in northern Ghana. With increasing pressure on land from new agricultural investment projects, men can shift priorities for land use. One such new investment is a European-Ghanaian joint-venture company, which cultivates and processes organic fruit for both domestic and export markets using both a plantation nucleus and out-grower scheme. Using this European-Ghanaian company as a land acquisition case study, this research empirically investigates the implications on women's access to land and food security. Fieldwork was conducted in six rural communities in the Savelugu Municipality and Tolon District of the Northern region. Drawing from the USDA's six-point scale measurement of food security, 185 questionnaires and 6 focus groups were conducted in 2018–2019. The results revealed that because women rely mainly on male relatives for access to land and other common resources, they are vulnerable to food insecurities when there is a breakdown of relations or when the priorities of male landowners change. The land acquired by this company for its plantation led to a direct reduction in women's access to trees such as Vitellaria paradoxa (shea nut), Parkia biglobosa (locust bean known as 'dawa dawa' in the region) and various fruit trees. Because products harvested from these trees are important both for household consumption and for women's cash income, household food security diminished. Women who lost access to such trees faced longer travel distances as well as the need to negotiate access to new sources, further compounding scarcity and competition in the region. Although the out-grower scheme of this company has been praised for keeping land and labour in the control of smallholders, the growing disadvantage of women has been overlooked. The removal and constriction of women's access to land and other resources led to diminished access to harvests needed for home consumption, processing and sale, which diminished food security.


The invention relates to a method for enriching tantalum and niobium, rare earth element, iron and phosphorus from rare metal ores. The method is characterized by evenly mixing the ores, a reducing agent and limestone according to the weight ratio of 100: 2-30: 1-15, and roasting at the temperature of 1300-1500 DEG C for 0.5-8h; and breaking roasted products till minus 0.043-minus 4.0mm after roasting, carrying out magnetic separation under the magnetic field strength of 200-10000 Oe, and respectively obtaining a rare metal enrichment and an iron-phosphorus enrichment. The method is applicable to the enrichment of the iron, the phosphorus and rare metals of the tantalum, the niobium and the rare earth element in crandallite and colloidal brown iron ore containing the niobium, titanium, the rare earth element and other rare metals.


Developing the concept of kinaesthetics, this article undertakes a critical re-description of amateur sports and fitness to explore the topographies, materials, innovation, and socialities that make up urban environments. Extending work on affect and urban materiality within geography and elsewhere, we argue that amateur sport and fitness animates many cities in ways that are frequently overlooked. The paper aims to 1) broaden understandings of amateur sport and fitness practices; 2) reframe perspectives on the kinds of environments cities are; 3) develop a prospective politics of provision involving the design and maintenance of a social infrastructure of amateur sport and fitness.


Development, application and structure of the switched reluctance machine system are briefly described. Configuration of stator and rotor, excitation mode and working principle for various switched reluctance machine are expounded. Design methods about the switched reluctance machine are discussed and its advantage, disadvantage and application scope are mtroduced in detail. Finally, its existing problems and developing trends are analyzed.


The paper discusses homosexuality in Ghana and the uncertainties in science and the Ghanaian criminal law on the subject. The study also provides a religious assessment on the phenomenon. Study statistics demonstrate that the phenomenon is spreading in Ghana. For example, in 2010, an estimated 8,000 gay persons were living in the Western and Central regions; and over 30,000 men slept with men in Ghana in 2011 alone. In 2014 there were over 200,000 gays in the country, forming about one percent of the total population. Today with Ghana's population over 26, 000, 000, these statistics might increase. The study involves a qualitative case studies and a survey of a selected cross-section of homosexual prone communities, and educational institutions in Ghana; and is framed by social learning theory. The study has realized that homosexuality in Ghana is a learned behavior.  This present study calls for an urgent development policy discussion leading to a positive practical intervention by government and religious bodies.  The study is important because it highlights the state of homosexuality in Ghana and suggests ways of dealing with it. It also contributes to the existing local and global theory on the phenomenon. Keywords: Homosexuality, heterosexual, Culture, Biblical stance, scientific view, law.


Robert Kilwardby, a member of the Dominican order, was born around 1215 in Leicestershire, England. Our knowledge of the Quaestiones in quattuor libros Sententiarum derives from four textual witnesses that also form the basis for the five-volume critical edition; each is described in detail in the relevant introductions. Books I and IV are found only in two manuscripts, Book II in four, and Book III in three. In the conclusion of her contribution to Early Oxford theology in volume one of Mediaeval Commentaries on the "Sentences" of Peter Lombard , Rega Wood calls medieval Oxford an important center of theological reflection in the mid-thirteenth century, second to Paris. Keywords: Peter Lombard; Robert Kilwardby; Sentences


With steady increase in the demand for door-to-door delivery services, courier service providers are facing a constant pressure to reduce delivery price in order to secure quantity order and to improve the efficiency and reliability for customer service. The objective of this research is to explain the structure of the door-to-door delivery including door-to-door delivery service demand, sorting capacity in the hub-terminal, and the system performance measures such as service reliability networks using causal loop diagram(CLD). Based on causal relation, this research describes a comprehensive approach to examine how capacity reliability contributes to the renewal of the firm`s competences through its reciprocal relationship with travel time reliability and connectivity reliability. Also, this research suggests the policy alternatives to improve effectiveness and efficiency of door-to-door delivery network in response to increase customer satisfaction and profit maximization of the courier service providers: operational, tactical, and strategic levels.


Results: The time of vitreous removal was significantly longer in the 27-g group (141.1 ± 34.1 s) than in the 25-g group (106.2 ± 24.1 s; P = 0.009). The IOP was significantly lower in the 25-g group than in the 27-g group on postoperative day 1 (27-g group, 18.3 ± 6.2 mmHg; 25-g group, 12.6 ± 3.6 mmHg; P = 0.008), but there was no significant difference on postoperative day 7. The times needed for removing the trocar and closing the port were not significantly different, but the number of the ports that required pressure to close was significantly greater in the 25-g group (35/36 ports) than in the 27-g group (31/39 ports; P = 0.0027), and the duration of pressure was significantly longer in the 25-g group (21.7 ± 13.8 s) than in the 27-g group (11.3 ± 5.2 s; P = 0.0183).


and modulation of cytokine production (3). These effects may explain the efficacy of vitamin D3 derivatives for treating warts. However, because of the fact that occlusive dressing was used in the previous report (2), and simple occlusion has also proved effective in the treatment of viral warts (4), the results could be disputable. In our patient, although occlusion was not used and a placebo effect seems improbable given the size and long evolution of the plaque, it cannot be completely ruled out. To sum up, this is the first report showing that simple application of vitamin D3 derivatives could be effective in the treatment of viral warts and, given the high prevalence of this condition and considering that the available treatments are often painful and poorly effective, we would encourage the performance of placebo-controlled studies.


This paper describes a rapid, accurate and precise method for determination of trace hafnium (Hf) in zirconium and zirconium alloys by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). It was found that using a mixture of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and ammonium sulfate (NH4)2SO4, the total sample dissolution time was 15 min. Experimental works revealed that a high Zr concentration would result in a significant decrease in the peak height of the analyte lines, which was corrected by standard addition method. The performance of the developed method was evaluated by calculating the recovery percent and using standard reference material analysis. The recoveries were in the range of 97.6%–99.5% and the relative standard deviations were within 0.8%–3.0%. The detection limit (3σ) of Hf was found to be 0.01 μg·g-1, respectively. The proposed technique, with high precision and accuracy, was applied to the analysis of trace Hf in zirconium-niobium ingots and tubes for the first time in Iran.


Rather than enjoying a good book with a mug of coffee in the afternoon, otherwise they juggled subsequent to some harmful virus inside their computer. modern power station practice pdf is straightforward in our digital library an online permission to it is set as public for that reason you can download it instantly. Our digital library saves in combined countries, allowing you to acquire the most less latency period to download any of our books subsequently this one. Merely said, the modern power station practice pdf is universally compatible as soon as any devices to read.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the coffee culture of citizens of Southern Nigeria. Specifically, different scales were developed to measure coffee culture among the citizens which cover health, socialisation, elitism, culture and commercialisation factors.

Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach was adopted for the study, and factor analysis was used to analyse the data collected through an online survey. As a result, EFA and CFA showed the test of sphericity and the different fit indexes.

Findings
The findings revealed the experiences of consumers and their disposition to coffee consumption to establish coffee culture among the citizens. Largely, the findings revealed that coffee culture is still very low among the citizens and the summation that coffee culture is still in infancy.

Originality/value
Given the importance of coffee culture in the larger world, and acceptance of coffee as a global social drink, the design of a scale that focussed on socialisation, health, elitism, culture and commercialisation factors help to robustly investigate the state of coffee culture among the citizens.


This paper mainly discusses about the Pricing Strategy WebSim, a web-based simulator using system dynamics methodology in decision making process of pricing strategies of voice telephony business. System dynamics methodology is one of the Operation Research (OR) discipline, whereby their conceptual modeling can then be converted into computing models using POWERSIM Studio 2005 software. A mathematical model simulating the growth of subscribers, revenue, traffics, cost and profit of voice telephony business has been made available for use via the Internet. The required input variables are provided by the user and results of multiple simulation runs can be viewed and compared via tables and graphs. The Powersim Software Development Kit (SDK) provides the Application Programmers Interface (API) for bridging the simulation model with the web application. By building a web application for system dynamics simulation model, cost saving is realized by buying a single license and deliver updated versions to multiple users.


In this paper,fractal parameters and fractal characters of coal mine gas concentration time series was researched based on fractal theory.Gas concentration time series was emulated to get its fractal dimension,double -logarithm graph and Hurst index through box dimension method.Besides coal mine gas concentration was R/S analysis.The study result expresses that coal mine gas concentration time series has fractal characters,and it is stronger trend time series.That establishes foundation on setting up prediction model of coal mine gas concentration based on fractal theory.


This paper presents evidence on the nature of productivity growth for five major industries in six countries. Output growth is found to be more correlated across countries than productivity growth. In addition, productivity growth is more correlated across industries within one country than across countries within one industry. Using an error-components model, I find that a substantial fraction of changes in annual productivity can be attributed to nation-specific factors that are common across industries. The evidence suggests that short-run productivity growth is similar across industries in a nation but less similar across countries in any specific industry.


Background Vitamin D deficiency was considered to be uncommon in India till recently. Following an original observation of Vitamin D deficiency in patients with Tuberculosis, a controlled study was done to verify that. Methods Vitamin D levels in patients with recently diagnosed active Tuberculosis and matched healthy controls were compared. 25 Hydroxy vitamin D3 level was estimated utilizing a sensitive RIA technique, Adequacy of dietary intake of vitamin D and adequacy of sunlight exposure was studied in the two groups. Results The mean value of 25 hydroxy Vit D3 in patients with tuberculosis was 10.7ng/ml in comparison to the apparently control group who had a mean value of 19.4ng/ml, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.005)1. The study was done in 1999 and the results were published in 20021 and the present article is a relook at the original data, since at that time there was no consensus on normal values of Vitamin D. Since the lowest value got in the control group was 9ng/ml,1 a Vitamin D level of 9ng/ml was arbitrarily taken as normal. Even with that value there were 16 patients out of 35 who had values well below the lower limit of 9ng/ml1. As per current guidelines the optimal level of vitamin D is 3060ng/ml7, and on applying that to the original data got in 1999, it is observed that all the patients with Tuberculosis had values less than 30ng/ml and therefore had vitamin D deficiency, and more than 90% of the asymptomatic apparently normal controls also had Vitamin D deficiency. Conclusions Vitamin D deficiency was present in all patients with active Tuberculosis. Since it has a role in Cell Mediated Immunity it could be one of the causes for the infection. Deficiency was noted in 90% of the apparently healthy controls even though the level was higher as compared to the patients. The population studied was a representative sample of Kerala and presumably whole of India, the results indicate the possibility of widespread deficiency in the apparently healthy population in India in spite of adequate sunlight exposure. Considering the role of Vitamin D in Cell Mediated Immunity and the protective effect of it in several other diseases, the article highlights the importance of improving the nutrition and if required even supplementing Vitamin D by food fortification, rather than hoping to get vitamin D from sunlight exposure alone. IntroductIon Though vitamin D belongs to the class of vitamins, it is unique because it is also synthesized in the body and functions as a hormone. Besides having a crucial role in calcium homeostasis and bone mineral metabolism, it is known to be involved in biological functions like cell differentiation, inhibition of cell growth and immunomodulation.1,2,3,4 Vitamin-D is an important effecter of macrophage functions 6 : 6 Medicine Update 2012  Vol. 22 332 and thus could be having an important role in limiting growth or survival of intracellular pathogens like Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Salmonella and all viruses.2,3,4,5 The role of Vitamin D in preventing several malignancies is increasingly being recognized. Recent evidences link vitamin D deficiency to diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension, infections, autoimmune disorders and cancer.8,9 Vitamin D modifies gene expression in the tissues where it acts by binding to specific receptors(VDR) and has several known actions and several more hitherto unknown to us.2,3,4,8 Being a tropical country it was firmly believed that Vitamin D deficiency did not exist in India. Following an original observation made in 1993 in a 14 year old boy with skeletal Tuberculosis in whom there was documented Vitamin D deficiency, it was hypothesized that it could be a cause rather than the effect.1 Subsequently several cases of Tuberculosis were observed to have of vitamin D deficiency. To prove the significance of the observed association a controlled study was undertaken in 1999 to look for Vitamin D deficiency in cases of active Tuberculosis.1 MAterIAls And Methods There were 35 cases of, recently diagnosed pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis. Comparison was done with 16 healthy controls who were age and sex matched. Their clinical characteristics, dietary intake of vitamin D and biochemical characteristics including serum vitamin D levels (25 Hydroxy Vit D3) were compared.1 The blood samples of patients were taken before starting anti-tuberculous treatment. Cases excluded were those who were otherwise prone for vitamin D deficiency like malabsorption, liver or renal disorders and those on drugs which can reduce Vitamin D levels or antagonize its actions.1 Those who were predisposed to develop tuberculosis due to other obvious causes also were excluded (HIV infection, Diabetes, on immunosuppressive treatment, severe Protein Energy malnutrition).1 Their clinical details including symptoms of hypovitaminosis D were recorded.1 Adequacy of sunlight exposure was assessed based on whether or not the subjects spent at least ten hours a week outdoors in daylight. Dietary assessment regarding adequacy of Vitamin D intake was assessed based on analysis of the dietary intake using a food chart standardized by the Central Food Research Institute, Mysore.1,10 Investigations to confirm the diagnosis of Tuberculosis, Calcium, Phosphorus and serum protein levels were done.1 All the samples were analyzed in duplicate for 25 OH Vit D3 using a sensitive RIA technique.1 results The value of 25 hydroxy Vitamin D3 in the study subjects ranged from 1-30ng/ml with a mean value of 10.7ng/ml. The control group had Vitamin D levels ranging from 9-58ng/ ml and a mean value of 19.4ng/ml, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.005)1. Vitamin D level of 9ng/ ml was the lowest value observed in the apparently healthy controls and that was arbitrarily taken as normal as there was no consensus on normal values at the time of doing the study in 1999.1 Even with that value there were 16patients out of 35 who had values well below the lower limit of 9ng/ml1. Sunlight exposure was adequate in 72% of the cases, only 28 % had, if at all, inadequate exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D levels in the ambulant (adequate sunlight exposure) and house bound groups were not significantly different and inadequacy of sun exposure was not the primary cause for Vitamin D deficiency. But the diets of 54% of the patients were deficient in Vitamin D containing food items. Symptoms of hypovitaminosis D like proximal muscle weakness were present only in 20% of the cases and that too in those with levels below 5ng/mL1. Even with less than 1ng/mL of 25 hydroxy Vitamin D, there were no symptoms to suggest deficiency in a 30 year old female, who looked normal but for the mono arthritis of ankle joint due to Tuberculosis1,6 (Table 1, patient No 13). The serum Calcium, Phosphorus and Alkaline phosphatase were in the normal range in all patients and controls.1 dIscussIon When the study was done in 1999, there were only scattered reports from India on vitamin D deficiency and it was considered nonexistent and there was no consensus on the normal levels of vitamin D. The healthy controls had a mean value of 19.4 ng/ml with a range of 9 to 58ng/ml (Table2). Since there were no population data from the study region on normal levels of 25 OH Vitamin-D, a value less than 9 ng/ml, which was the lowest level in the controls, was taken as definite deficiency. The mean value in the patients with Tuberculosis was 10.7ng/ml with a range of 1-30ng/ml (Table 1). Now it is clearly known that any value less than 30ng/mL indicates deficiency, and the normal range is taken as 20100ng/ml and the preferred range of normal value is 30-60ng/ ml.7 Intoxication with vitamin D is possible only if the level is above 150ng/mL7 (Table 3). Applying those values to the original data got in the study done in 1999 (table 2), there was only one patient, out of the 35 with Tuberculosis, who had 25 Hydroxy D3 level of 30ng/ mL and even that was less as compared to the preferred range, indicating that all patients with Tuberculosis had Vitamin D deficiency.7 Only three patients out of 35 had values above 20 ng/mL and the mean value of 10.7 ng/ml indicated severe deficiency in those with tuberculosis. Among the apparently healthy controls only six of them had Vitamin D level of 20ng/ ml and above (table 2). More than 25ng/ml was seen in just two of the controls and above 30 ng /ml only in one. Though the sample size was small, the study done in 1999 itself throws light on the possibility of wide spread and significant deficiency of vitamin D in the population studied which was representative of Kerala and hence could be representing the


Polymerase chain reaction and genetic engineering technique were used to clone the signal peptide sequence (position:94 to 211) of antigen 85-B in Mycobacterium bovis BCG and construct the recombinant E.coli-mycobacteria shuttle plasmoid of human interleukin-2(IL-2).Expression of the foreign gene in BCG was detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. The results suggest that the constructed recombinant BCG(rBCG) strain produce and secrete human IL-2 and it will be used for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer.


We study mono-Higgs signatures emerging in an illustrative new physics scenario involving Standard Model Higgs boson decays to bottom quark pairs using Hybrid Deep Neural Networks. We use a Multi-Layer Perceptron to analyze the kinematic observables and optimize the signal-to-background discrimination. The global color flow structure of hard jets emerging from the decay of heavy particles with different color charges is crucial to single out the mono-Higgs signature. Upon embedding the different color flow structures for signal and backgrounds into constructed images, we use a Convolution Neural Network to analyze the latter. Specifically, the approach takes initially a mono-type data as input, frittering away invaluable multi-source and multi-scale information. We then discuss a general architecture of Hybrid Deep Neural Networks that supports instead mixed input data. In comparison with single input Deep Neural Networks, like MultiLayers Perceptron or Convolution Neural Network, the Hybrid Deep Neural Networks provide higher capacity in feature extraction and thus in signal vs background classification performance. We provide reference results for the case of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider.


In this paper an optimal finite bit representation of Pi is presented. The goal is to completely nullify the possibility of error arising due to finite bit Pi representation while converting angle from degree (fixed point) to radian (IEEE 754 Single Precision floating point). Such a conversion is widely used in FPGA based interfacing device for military and aerospace applications, where there is minimal tolerance for error in the system. Through CAD based approach it is determined that atleast 40 bits are required to represent Pi while converting angle from 16 bit degree in 2's complement to IEEE 754 Single Precision floating point radian.


The operative microscope has been a staple instrument in the neurosurgical operating room over the last 50 years. With advances in optoelectronics, options such as robotically controlled high magnification have become available. Such robotically controlled optoelectronic systems may offer new opportunities in surgical technique and teaching. However, traditionally trained surgeons may find it hard to accept newer technologies due to an inherent bias emerging from their previous background. We, therefore, studied how a medically naïve population in a pilot study would meet set microsurgical goals in a cadaver experiment using either a conventional operative microscope or BrightMatter™ Servo system, a robotically controlled optoelectronic system (Synaptive Medical, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). We found that the relative ease in teaching medical novices with a robotically controlled optoelectronic system was more valuable when compared to using a modern-day surgical microscope.


There are several ways of creating a human-computer interaction (HCI). One of those is physiological

computing (PC) i.e. the use of body signals as a real-time input to control a user interface. In this paper one

describes the development of a new solution in which electrocardiography (ECG) signals are used as input

for video gaming. The solution includes: a tailored belt with conductive textiles as ECG electrodes; a

specialized data acquisition board (Bitalino); signal processing algorithms implemented in Python for signal

filtering, QRS complex detection and heart rate calculation; and use of Unity 3D, a game development

engine, in which the heart rate is used as an input of a proof-of-concept PC video game – FlappyHeartPC.

With this project we conclude that nowadays it is possible to build tools that can make the bridge between

the machine and the human body in order to respond to innovations required in the gaming business.


Perturbation in discrete dynamic systems (e.g., a manoeuvring aircraft, an autonomous vehicle having frequent lane change or turning, etc.) makes the linear tracking filter(e.g., Kalman Filter (KF)) sub-optimal. The existing robust filters such as Ridge-based KF (Ridge-KF), Tikhonov-based KF (TRKF), and minimax algorithm perform enhanced estimation under low and moderate perturbations only. The investigation of severe perturbation for multi-degree of freedom (m-DOF) motion of manoeuvres is carried out in this research article. The severity of perturbation due to m-DOF motion makes the observation matrix ill-posed for the tracking filters. To enhance the estimation performance (in terms of root means square error (RMSE)), we propose a novel algorithm called TLSKF. It offers much-improved performance than KF, Ridge-KF, and TRKF under high perturbation for estimating state parameters (position, velocity, etc.). Further, TLSKF approaches to KF at extremely low perturbation. The improvement in the RMSE enhances the tracking resolution of the radar. The comparison with existing literature is also strived to justify the novelty of the proposed algorithm.


Traditional methods and clinical practice of medical image classification have 1 reached their limit regarding performance, making it difficult to improve through 2 normal means. The emergence of deep neural networks such as the convolutional 3 neural network (CNN) have proven to be an effective method on varying image 4 classification tasks. To improve the performance of these methods, we propose to 5 use image enhancement techniques to improve the quality and perception of medical 6 images and to reduce inherent noise. We propose to use two spatial domain image 7 enhancement techniques as a preprocessing step, median filter, a filtering technique, 8 and contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization, a contrast enhancement 9 technique, on Covid-19 CT scans before processing them through pretrained 10 transfer learning algorithms. Through this experiment, we will demonstrate the 11 effect of image enhancement on classifying and predicting Covid-19 images and 12 diagnosis. 13


[Objective] To observe the changes of sperm quantity and modality of male rats after different doses of lead and manganese exposure.[Methods] Mature rats were administered with lead acetate exposure(0.05% or 0.2%) for 8 weeks and manganese chloride exposure(5.15 or 45 mg/kg) for 6 weeks.[Result] The observation through optical microscope showed that the quantity of the mature sperm decreased remarkably after lead and manganese exposure;the quantity of head and tail malformed sperms increased with the dose of lead and manganese.[Conclusion] The dose of lead and manganese can influence the reproductive function of male rats.


Crop improvement through cross-population genomic prediction and genome editing requires identification of causal variants at single-site resolution. Most genetic mapping studies have generally lacked such resolution. In contrast, evolutionary approaches can detect genetic effects at high resolution, but they are limited by shifting selection, missing data, and low depth of multiple-sequence alignments. Here we used genomic annotations to accurately predict nucleotide conservation across Angiosperms, as a proxy for fitness effect of mutations. Using only sequence analysis, we annotated non-synonymous mutations in 25,824 maize gene models, with information from bioinformatics (SIFT scores, GC content, transposon insertion, k-mer frequency) and deep learning (predicted effects of polymorphisms on protein representations by UniRep). Our predictions were validated by experimental information: within-species conservation, chromatin accessibility, gene expression and gene ontology enrichment. Importantly, they also improved genomic prediction for fitness-related traits (grain yield) in elite maize panels (+5% and +38% prediction accuracy within and across panels, respectively), by stringent prioritization of ≤ 1% of single-site variants (e.g., 104 sites and approximately 15deleterious alleles per haploid genome). Our results suggest that predicting nucleotide conservation across Angiosperms may effectively prioritize sites most likely to impact fitness-related traits in crops, without being limited by shifting selection, missing data, and low depth of multiple-sequence alignments. Our approach – Prediction of mutation Impact by Calibrated Nucleotide Conservation (PICNC) – could be useful to select polymorphisms for accurate genomic prediction, and candidate mutations for efficient base editing.


The effects of trandolapril (0.25 ing/kg body wt per 48 hours) on aortic atherosclerosis were examined in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit treated from 3 to 12 months of age. Trandolapril caused a significant decrease in atherosclerotic involvement of the intimal surface of total aorta from 56.3 ±5.0% in control Watanabe rabbits to 35.0±4.1% with treatment (p<0.01). The largest redactions were observed in descending thoracic aorta where 21.8±5.7% of intimal surface was involved in the trandolapril-treated animals versos 54.4±7.7% in the control group (p<0.01). Significant decreases also occurred in ascending aorta/arch and abdominal aortic segments. Cholesterol content of descending thoracic aorta was also significantly reduced in the trandolapril-treated rabbits. The atherosclerotic plaques in aorta from trandolapril-treated rabbits appeared to contain less foam cells and relatively greater amounts of connective tissue than those from control animals. These studies indicate that trandolapril inhibits aortic atherosclerosis in the Watanabe heritable hyperlipidemic rabbit The similarity in results between the current study and that using captopril suggests that the antiatherosclerotic action of trandolapril and captopril represents a class effect related to angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition. (Hypertension 1992^0:473-477)


In this chapter I focus on twin and adoption studies of "criminal," "antisocial," and "psychopathic" behavior as examples of how genetic research is used in the study of human behavioral differences. 2 Topics beyond the scope of this chapter include the "XYY" controversy of the 1960s and 1970s, and molecular genetic research. Suffice it to say that, apart from claims made about Brunner and colleagues' 1993 study of one Dutch family, no genes have been found to cause criminal or antisocial behavior. 3


One of the backbones in electronic manufacturing industry is the printed circuit board
(PCB) manufacturing. Current practice in PCB manufacturing requires an etching process. This
process is an irreversible process. Printing process, which is done before the etching process, caused
most of the destructive detect found on the PCB. Once the laminate is etched, the defects, if exist would
cause the PCB laminate to become useless. Due to the fatigue and speed requirement manual inspection
is ineffective to inspect every printed laminate. Therefore, manufacturers require an automated system
to detect the defects online which may occur during the printing process. The defect is detected by
utilizing wavelet-based image difference algorithm. Hence, this paper proposes an algorithm for an
automated visual PCB inspection that is able to automatically locate and extract any defect on a PCB
laminate. The algorithm works on the come resolution differenced image in order to locate the
defective area on the fine resolution tested PCB image.


This thesis briefly analyses the traditional connotation and craftsmanship of Yi xing grit ceramics.It puts forward the following concepts: in the modern designing of traditional craftsmanship,the ideas of inheritance and creativity and the degree of interactive relationship should be grasped;the internal link of culture and art between tradition and modern times should be sought out;and the artistic and economic values of modern designing should be combed out.In concrete designing of wine packaging,the design of wine bottles would reach a high level including both inner and outer elegance by applying the concepts above and expanding actively the mutual understandings,complements and interactions between different cultures.


In an earlier paper 1 experiments were reported which showed that uracil and thymine, when fed in small amounts to dogs, are metabolized to urea. It was also shown that thymine glycol which is obtained on oxidation of thymine in vitro 2 is probably an intermediate step in the oxidation of this pyrimidine in the animal body. These results led the writer to investigate the fate of isobarbituric and isodialuric acids which are oxidation products of uracil in vitro 3 as possible intermediate metabolic products of uracil. Steudel 4 reported feeding experiments with these two substances. He found that they were apparently completely oxidized. Isobarbituric acid and isodialuric acid were fed to dogs maintained on a nitrogen equilibrium. In every case when isodialuric acid was administered, there was an increase in the urea output, suggesting that this substance was metabolized. In the case of isobarbituric acid, the increase in the urea output after feeding the substance was not as pronounced as after administering isodialuric acid. This may have been due to a lesser absorption of isobarbituric acid on account of its being less soluble. These experiments seem to indicate that in the metabolism of uracil we are dealing with an oxidation resembling that in. vitro as follows : Uracil → Isobarbituric acid → Isodialuric acid → urea + 3 C-atom compound. In the course of these experiments we have observed a peculiar effect of these substances on the sulfur metabolism of the dogs. We found a distinct decrease in the output of inorganic sulfur on the day after feeding these pyrimidines. In some cases this decrease amounted to one-half of the amount ordinarily excreted. The writer is investigating this point further.


In a high-level waste (HLW) repository, heat is generated by the radioactive decay of the waste. This can affect the safety of the repository because the surrounding environment can be changed by the heat transfer through the rock. Thus, it is important to determine the heat transfer coefficient of the atmosphere in the underground repository. In this study, the heat transfer coefficient was estimated by measuring the indoor environmental factors in the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute Underground Research Tunnel (KURT) under forced convection. For the experiment, a heater of 5 kw capacity, 2 meters long, was inserted through the tunnel wall in the heating section of KURT in order to heat up the inside of the rock to , and fresh air was provided by an air supply fan connected to the outside of the tunnel. The results showed that the average air velocity in the heating section after the provision of the air from outside of the tunnel was 0.81 m/s with the Reynolds number of 310,000~340,000. The seasonal heat transfer coefficient in the heating section under forced convection was in the summer and in the winter.


The differential cracks caused by all kinds of reasons in concret bridge construction were analyzed. Aimed at design phase,some preventive measures were put forward for deferent cracks.The result shows that the reasonable and scientific design and construction arrangement is very important,which can provide reference for concret bridge construction.


The present invention provides a flat watertight equipment suitable for an underwater mounting azimuth thruster installed on a ship having a linear line of a common merchant ship, such as a drillship, and a mounting method thereof. According to the present invention, when watertight work for installing the underwater mounting azimuth thruster, watertight equipment can be easily mounted in the existing narrow space without providing a separate space in the ship, in which case the size and weight of the watertight equipment The small size also reduces the risk of human accidents and equipment damage when handling.


ing the optimal treatment for colocutaneous fistula after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) are impressive and welltaken points. We agree with Dr. Gy keres that simple conservative procedures such as cutting of the outer PEG tube, pushing the inner part of the tube, and waiting for uneventful spontaneous closure of fistula would also be a good and classic solution for closure of colocutaneous fistula in most cases. With regard to the optimal treatment for gastrocolocutaneous fistula after PEG, however, we would like to emphasize two points. Firstly, how can one ensure safe natural drainage of the retained part of the tube without endoscopic retrieval? In practice, tube migration may accelerate mucosal erosion, and rare but life-threatening complications associated with retained PEG tubes have been reported – bowel perforation and obstruction [1–3]. Although these complications develop mainly in the small bowel, a retained tube can potentially cause similar complications in the colon, especially in patients in poor general condition or with comorbid diseases. Simple skin-level division of the PEG without endoscopic retrieval may therefore be associated with rare but significant potential risks. Our second point of concern is the optimal timing and consequent cost-effectiveness of treatment. Conservative care does not ensure the complete healing of the fistula in all patients, and it has the disadvantage of the uncertainty of the treatment outcome. In contrast, endoscopic intervention using metallic clips has the advantage of definite and earlier blockage of the fistulous tract, as well as being a safe method of removing the tube without causing more mucosal damage [4]. In our case, after confirmation of the fistula by immediate fistulography using Gastrografin (Schering, Berlin, Germany), gastroscopy revealed a yellowish discharge from the PEG site. We recognized that it was more important to close the gastrocolic fistula rather than the colocutaneous fistula, as the gastrocolic fistula might provide a persistent source of clinical symptoms and delayed wound healing. In addition, we assumed that bulky and hasty bowel preparation for colonoscopic retrieval of the retained tube might accelerate dehiscence of the fistulous tract and frank peritonitis. To achieve preferential closure of the gastrocolic fistula, we allowed 10 days of conservative care. As Gy keres et al. point out, however, endoscopic clipping of the gastrocolic fistula before conservative care may shorten the hospital stay. Although regrettably we did not do this at the time, we believe that this clipping method would also provide earlier complete healing of the gastrocolic fistula andmake rapid colonoscopic retrieval of the retained tube possible. Particularly in view of the fact that patients who have undergone a PEG procedure are generally in poor health andmalnourished, and sometimes have long-lasting fistulas, early closure of the fistulous tract using endoscopic techniques is a precondition for treatment. In conclusion, we agree with some of the points made by Gy keres et al. – that classic conservative treatment instead of endoscopic intervention may also be a good solution for the treatment of fistulas after PEG, and that endoscopic closure with a metallic clip may also be suitable for gastrocolic fistulas. The conservative and endoscopic therapeutic strategies need to be compared with regard to their appropriateness and cost–benefit considerations, and the findings need to be confirmed in larger prospective case studies; at present, it may be concluded that all the possible individual approaches are still open.


Recent studies have shown that culture has an effect on the choice of foreign investment venture structure. Cultural distance has been identified as a primary determinant in the selection of shared control over wholly foreign owned investment. The data from these studies indicate, however, that individual cultural characteristics of investor countries may be more important than the difference in culture. In this study, a sample of Singaporean building and construction firms is utilized to explore whether joint venture (JV) formations correspond more to the uncertainty avoidance dimension of the investor's culture than to cultural distance. The results show that an investor's cultural aversion to risk may be more influential in explaining the propensity for firms from certain countries to engage in JVs, rather than other cultural factors.


Due to nonexistence of or little of pre-existing communication infrastructure, ad hoc network permits wireless mobile nodes to self-organize into random and momentary network topologies. Security is a critical concern in ad hoc networks owing to its intrinsic vulnerabilities. A number of security solutions are suggested in the literature but still more is needed. Augmentation of trust to the existing security infrastructures would enhance, on the whole, security of these environments, but most of the studies in literature include trust modeling in the protocol. By this means trust is a foreign component i.e. not a part of the structure itself. Thus its effectiveness is restraint to that protocol. So a framework is desirable with trust as an integral component. The paper presents a desirable framework. At present, Trust modelling is mostly hard-coded into an application, which augments its complexity as well the incapacity to adapt to changes. This can also restrict the usage of those trust models for other protocols and for different network activities. The present study introduces an independent trust model for ad hoc networks. It provides the separation between application and trust model. A functional scenario depicting the usage of said model in ad hoc network environment is also presented.


This paper presents 3D solid feature based modelling of a new design of a car alloy wheel
derived from the ball pattern of the World Cup 2006 and golf clubs using a CAD system. Finite
Element Analysis was applied to improve the new designs. Their dies were extracted from the
parts/assemblies. The dies were scaled down to 20% of their original size using the CAD system,
and these models were transferred into a CAM system. The machining processes were simulated for
a three axis CNC mill controller using the CAM system. The tool paths were produced and the CNC
programmes were generated by the modified postprocessor for controlling the CNC machine. The
models of the dies of the new car alloy wheel and the golf clubs were produced using the modified
CNC programmes with accurate shapes and reasonable surface finish. There is good potential for die
making markets and industrial developments.


The optimal conditions of laccase production from pleurotus ostreatusAx3 were studied and the results are follows: the incubation temperature is 25℃,pH value and C/N of culture media is 5.5 and 0.252/(0.021(g/L),)respectively;Laccase activity can be promoted 12 times by adding 0.1%of Tween80. The results from studies of properties of laccase showed that optimal reaction temperature is 25℃, and pH value is 2.8; the reaction buffer made of succinic acid is the best one;Mn~(2+), Cu~(2+), and Zn~(2+) are activators for laccase activity and Mn~(2+) is the best one. Ag~(+), K~(+), Fe~(2+) and Ca~(2+)are inhibitors for laccase activity and Ag~(+) showed the hightest inhibition.


The Shannon information theory is used to analyze a simple three-layer feedforward neural net. The central assumption is that the transmission channel from the top layer of the network to the middle layer has a short-term memory of the past history of the incoming visual signal. The criterion for the emergence of motion detection is to demand that the output signals from the bottom layer sent signals belonging to statistically independent events in the output signal space. It is shown that the network operates with different modes. One active mode is identified to have the ability to detect the temporal changes of the visual signals and the direction of the image motion. These are shown analytically


Objective: To study the effect of magnetic field on the content of nitric oxide (NO) in the liver, kidney tissue of rat. Methods: The rats were placed in different magnetic field(10mT, 20mT, 30mT) to observe the effect of magnetic field on the content of NO in the liver, kidney tissue of rat at 30 min after exposing to magnetic field. NO content was determined with Griess methods. Results: The content of NO in the liver tissue and kidney of the tissue of rat is notably higher than that from the control group (p0.01) at 30 min after exposing to 30mT magnetic field. Other kinds of magnetic field showed no significance in statistics than that from the control group no NO content. Conclusion: The effect of 30mT magnetic field on the content of NO in the liver、 kidney tissue has some effect.


Background: The differences in concentrations of biomarkers between heart failure (HF) patients with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), or HF-PEF, and patients with HF with reduced LVEF (HF-REF) have yet to be defined. The objectives of this study were to compare the concentrations and correlation of biomarkers of inflammation, extracellular matrix (ECM) turnover and neurohormonal activation between these populations. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of 29 subjects with symptomatic HF-REF (LVEF 25.6 5.1%) and 29 subjects with symptomatic HF-PEF (LVEF 63.3 5.3%). Concentrations of N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), procollagen type III amino-terminal peptide (PIIINP), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, and tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP)-1 were measured.


Stress is an emerging topic being studied with differing conceptualizations and has become an important issue in student's performance. The purpose of this paper is to find out the level of stress among the students whose doing higher studies. The main objective of this study is to find out the factors that are significant to create a stress that affect psychology and personality of students. By categorizing students under various factors like personality and psychological capital, these factors is used to determine the association among independent factors and demographic factor. Samples of 75 collected data have been studied over the statistical tools such as descriptive scrutiny, recognition, regression & chi square test. The outcomes reveal that the factors found that, extrovert, emotional stability personality factors influences inter/intra personal stress, conscientiousness, hope influences drive and desire related stress and agreeableness, resilience influences academic stress.


The prime objective of this paper is to assess the growth spectrum of industrial sector of India in terms of employment. There is no clear and comprehensive research made to understand the recent trend and employment generation in the industrial sector of India. In the past a sizeable amount of literature mentioned that the employment level has deteriorated in the post reform period and a very few studies refused this idea. This situation needs a scientific and wide-ranging study. Hence, to evaluate the performance of industrial economy of India, data have been drawn from the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) and other resources for the period from 1973-74 to 2008-09. To ascertain the effect of new economic policy the study period is classified into two wrinkles, and annual average growth rate is administered to obtain prolific result. This study yields the results that shockingly most of the industries experienced a diminutive growth in the post reform period in the case of employment. In developing and democratic countries like India government and private entrepreneurs should take immediate steps to correct this job-less growth problem.


Among the formal utterances which are embodied in the final act of the Second Peace Conference at The Hague three vœux, or expressions of opinion, are commended to the signatory powers. Two of these relate to the commercial and industrial relations between belligerent governments and neutral residents of belligerent or occupied territory; the third has to do with the preparation of a code of laws governing maritime warfare.


computer-averaged evoked potentials during 30 minutes ofischemia was determined in 24 diabetic patients. Correlations were made with neurologic status, glucose metabolism, electromyogram, and sensory . Clinical Neu rophysiology Morning Meeting andmotorconductionin upperandlowerextremitynerves. Results were compared to those found in age-matched controls and 15 patients with nonmetabolic lower motoneuron disorders. In all seven newly diagnosed juvenile diabetics and in eight of 10 juvenile and adult longstanding diabetic patients with normal neurologic and electrophysiologic


The treatment of the somatic ray-damage requires a certain knowledge of the pathogenesis of the biological ray-effect. The execution and the data of the treatment, as well as the choice of ihe method should, however, not be determined by the morphological picture resulting from ihe irradiation, but by the functional reaction of the irradiated tissue (or organ). This conception is widely discussed in the present study and provided with practical instructions. (auth)


Patronage politics has become a defining charac-teristic of the Philippine political landscape. Clientelism, a form of patronage, is often studied as disadvantageous in governance and democratic consolidation. While the patron-client framework remains the most influential among schools of thought that explain Philippine politics, transforma-tions in a clientelist exchange are evident given changes in political, cultural and economic settings. Using this frame of new clientelism, we look at and revisit the structure of patronage in the provision of housing welfare in the Philippines, focusing now on the roles of three important actors— the nongov-ernmental organization, the state through the local government and the recipients or beneficiaries— in an urban setting, thus deviating from the traditional conception of patronage and clientelist politics. This relationship of clientelist exchange is presented in our Accomplice-Principal-Accessory (APA) model ofclientelism, with the local government unit of Paranaque City as accomplice, the Gawad Kalinga (GK) as the principal agent, and the recipients or beneficiaries as accessories in the provision of hous-ing welfare.


With the recent developments in tunable lasers and filters, star couplers, wavelength-routing multiplexers, low-noise optical amplifiers, and even wavelength changers, optical WDM technology is now emerging as the most flexible and efficient technique for accessing the vast bandwidth of the optical fiber. It permits a large number of independent users to communicate over the same network at a staggering overall throughput without a significant degree of coordination. When envisioning the use of this technology to construct an optical network of national or international extent, it is desirable to keep the signal path all optical from source to destination to offer the network users the flexibility of using virtually arbitrary signaling formats and modulation rates. To realize this goal efficiently it is essential that the network architecture be hierarchical, e.g., local area networks (LANs) interconnected by metropolitan area networks (MANs), which, in turn, are interconnected by a wide area network (WAN) of possible global extent. The subnetworks in such a hierarchy should be decoupled in such a way as to allow optical frequency reuse. Thus, optical frequencies used for local communications within a given LAN could be reused within any other LAN without interference. This increases the overall network capacity, conserves signal power, and simplifies network management and fault isolation.


A new method named peptizinggelation method was used to synthesize TiSi dioxide composite, whose surface area is above 1 000 m2/g. The character of this method is that Ti exists in the form of ion and ion cluster during the hydrolysis of Si(OC 2H 5) 4 . This is the progress on the cohydrolysis of Si(OC 2H 5) 4 and Ti(OC 4H 9) 4. During the calcination of gelation, Ti—O—Si was formed with Ti element in the situation of SiO 2 crystal cell. This is confirmed by FTIR analysis. TiSi dioxide composite with Ti molar fraction of 13.1% is mainly in the form of amorphous based on XRD analysis, which reveals that TiSi dioxide composite is uniform in structure. Furthermore, extra Ti element presents on the surface layer of TiSi dioxide composite examined by Raman and EES analysis. Owning to these two characters, TiSi dioxide composite prepared by peptizinggelation method becomes a good catalyst in the field of catalysis.


Learning is at the core of the Management Teaching Review (MTR). MTR is the source for management educators to turn to for student-centered learning activities as well as reviews of pedagogical resources that enhance classroom learning. It is also the source for provocative conversations centering on teaching—both in terms of how published research on a particular topic influences our teaching practice and also how our experiences in the classroom help shape research in the management domain. In this Editors' Corner, we reiterate our commitment to learning and provide an "iceberg" analogy of MTR's five sections to clarify the types of articles published in MTR and further motivate authors to submit pedagogical contributions. MTR's first year illustrates the passion our community has for management education. Indeed, it has been a first year of learning, defining, and progressing! Fink (2013) reminds us that providing value to the learner is at the heart of creating significant learning experiences. As management educators we diligently apply the tenets of learning theory (e.g., Bandura, 1977; Gagné, Briggs, & Wager, 1988; Kolb, 1984), ensuring that we gain the learner's attention, enhance retention through experimentation and feedback, and include time for reflection on the learning experiences. We have gone from writing on the chalkboard to preprepared PowerPoint and Prezi presentations, and from using mimeographed copies to online postings and formal Learning Management Systems (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle). We have embraced the challenges of millennial learners with their reliance on structure, preference for positive feedback, and dependence on digital technologies (see, e.g., Journal of Management Education August 2016 issue). In fact, the millennial generation learning environment has provided us with many opportunities to hone our craft and take it to the next level. Implicit in MTR's mission is the expectation that we do progress and rise to the occasion of providing value to the learner, not only to our student learners but also to our colleague learners through the dissemination of new methods and approaches to teaching.


This study investigated biosurfactant production by both free and immobilized bacterial strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa using waste engine oil as a substrate. Polyurethane foam cubes were used as a carrier for the immobilization. Immobilization of cells using polyurethane foam was found to be convenient and after two days the bacterial growth was 2.9×10 14 CFU/ml. The batch experiments were performed in Erlenmeyer �asks and monitored at every 24 hr interval for both free and immobilized cell systems. The microbial population was counted using the plate count method and the hydrocarbon degradation percentage was calculated to evaluate bacterial activity. Surface tension was measured at regular intervals to ensure the presence of biosurfactant. The maximum reduction was found to be 37 and 35 mN/m in free and immobilized cell systems, respectively. The chemical characterization using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy con�rmed the obtained product as rhamnolipid. Biosurfactant yield was found to be maximum in the case of immobilized system which was approximately 18 g/L. Scanning electron micrographs showed the potential of reusing the immobilized cells with polyurethane foam cubes.


In this study, numerical simulation of tubes of various cross section under axial compression is carried out using LS-DYNA. The effect of varying configurations of tube cross-section shape on the deformation response, collapse mode and energy absorption characteristics of tubes under quasi-static axial compression have been studied. The validation of the finite element tube model was made by comparison with the experimental results of the square tube subjected to quasi-static axial compression. Tabulated results are presented and plots have been included for the specific energy absorption for different cross sections. The study provides an insight on ways to increasing energy absorption of light weight aluminium tubes.


This paper examines the effect of culturally diverse management teams on mutual fund risk and return. Prior studies document that diverse teams bring information gains, but also communication costs. I find that cultural diversity, measured by the range or standard deviation of the individualism scores associated with managers' cultural origins, increases fund risk, but has no effects on fund return. Communication cost seems to dominate information gain brought by the cultural diversity. The positive effect of managerial cultural diversity on fund risk comes from increased exposure to the systematic risk, measured by benchmark beta and market beta. Subsample analysis indicates that cultural diversity increases fund risk only when the team has a low individualism score on average, or when the leader manager has a high individualism score. This is consistent with the closed style leadership in the groupthink theory. Finally, I use turnover in the fund management team as a shock to increase the managerial cultural diversity and find a positive treatment effect on fund risk.


Objective:To perform genetic diagnosis of α and β thalassemia dual heterozygote.Methods:α-thal 1 genes were amplified using gap-PCR method.β-thal genes were confirmed by β-thalassemia allele specific oligonucleotide probe/reverse dot blot hybridization(ASO/RDB)techniques.Results:Three cases of suspected α-thalassemia-1 and β-thalassemia dual heterozygotes were all Southeast Asia(-- SEA )type of α-thalassemia-1 and β-thalassemia (- SEA /αα,βT/βΑ)dual heterozygotes.Out of them,1 case was α-thalassemia-1 and β-28 (A→G),1 case was α-thalassemia-1 and β IVS-Ⅱ-654(C→T),1 case was α-thalassemia-1 and HbE.Conclusions:The detection of thalassemia dual heterozygotes facilitates the prenatal diagnosis with more precision.


Recently, more and more researches have been conducted on the multi-robot system by applying bio- inspired algorithms. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is one of the optimization algorithms that model a set of solutions as a swarm of particles that spread in the search space. This algorithm has solved many optimization problems, but has a defect when it is applied on search tasking. As the time progress, the global searching of PSO decreased and it converged on a small region and cannot search the other region, which is causing the premature convergence problem. In this study we have presented a simulated multi-robot search system to overcome the premature convergence problem. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has better performance rather than the basic PSO algorithm on the searching task.


Modern medical principles must be supported by strong evidence from high quality studies. Unfortunately, however, the surgical field lacks randomized or observational trials. Thus, great debate concerning robotic-assisted laparoscopic procedures is on-going: much of the debate centers stems from a lack of evidence on the superiority or non-inferiority of robotic techniques versus traditional ones. The authors should be congratulated for their efforts to extrapolate from low-quality studies the pros and cons of robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.1 Their methodology and subsequent analysis, as well as their conclusions, were irreprehensible.

Theoretically, there are arguments in support of robotic radical prostatectomy. The paper outlines relative risks that reflect a favorable impact of robotic assistance in the procedure in terms of lower transfusion rates, fewer minor complications (Clavien-Dindo I–II), and shorter hospital stay. Moreover, functional outcomes, namely continence and potency, as well as oncological outcomes, such as surgical margins and biochemical control, seem to be improved. Nevertheless, the authors warn us in their paper of two main flaws that may affect their conclusions: one is the significant heterogeneity found in the meta-analysis for each outcome measured. While this could have originated from differences in the methods used to report data, a selection bias to allocate more favorable cases to the newest surgical technique may also be at play. The other and most important flaw in regards to the outcomes reported is that some series included in the meta analysis show an unusually high rate of incontinence in patient submitted to open radical prostactomy; consequently the comparison between the two techniques is statistically significant in favor of robotic prostatectomy, however this is not a demonstration of superiority but only of a poor surgical skill with the open technique.

The ideal study should comprise a randomized design with all procedures performed by one surgeon who has adequately mastered both techniques, although surgeon and patient preferences may make this almost impossible.

A definitive answer to our question will come probably from time, when robotic procedures will be performed with more devices and improved performance among surgeons far beyond the present standards.


BVD and Neospora caninum are both widely recognized causes of abortion and reproductive losses in beef and dairy herds. Several recent projects have examined the role of N. caninum in both catastrophic losses and routine reproductive performance in cow-calf herds. BVD is also widely recognized as a leading cause of infectious pregnancy failure.


Correspondence: Dimakou Aikaterini 152 Mesogion Ave., 11527 Athens, Greece E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com AbstRAct Emphysema is the predominant component in alpha1-Antitrypsin (α1-AT) Deficiency, but the prevalence and impact of bronchiectasis is greater than previously recognized. Bronchiectasis is more common and severe where emphysema is seen and may add to the severity of the disease and worse health status. The pathogenetic association between bronchiectasis and emphysema is not well defined. Whether bronchiectasis take advantage of the α1-AT augmentation therapy remains unknown. The coexistence of emphysema and bronchiectasis in COPD patients is nor rare. Bronchiectasis could have an impact on disease course over and above the effects of emphysema. From the other side, the presence of emphysema in bronchiectasis is common and may contribute to the severity of airways obstruction. Emphysema may represent a risk factor of mortality in patients with bronchiectasis. Pneumon 2016, 29(4):1-28.


One represents the analysis of prevalence of biohelminthoses among population of the Amur Region. Clonorchis sienensis infection has the highest rates 92,9%; in particular the absolute number of infected persons reaches 190 in 2013.


This paper aims to discuss the cuisine verbs and their meanings in Middle Korean. Until now the studies on the cuisine verbs have been limited to Modern Korean. It is difficult to collect cuisine verbs in Middle Korean, because there are no Hangeul cookbooks in Middle Korean and very few data related to recipes. Cuisine verbs can be classified into three types: cutting verbs, mixing verbs and heating verbs. In Middle Korean the cutting verbs are Galda, Dihda, Sahalda etc. The mixing verbs are Damgada, Damada, Jamda, etc. The heating verbs are Goda, Gubda, Dalhida, etc. Characteristics of cuisine verbs in Middle Korean are as follows. First, some cuisine verbs in Middle Korean represented more detailed meaning than Modern Korean. Second, there were a lot of derived words in cuisine verbs. Third, 'Jeonhada, Bsdarida, Malda, Jaeda' had been used in Middle Korean. These features show the change of food culture in Korea.


The homocoupling reaction of alkynes was carried out smoothly in the presence of 10 mol% AuCl3 using I2 as oxidant to generate diyned products in high yields. The method is simple, efficient, safe and AuClPh3 also showed comparable catalytic activity to this transformation.


In this paper,the dynamic properties of ultra high pressure solenoid valve are discussed.A mathematical model of this valve is constructed and is solved by computer.


Abstract The development of science and technology makes various aspects of people's lives change according to development. The education and learning aspect is one that follows these developments. Learning development and innovation continues. The development of teaching materials with high-level thinking skills is one of them. Based on the data obtained, it is needed teaching materials with high-level thinking skills that are simple and easy to use, close to children or in the context around the area where the school is located, and contain material that is sufficient as a source of learning and exam preparation. The results of the analysis are the basis for developing teaching materials with good high-level thinking skills. Keywords: Development, Teaching Materials, Higher Level Thinking


China has undergone enormous economic changes in the past 30 years and now faces important decisions as it considers how best to sustain this unprecedented level of growth. China's population is aging rapidly and the 225 million migrant workers who have fueled China's economic miracle for the past three decades are now demanding better payment for their work. Further complicating the situation are the growing numbers of college graduates entering the job market: according to the Chinese government, China will have 195 million college-educated people by 2020. In response to these and other policy challenges, the Chinese leadership recently launched a major national talent development plan intended to attract and retain highly skilled individuals in six broad sectors of the economy. This new plan has far-reaching implications for China's efforts to build an innovation-driven economy by 2020 and offers valuable insights for the global business and policy communities.


Abstract In this work, a novel series of phthalimide-4,5-dihydrothiazole-amide derivatives 5a–f have been synthesized and evaluated for their anti-epileptic activities against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizure in mice. Among the synthesized compounds, the most potent was 4-chloro derivative 5b with zero mortality in PTZ test. Molecular docking was performed to investigate the modes of interactions between GABAA receptor and synthetized compounds. Docking results were in good agreement with observed experimental data and indicate that among six new derivatives, compound 5b with highest effective anticonvulsant properties, had lowest binding energy. This compound also exhibited better anti-epileptic activity and lower binding energy for connect to GABAA receptor in comparison to thalidomide as standard anti-epileptic agent.


Introduction: In secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease, target value of LDL-C <100mg/dl with using statins is recommended as standard management in Japanese guideline. Hypothesis: We asses...


This study aims to investigate the influence of teamwork and career development on self development and work involvement of employees.  This study conducted in the Jakarta BPJS for Health headquarter, using survey approach to 100 employees, and interviews with managers and employees.   Analysis method of structural modelling was operated using SEM PLS 3.0 software to find relationship between research variables. The research has identified some common problems faced by the office in terms of unoptimal work involvement, less cohesive teamwork, career development program does not work, and less conducive organizational environment. This research result shows that teamwork, career development and self development significantly influences work involvement. The career development process also will motivate work involvement.  The results of the study give implication to the organization to focusing on teamwork, career development and self development to influences work involvement.    BPJS for Health office can enhance career development through the dissemination and information disclosure of career systems.  To increase the work involvement, the employees need to develop motivation themselves by facilitating discussion forums and participation between employees to enhance their self-development activities. JEL Classification :  E24; J24; O15


Wheat is one of the most important and most widespread crop plants not only in Ukraine, but also in world agriculture in general. Wheat hybrids have many advantages, but seed production is a very complicated, high-tech and costly process. Derivatives of 1,2,4-triazol are interesting and promising in this respect. Aim. To determine the effect of 2-((3-R-4-R 1 -4H-1,2,4-triazole-5-yl)thio) acetic acid salts on the growth quality indicators of winter wheat sprouting shoots ("Podolyanka" sort). Materials and Methods. The objects of our research were 12 new water soluble 1,2,4-triazole derivatives. Results and discussion. As the result of the study it was found that almost all salts of 2-((3-R-4-R 1 -4H-1,2,4-triazole-5-yl)thio) acetic acid were more or less able to affect the growth and development of winter wheat sprouts ("Podolyanka" sort). The intensity and severity of these effects are affected by substituents of the 1,2,4-triazole cycle at N 3 and N 4 atoms and cations associated with 2-((3-R-4-R 1 -4H-1,2,4-triazole-5-yl)thio) acetic acids. The promising compounds PKR-139, PKR-234, DKP-21 were found during our research. These substances almost exceeded the reference drug Auxin by all germination quality parameters. Interesting is the fact that the increase in the molecular weight of the substituent of the 1,2,4-triazole cycle at N 4 atom in the molecules of 2-((4-R 1 -3-(morpholinomethylene)-4H-1,2,4-triazole-5-yl)thio) acetic acid ammonium salts results in the decrease of germination and the sprouting energy, but after that the germination rate slightly increases. Conclusions. It has been found that compounds PKR-139, PKR-234, DKP-21 exhibit the most pronounced growth-stimulating activity.


As an important part in teaching process and the subject of conducting education in service,Library of ethnic universities plays an important role in both teaching and research.With the constant deepening of teaching reform and rapid development of discipline construction,teacher-centered teaching has been gradually transformed to student-centered teaching at universities.The concept of automatic learning has posed higher requirements for students' learning ability.Library is an important place for students' automatic learning,so it plays an irreplaceable role in providing reference materials,information,service and environment.


Strengthening the resilience of societies is increasingly becoming the key international organisational policy strategy for addressing situations of fragility and post-conflict and for rectifying the shortcomings of liberal peace approaches, considered to lack respect for local needs and values. By focusing on facilitating resilience, governance approaches are thus moving away from top-down liberal peace models to experiment with long-term, iterative and relational processes, respectful of local alterity. By analytically capturing this shift, this article argues that resilience approaches are increasingly adopting the ethico-political sensibilities of critical understandings of liberal peace, which over the last decade have reclaimed hybrid forms of peace, open to difference. In highlighting the resemblance between policy approaches and academic critiques of liberal peace, two implications are considered: first, the need to reappraise critical approaches that are facilitating current shifts in policy strategy; second, the need to reconsider whether resilience and hybrid peace approaches merely rationalise the failures of international peace-building.


The paper investigates possible effects of cross‐linguistic variation on measures of syntactic complexity in 60 texts from Swedish L1 learners of English, French and Italian as foreign languages at CEFR level A and CEFR level B. A previous study on the same learners and texts, showed significant differences between proficiency levels for two length measures of complexity in English and French, but not in Italian. In this paper we hypothesize that due to the Null Subject property of Italian, the developmental prediction for some complexity measures might be different in Italian compared to French and English. In fact, previous research has suggested that beginner learners of Italian overuse overt subjects which might lead to higher scores, relatively speaking, of length measures in Italian at the lowest levels of proficiency. However, contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find more Null subjects at CEFR level B than at CEFR level A, but we did find clear restrictions on their distribution. We conclude that we are a long way from understanding how cross‐linguistic differences interact with other variables such as tasks and language combinations and what the effects might be on measures of syntactic complexity. (Less)


The miscible displacement with fluid-solid dissolution reaction in porous media is a typical process in many industrial applications, such as underground-water pollution decontamination, oil recovery or geological sequestration of carbon dioxide, etc. It is a significant problem in engineering and physics applications. It can be known that the dissolution reaction can change the structure of the porous media, which will have a great influence on the miscible displacement process. However, the relationship between the displacement process and the dissolution reaction in porous media is not fully studied. In this paper, the miscible displacement with dissolution in the porous media is simulated by a lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The study focuses on the influence of the internal structure change in the displacement process, and further quantitatively analyzes the changes of the porosity and displacement efficiency by changing the Damkohler number (Da) and the Pèlcet number (Pe). The results show that when Da is large enough, the dissolution reaction will generate a few wormholes in the porous media, and the displacement fluid will leave the porous medium along the wormholes, resulting in the decrease of the displacement efficiency. As Da increases, the reaction goes faster, the rate of change in porosity increases, the wormholes become wider, does yield a larger displacement efficiency. With the increase of Pe, the fingerings develop faster, the rate of change in porosity decreases, the displacement efficiency decreases.


. Resilience research is attracting increasing attention as stressors such as pandemics and climate change impact normal life worldwide. Informatics tools can play an important role in enhancing resilience of people, communities, and organizations. We present Resilience Informatics as a sub-discipline of resilience research and propose a conceptual framework for Resilience Informatics to aid in the development and effective deployment of informatics systems for resilience.


It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Conference on the "Modernisation of retail payment systems in Albania". The Bank of Albania is honoured to have today representatives from the European Central Bank, the World Bank, and central banks of Italy, Kosovo, and Serbia. Also, I would like to welcome the operators and providers of well-known payment services in international markets, representatives of the domestic banking and payments industry, public authorities and, the Governor of the Bank of Albania and the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, Mrs Senida Mesi.


Dr. Bruce D. Murphy is a senior scientist in the Centre de recherche en reproduction et fertilité (CRRF) at the Université de Montréal. He earned his BSc (biology) and MSc (physiology) at the Colorado State University. He was awarded PhD in reproductive biology at the University of Saskatchewan where he founded and served as the director of the Reproductive Biology Research Unit in the Department Obstetrics and Gynecology, College of Medicine. He served as director of the CRRF and its predecessor, CRRA, from 1991 to 2013. He has held visiting appointments at the Cornell University; the Institute of Genetics, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Louis Pasteur University; and the School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne. He founded and served as director from 2008 to 2017 in the Réseau Québécois en Reproduction (Quebec Reproduction Network, RQR) that is currently supported by federal and provincial scientific research agencies. He was founder of the Canadian Consortium in Reproductive Biology and chair of the Institute of Human Development Advisory Board and Standing Committee in Reproductive Biology. He has devoted much of his career to service for the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR), including serving as Treasurer from 2000 to 2009, and as president in 2015– 2016. Dr. Murphy sits on the editorial boards of five journals and served as Co-Editor-In-Chief of Biology of Reproduction, 2009– 2013. His laboratory has been continuously funded for studies of embryo implantation and ovarian function since he began his career as an independent investigator. He is the author of more than 250 scientific publications, and he has been plenary and symposium lecturer at numerous international conferences. Dr. Murphy's many awards include the SSR Distinguished Service Award, Pfizer Award for Research Excellence, CFAS Award for Excellence in Reproductive Medicine, SRB Career Achievement Award, SSR Trainee-Mentoring Award, and CRCQ Mentor of the Year Award. He was elected to the Argentine Academy of Agricultural Science, as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and is the Laureate of the Fonds du Québec. Dr. Murphy has trained more than 60 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows during his long career as a scientist. It was a great pleasure that I recently interviewed Dr. Murphy.


This paper uses a pairwise approach to investigate the main factors that have been driving inflation differentials in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region for the past two decades. The results suggest that inflation differentials in the GCC are largely influenced by the oil cycle, mainly through the credit and fiscal channels. This implies that closer coordination of fiscal policies will be key for facilitating the closer integration of the GCC economies and ahead of the move to a monetary union. The results also indicate that after controlling for cyclical factors, convergence increased even during the recent oil boom.


This bachelor thesis deals with the financial analysis of the company Santech plus Ltd. in the period 2008 - 2010. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part focuses on the financial analysis and its methods. The practical part introduces the company and aims at detailed financial analysis. Based on the results of the analysis, a number of solutions to improve the financial situation of the company are proposed.


A rolling mill coil handling system includes a downender for rotating a coil between a vertical position supported on a pallet, and a horizontal position suspended from a hollow stem projecting from the pallet. A hook carrier system includes a C-shaped hook with a horizontally projecting arm. The hook is manipulated by carrier system components to axially insert its arm into the stem, then to raise the arm through a slot in the stem and into contact with the coil, thereby raising the coil to a level at which it is no longer in contact with the stem, and then to axially withdraw the coil from the stem.


Here we propose an algorithm that combines two classic ideas, transfer learning and temporal abstraction, to accelerate learning in high variable cost environments (HVC-envs). In an HVC-env, each sampling of the environment incurs a high cost, thus methods to accelerate learning are sought to reduce the incurred cost. Transfer learning can be useful for such environments by using prior knowledge from a source environment. As only a small number of samples can be collected from an HVC-env due to high sampling cost, learning becomes challenging when the source environment provides inaccurate rewards. To overcome this challenge we propose a simple but effective way of creating useful temporally extended actions from an inaccurate physics guided model (PGM) that acts as the source task. At first we address this issue theoretically by providing performance bounds between two semi-Markov Decision Processes (SMDPs) with different reward functions. Later we develop two benchmark HVC-envs where learning must happen using a small number of real samples (often on the order of ~ 102 or 103). Finally we show that it is possible to obtain sequential high rewards in both of these environments using ~ 103 real samples by leveraging knowledge from PGMs with inaccurate reward models.