Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a serious disease of man and animals. The high mortality of B. pseudomallei infections may cause by Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), an endotoxin. The biosynthesis of LPS is complex comprising three components, lipid A, core oligosaccharide and O-specific antigen. In the current study was designed to further elucidate genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of LPS in melioidosis agent followed with selected gene product expression with essential function for survival and virulence melioidosis agent. Expression of Bplps0013/lpxA and Bplps0007/rfaF successful expressed the entire proteins in 2 h with sizes of approximately 29 kDa and 43.7 kDa, respectively. The baseline information provided through the present research can be a preliminary approach towards the development of effective therapeutics against melioidosis.


This thesis examines policy issues associated with the employment of people with
disability/disabilities in Saudi Arabia. The context of the thesis is specific to Saudi Arabia but
has relevance for other Arab and Muslim countries. In particular, the thesis provides data on
disability within a culture within which virtually no social research on the lives of people
with disabilities has been conducted, nor has there been any scholarly discussion regarding
the social model of disability. Furthermore it has been conducted by a Saudi woman
researcher who has had to work within the restrictions imposed by the culture.
A mixed research method was used for the research. Quantitative research questionnaires
complement the qualitative semi-structured interviews to study participants across the 50
targeted organisations from various sectors in Saudi Arabia. The study sample was examined
in 3 phases: in Phase One (1) questionnaires were distributed to include 50 employers from
the targeted organisations; in Phase Two (2) 24 questionnaires were distributed to
employees with disabilities from 16 different organisations that hire people with disabilities;
and Phase Three (3) consisted of 6 interviews with people with disability/disabilities and with
2 employers.
The thesis suggests that workplace environments and societal attributes contribute
significantly to inefficiency, underemployment, and unemployment among persons with
disability/disabilities. Additionally, employers in both private and public sector organisations
lack concern for the needs of employees with disability/disabilities.
Low expectations of persons with disability/disabilities are reinforced by ineffective policies.
Additionally, most organisations do not provide persons with disability/disabilities with suitable tools that can enable them to perform their work as required, as making such tools
available is given a lower priority than supplying able-bodied workers with the tools they
need. This indicates that the nature of the workplace environment contributes significantly to
the disregard, underemployment, and unemployment of persons with disability/disabilities.
The high costs associated with employing people with disability/disabilities also leads to
their alienation. At the same time, lack of experience in dealing with such individuals also
contributes significantly to the low employment and productivity levels of such persons.
Employees with disability/disabilities also tend to be engaged in jobs they are not qualified
for, meaning that they are underemployed and their abilities not recognised.
People with disability/disabilities remain significantly alienated and disadvantaged in terms
of the quality and quantity of work participation in both the public and the private sector.
Consequently, there are lower employment expectations in relation to this; this perpetuates
the perception of such workers as being inferior, high risk, and undesirable. Furthermore, if
workplace environments in Saudi Arabia were adapted to better serve the needs of people
with disability/disabilities, then the inclusion of such people in the labour force would
increase.
In conclusion, the thesis makes a contribution to knowledge about people with
disability/disabilities in Saudi Arabia as well as presenting methodological insights into
social research undertaken by Saudi women researchers in the country.


The state encodings and the type of sequential elements have a significant impact on the combinational logic area of a synthesized FSM. Unlike most of the existing approaches, the algorithm presented in this paper does both state assignment and sequential element selection (D and T type flipflops) so as to realize area efficient FSMs. The synthesis problem modeled as an optimization problem has been solved using a stochastic evolution based algorithm. A cost function having a good correlation with the synthesized area has been developed. The paper presents a D-domain transformation technique that enables this cost function to evaluate FSMs using non D type flipflops. The results over 17 MCNC FSM benchmarks show that the integrated approach using D and T type flipflops consistently gives lesser area than one or more of the existing state assignment schemes.<<ETX>>


This thesis critically and empirically investigates Taipei city's creative and culture-led urban regeneration policies (CCURP) in recent decades to better understand how creative culture-led urban regeneration policies are generated and fixed into the city's local context. This research challenges and complements the existing research on CCURP, policy movements (policy mobilities), and gentrification and adds empirical richness to a body of work which is generally overly theoretical, focused on a small lexicon of places and in most cases lacking in in-depth and systematic empirical examination of the causalities (among policy interventions, social impacts, and influential factors) in diverse contexts and in places 'off the map'. A qualitative approach is adopted with an intensive case study of one CCUR policy, the Urban Regeneration Station scheme focusing on Dihua Street but also covering other areas in the city. Based on empirical data derived from in-depth interviews, analysis of documents, and observation, this thesis reveals that local complex, dynamic and yet intertwined issues of political and economic change, active civil society and global knowledge flow explain the emergence of this and other CCURP in Taipei.
In concrete, this work addresses the issues of CCURP from three observation points to shed light on their move from elsewhere in the world to Taipei, the factors shaping them in the local context and their social impact on a local community. Firstly, it focuses on policy mobilities closely examining paths, learning schemes and intermediaries. It argues that the city's CCURP are highly associated with global knowledge flows and that local planning elites are key actors in knowledge filtering and policy making, thus resulting in an incomplete and uneven learning process. Secondly, through an analysis of from policy objectives, processes, categories and policy discourse, it argues that the URS scheme is a highly localised and contested CCUR policy hiding a less precise and more haphazard executive process. Finally, it argues that CCURP have dominated the city's redevelopment direction combining with commercial and aesthetic forces to produce a mixed type of state-led commercial aesthetic gentrification.


Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells constitute a distinct subset of T lymphocytes exhibiting important immune-regulatory functions. Although various steps of their differentiation have been well characterized, the factors controlling their development remain poorly documented. Here, we show that TGF-β controls the differentiation program of iNKT cells. We demonstrate that TGF-β signaling carefully and specifically orchestrates several steps of iNKT cell development. In vivo, this multifaceted role of TGF-β involves the concerted action of different pathways of TGF-β signaling. Whereas the Tif-1γ branch controls lineage expansion, the Smad4 branch maintains the maturation stage that is initially repressed by a Tif-1γ/Smad4-independent branch. Thus, these three different branches of TGF-β signaling function in concert as complementary effectors, allowing TGF-β to fine tune the iNKT cell differentiation program.


Background An animal study is performed to determine the early effect of 1% Na hyaluronate on mucociliary clearance function. Methods One percent of Na hyaluronate was introduced into the maxillary sinuses of rabbits by anterior antrostomy. A physiological solution of 1% NaCl was introduced into the maxillary sinuses of a control group to equalize the influence of Na for both groups. The treatment material was sprayed with an atomizer for coating the maxillary sinus lining. Technetium-99m diethylenetriamine pentaacetate dynamic scintigraphic imaging was performed to evaluate mucociliary clearance function on all rabbits 72 hours after the surgical procedure. Results Although the mean rate of mucociliary clearance of the Na hyaluronate group was slightly worse than the control group; there was no statistically significant difference between them. Conclusion There is no early effect of exogenous 1% Na hyaluronate on mucociliary clearance function.


Organizations need to innovate to be competitive and Information Technology (IT) is considered as a strategic tool for this purpose. The present study anchors on the organizational learning framework to theorize that an organization could gain competitive advantage through two activities, namely open innovation (consisting of inbound and outbound strategies) and management innovation. Next, IT capability plays an important moderating role in the relationship between innovation strategy and competitive advantage. We validate our theorization using a set of matched-sample survey data that contain responses from managerial-level executives of 112 manufacturing and service organizations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


1) Globally-representative monthly rates of change of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane are compared with global rates of change of sea ice and with Arctic and Antarctic air temperatures. 2) Carbon dioxide is very strongly correlated with sea ice dynamics, with the carbon dioxide rate at Mauna Loa lagging sea ice extent rate by 7 months. 3) Methane is very strongly correlated with sea ice dynamics, with the global (and Mauna Loa) methane rate lagging sea ice extent rate by 5 months. 4) Sea ice melt rate peaks in very tight synchrony with temperature in each Hemisphere. 5) The very high synchrony of the two gases is most parsimoniously explained by a common causality acting in both Hemispheres. 6) Time lags between variables indicate primary drivers of the gas dynamics are due to solar action on the polar regions, not mid-latitudes as is conventionally believed. 7) Results are consistent with a proposed role of a high-latitude temperature-dependent abiotic variable such as sea ice in the annual cycles of carbon dioxide and methane. 8) If sea ice does not drive the net flux of these gases, it is a highly precise proxy for whatever does. 9) Potential mechanisms should be investigated urgently.


Almost all known high temperature superconductors are cuprates, which can be suitably modelled by the two dimensional Hubbard model. To understand the interplay of various long range properties as antiferromagnetism and superconductivity, one can calculate the phase diagram of the Hubbard model in the charge density-temperature plane. This analysis is conveniently carried out by means of exact renormalization group equations that we apply in the formalism of the effective average action. For this purpose, we derive an equivalent version of the Hubbard model that takes the form of a Yukawa theory.
From this modified model long range order in various channels can be extracted by simple calculation of bosonic expectation values. We are able to reproduce the main features of the phase diagram of high temperature superconductors. Furthermore, our analysis shows how the Mermin-Wagner theorem can be reconciled with the existence of antiferromagnetic long range order at non vanishing temperature and how the inclusion of different kinds of bosonic fluctuations affect the phase diagram.


Most of the hundreds of citrus varieties are derived from spontaneous mutations. We characterized the dynamics of single‐nucleotide mosaicism in a 36‐yr‐old clementine (Citrus ×clementina hort. ex Tanaka) tree, a commercial citrus whose vegetative behavior is known in detail. Whole‐genome sequencing identified 73 reliable somatic mutations, 48% of which were transitions from G/C to A/T, suggesting ultraviolet (UV) exposure as mutagen. The mutations accumulated in sectorized areas of the tree in a nested hierarchy determined by the branching pattern, although some variants detected in the basal parts were also found in the new growth and were fixed in some branches and leaves of much younger age. The estimate of mutation rates in our tree was 4.4 × 10−10 bp−1 yr−1, a rate in the range reported in other perennials. Assuming a perfect configuration and taking advantage of previous counts on the number of total leaves of typical clementine trees, these mutation determinations allowed to estimate for the first time the total number of variants present in a standard adult tree (1,500–5,000) and the somatic mutations generated in a typical leaf flush (0.92–1.19). From an evolutionary standpoint, the sectoral distribution of somatic mutations and the habit of periodic foliar renewal of long‐lived plants appear to increase genetic heterogeneity and, therefore, the adaptive role of somatic mutations reducing the mutational load and providing fitness benefits.


Background and aims Prematurity and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is associated with deviations of the developmental trajectory of the brain. We aimed to examine resting state networks (RSNs) in preterm infants with and without IUGR during natural sleep at 12 months. Methods We included 30 preterm infants (<34 weeks) without focal brain lesions (12 with IUGR and 18 appropriate for gestational age) and 20 born-term infants that were scanned at 12 months during natural sleep. Structural and functional MRI was acquired in a 3T scanner. To account for head movement we performed frame censoring of the data. RSNs were computed using the MELODIC module (FSL software). Dual regression analysis was used to query between--group differences in RSNs. Results Overall, the degree of movement on functional data was small. In the group we identified nine RSNs encompassing bilaterally the primary visual cortex, auditory cortex, sensori-motor cortex, lateral parietal cortex, precuneus, frontal and a sub-cortical network. Preterm infants had a more prominent cerebellar network compared to term infants. The three groups showed a fragmentized default-mode network. No significant differences were found between groups. Conclusions The spatial patterns of the RSNs observed in preterm and term infants corresponded closely to those observed in adults. These findings may suggest that IUGR and prematurity does not interfere with the normal process of functional brain network development at 12 months of age. The fact that we could not find differences in RSNs does not rule out that alterations could occur later in development.


Abstract Over half of the world's population now live in cities. In 2011 it was estimated that the global population exceeded 7 billion. Pressures on the environment including land use are increasing. The ground beneath cities and the interaction between physical, biological and chemical processes provides natural capital on which society depends. These benefits and the ground properties and processes that support and deliver them can be considered ecosystem services. Characterizing the ground properties on which ecosystem services depend involves a qualitative assessment of positive and negative impacts of proposed urban sustainability solutions, including use of the ground. The sustainability of a proposed solution depends on how the future might unfold. Future scenario analysis allows consideration of the social, technological, economic, environmental and political changes that may determine the ability of a proposed solution to deliver its benefits now and in the future. Analysis of the positive and negative impacts of a proposed use of the ground on ecosystem function, measured against future scenarios of change, can be integrated to deliver strategies for the future management of the ground and the wider environment beneath cities.


Objective:
 Non-stroke center hospitals often utilize a "drip-and-ship" (DS) method in which the acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients are emergently transferred to stroke centers after treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA). In October 2008, a new ICD-9 ″V-code″ was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify these patients. We analyzed the use of this V-code in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) in order to characterize rates of use, regional differences, and safety among AIS patients in the United States (US).

 Methods:
 We searched the NIS, a database representative of 20% of inpatient admissions in the US, to identify patients with primary diagnosis of stroke using ICD-9 codes (430, 431, 433.01, 433.11, 433.21, 433.31, 433.81, 433.91, 434.01, 434.11, 434.91, or 436) in the last quarter of 2008 and all of 2009. We searched for "drip and ship" coding using the V-code (v45.88) among any of the 15 listed diagnostic codes and for secondary diagnoses of brain hemorrhage (430 or 431) complicating ischemic stroke. We included primary diagnoses of hemorrhage (430 or 431) only if ischemic stroke treatment was provided (DS, thrombolysis on day 0, or any mechanical embolectomy by procedure codes: v45.88, 99.10, and 39.72). We compared demographics, hospital characteristics, and outcomes in DS vs. non-DS thrombolysis patients using univariable statistics.

 Results:
 Of the 140,698 AIS discharges from October 2008 to December 2009, 4314 (3.1%) received intravenous thrombolysis and 929 (0.66%) were DS patients based on V-code reporting. V-code reporting increased in each quarter (0.5 to 0.8%, p<0.001 for trend) but varied by geographic region (highest in Midwest: 0.9% vs. lowest in South: 0.3%, p<0.001). The vast majority of DS patients were discharged from teaching hospitals compared to non-DS thrombolysis patients (82.9 vs. 60.9%, p<0.001). DS and non-DS patients were similar by age, sex, weekend admission, and urban location of the receiving hospital. Secondary hemorrhage was significantly lower in DS patients (3.2 vs. 4.9%, p=0.028) while in-hospital mortality was not different (8.6 vs. 10.3%, p=0.118).

 Conclusion:
 In our analysis, we found that the "drip-and-ship" method is not uncommon and appropriate coding is increasing in the US. The practice is most prevalent in the Midwest and most patients are transferred to teaching hospitals. The safety of this method appears similar to non-DS tPA use for ischemic stroke. Further studies are needed to validate our findings.


The study titled "Knowledge and practice of documentation among nurses in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH)" was carried out to determine nurses' knowledge and practice of documentation. Relevant literatures were reviewed. A multistage and simple random sampling was used. Questionnaire (260) was the instrument of data collection with a response rate of 100% since 290 questionnaires were distributed. Frequency distribution tables, pie chart and bar chart were used to present the data. From the result of the study, most respondents (91.7%) were females and Christians (68.3%). All respondents have heard about documentation and thus practice all to the best of their abilities. About 70% of respondents practice effective documentation, 52% answered that effective documentation is done during the evening shift and 86.2% realized that there are barriers to documentation. It is recommended that there should be increased awareness about effective documentation process and implication of improper documentation.


We investigate how solvency and wholesale funding shocks to 84 OECD parent banks affect the lending of 375 foreign subsidiaries. We find that parent solvency shocks are more important than wholesale funding shocks for subsidiary lending. Furthermore, we find that parent undercapitalization does not affect the transmission of shocks, while wholesale shocks transmit to foreign subsidiaries of parents that rely primarily on wholesale funding. We also find that transmission is affected by the strategic role of the subsidiary for the parent and follows a locational, rather than an organizational pecking order. Surprisingly, liquidity regulation exacerbates the transmission of adverse wholesale shocks. We further document that parent banks tend to use their own capital and liquidity buffers first, before transmitting. Finally, we show that solvency shocks have higher impact on large subsidiary banks with low growth opportunities in mature markets.


The northeast-striking New Madrid fault system of central North America has been described as a right-lateral strike-slip system with a left-stepping restraining-bend thrust. The fault system has one of the highest rates of seismic energy release in an intraplate setting, and it has been regarded as a zone of significant earthquake hazard. The New Madrid fault system is the central part of the wider Reelfoot rift fault system, a northeast- striking basement fault zone. Although component faults of the New Madrid system are well defined by microseismicity, recent geodetic surveys suggest that little if any strain is accumulating on the principal (southern) strike-slip arm of the fault system. Seismicity and geologic data show that the "restraining-bend" thrust continues past the southern strike-slip arm to the southeastern Reelfoot rift margin. Thus, we suggest that earthquakes defining the southern arm of the New Madrid fault system are primarily aftershocks of an earthquake on that arm during the last sequence of great earthquakes (A.D. 1811– 1812), and it is the southeastern rift-margin fault system that is currently accommodating right-lateral strain along the boundary of the thrust block. This interpretation is consistent with recent geodetic results. The southeastern rift margin coincides with a 150-km-long linear topographic scarp from near Memphis to the Tennessee-Kentucky line, and S-wave reflection profiles, auger data, and a trench excavation reveal late Wisconsin–early Holocene surface faulting and late Holocene liquefaction associated with this fault-line scarp. Variation in sense of throw along strike and flower-structure geometry suggest that this is a strike-slip fault. Recognition of this rift margin as an important element of active tectonism in the Mississippi embayment has broad implications for assessment of the seismic hazard of this and similar intraplate settings. Temporal shifts in strain accommodation may give rise to short-term seismicity patterns and/or geodetic velocities that do not reveal long-term tectonic patterns.


NUMERICAL MODELLING OF RESPONSES OF OFFSHORE WAVE ENERGY CONVERTERS IN EXTREME WAVES Pierre-Henri Musiedlak Wave Energy is a promising sector for sustainable low-carbon energy production. Despite the effort put in the last decade, concerning problems remained unsolved. Numerical modelling can play a key role in the assessment of extreme responses necessary to the understanding of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) capacity to survive extreme conditions. However, high-fidelity codes are too time-consuming for industries, while codes of lower fidelity are based on major physical assumptions inducing concerning uncertainties. Therefore, the present study sponsored jointly by DNV GL and the University of Plymouth develops an hybrid model coupling the low-fidelity model WaveDyn, with a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Numerical Wave Tank validated against physical experiment of a single moored WEC under extreme events. A time-splitting technique allows to change between code as a function the confidence on the solution. The wave steepness is used to identify the limit in confidence for WaveDyn on survivability assessment. Additional developments allow to ensure a satisfactory start of the (CFD) simulation from an advance time where the wave-field is developed and the device is in motion. The coupled model overcomes identified inaccuracies in the WaveDyn code due to the inviscid assumption and the high computational cost of the OpenFOAM code.


: The authors obtained early case histories of 16 children with chronic nonspecific diarrhea and 16 control subjects and found that the index subjects had a significantly higher frequency of sleep problems, crying and irritability, digestive problems excluding diarrhea, overactivity, resistance to discipline, and family history of gastrointestinal problems. They conclude that these behavioral characteristics represent temperamental traits based on physiological factors, perhaps an imbalance of autonomic nervous system function. They speculate that chronic nonspecific diarrhea may occur in association with certain temperamental traits because both the somatic and psychic components stem from a common disturbance in autonomic nervous system function.


Parents of seriously ill children struggle to traverse both the physical and emotional spaces of hospitals. Off the Map, a performance born out of an ethnographic research project and personal experience, employs a digital map to explore the institutional guidance offered to parents of hospitalized children. In this article, the script from Off the Map is integrated with text from a classroom discussion about the performance, ethnographic interviews with parents of seriously ill children, and a theoretically-grounded discussion of cartography as a performance metaphor. Implications for practice include a call for parents and practitioners to consider multiple ways of mapping healthcare spaces and experiences.


In this paper we describe a new type of network flow problem that basically consists of the classical transshipment problem with the following extensions: (1) The replication of a network by producing subnetworks with identical structure, such that they are linked by so-called linking arcs; (2) The objective function terms related to the linking arcs are nondifferentiable nonlinear functions. We also describe an implementation of a linearly constrained nonlinear programming algorithm which is fast and can solve large-scale replicated network flow problems; the major ideas incorporated are: (i) The sparsity and the structure of the constraints system is used to reduce the time and computer storage requirements; (ii) The new concept of independent superbasic sets is introduced, so that it allows to obtain in parallel independent pieces of the solution at each iteration; (iii) The predecessor, depth, transverse and reverse structures are specialized for the case of replicated networks; (iv) A bending, backtracking linesearch that allows to activate more than one basic-superbasic arc at each iteration; (v) A procedure for pricing nonbasic arcs in the presence of non-differentiable terms in the objective function.


In this paper we address the error growth in time for hyperbolic problems in first order form in bounded domains. The energy method is used to study when an error growth or a fixed error bound is obtained. It is shown that the choice of boundary procedure is a crucial point. Numerical experiments corroborate the theoretical findings.


The rapid expansion of video-conferencing in response to the COVID-19 health crisis introduces challenges and benefits to the psychoanalytic encounter. Carl Jung considered the phenomenon of the analytic third, and theorised that this mysterious constellation of a transformative liminal field emerged from the interpersonal dynamic between analyst and analysand. Implicit in the canon of related literature is the assumption of shared physical space. Today's wide use of video-conferencing offers an opportunity to explore whether physical proximity is essential to the creation of this vital psychotherapeutic phenomenon. Three Jungian analysts explore ideas and experiences in a condensed, edited version of a podcast episode from This Jungian Life.


BACKGROUND
 Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents. A critical need exists for developing promising interventions for adolescents after psychiatric hospitalization who are at a high risk of experiencing repeated suicidal behaviors and related crises. The high-risk period following psychiatric hospitalization calls for cost-effective and scalable continuity of care approaches to support adolescents' transition from inpatient care. Text messages have been used to improve a wide range of behavioral and health outcomes and may hold promise as an accessible continuity of care strategy for youth at risk of suicide.

 OBJECTIVE
 In this study of 40 adolescents at elevated suicide risk, we report on the iterative development and acceptability of a text-based intervention designed to encourage adaptive coping and safety plan adherence in the high-risk period following psychiatric hospitalization.

 METHODS
 Adolescents (aged 13-17 years) who were hospitalized because of last-month suicide attempts or last-week suicidal ideation took part in either study phase 1 (n=25; 19/25, 76% female), wherein message content was developed and revised on the basis of feedback obtained during hospitalization, or study phase 2 (n=15; 11/15, 73% female), wherein text messages informed by phase 1 were further tested and refined based on feedback obtained daily over the course of a month after discharge (n=256 observations) and during an end-of-study phone interview.

 RESULTS
 Quantitative and qualitative feedback across the 2 study phases pointed to the acceptability of text-based support. Messages were seen as having the potential to be helpful with the transition after hospitalization, with adolescents indicating that texts may serve as reminders to use coping strategies, contribute to improvement in mood, and provide them with a sense of encouragement and hope. At the same time, some adolescents expressed concerns that messages may be insufficient for all teens or circumstances. In phase 2, the passage of time did not influence adolescents' perception of messages in the month after discharge (P=.74); however, there were notable daily level associations between the perception of messages and adolescents' affect. Specifically, higher within-person (relative to adolescents' own average) anger was negatively related to liking text messages (P=.005), whereas within-person positive affect was associated with the perception of messages as more helpful (P=.04).

 CONCLUSIONS
 Text-based support appears to be an acceptable continuity of care strategy to support adolescents' transition after hospitalization. The implications of study findings are discussed. Future work is needed to evaluate the impact of text-based interventions on suicide-related outcomes.


Kaolinite is often a cause of deformation in soft-rock tunnel engineering, leading to safety problems. The mechanism of the deformation is closely related to the interaction between kaolinite and water molecules. Because kaolinite has multiple defects, the effects of Mg, Ca, and Fe(II) doping on the atomic structure of the kaolinite (001) surface, and the subsequent adsorption and penetration of H2O into the interlayer, were studied systematically using density-functional theory. The results showed that for the Mg-, Ca-, and Fe(II)-doped kaolinites (001), the surface relaxation around the doping layer changed from contraction to expansion, due to the redistribution of electrons. The adsorption energies of the H2O monomer on Mg-, Ca-, and Fe(II)-doped kaolinites (001) were less than on undoped kaolinite (001). The results further revealed that the H2O molecule can also adsorb on the hollow site on the second-layer O surface of the Mg-, Ca-, and Fe(II)-doped kaolinites (001). For the undoped kaolinite, however, the H2O molecule adsorbs on the surface only. The energetic barriers for penetration of H2O from the adsorption site on the surface to the adsorption site on the O surface of Mg-, Ca-, and Fe(II)-doped kaolinites were also calculated: 1.18 eV, 1.07 eV, and 1.41 eV, respectively. The results imply that the influences of Mg, Ca, and Fe(II) doping on kaolinite allow the adsorbed water molecules to penetrate from the on-surface adsorption site to the O-surface site.


Regulatory capture generally evokes negative images of private interests exerting excessive influence on government action to advance their own agendas at the expense of the public interest. There are some cases, however, where this conventional wisdom is exactly backwards. This Article explores the first verifiable case, taken from healthcare cybersecurity, where regulatory capture enabled regulators to harness private expertise to advance exclusively public goals. Comparing this example to other attempts at harnessing industry expertise reveals a set of characteristics under which regulatory capture can be used in the public interest. These include: 1) legislatively-mandated adoption of recommendations by an advisory committee comprising private interests and "reduced-bias" subject matter experts; 2) relaxed procedural constraints for committee action to prevent internal committee capture; 3) and opportunities for committee participation to be worthwhile for representatives of private parties beyond the mere opportunity to advance their own interests. This Article presents recommendations based on those characteristics as to how and when legislatures may endeavor to replicate this success in other industries to improve both the legitimacy and efficacy of the regulatory process.


Linguistic alignment between dialogue partners has been claimed to be affected by their relative social power. A common finding has been that interlocutors of higher power tend to receive more alignment than those of lower power. However, these studies overlook some low-level linguistic features that can also affect alignment, which casts doubts on these findings. This work characterizes the effect of power on alignment with logistic regression models in two datasets, finding that the effect vanishes or is reversed after controlling for low-level features such as utterance length. Thus, linguistic alignment is explained better by low-level features than by social power. We argue that a wider range of factors, especially cognitive factors, need to be taken into account for future studies on observational data when social factors of language use are in question.


Atomic-level, bimolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction mechanisms have been studied mostly in the gas phase, but the gas-phase results cannot be expected to reliably describe condensed-phase chemistry. As a novel, double-inversion mechanism has just been found for the F- + CH3Cl SN2 reaction in the gas phase [Nat. Commun., 2015, 6, 5972], here, using multi-level quantum mechanics methods combined with the molecular mechanics method, we discovered a new, double-inversion mechanism for this reaction in aqueous solution. However, the structures of the stationary points along the reaction path show significant differences from those in the gas phase due to the strong influence of solvent and solute interactions, especially due to the hydrogen bonds formed between the solute and the solvent. More importantly, the relationship between the two double-inversion transition states is not clear in the gas phase, but, here we revealed a novel intermediate complex serving as a "connecting link" between the two transition states of the abstraction-induced inversion and the Walden-inversion mechanisms. A detailed reaction path was constructed to show the atomic-level evolution of this novel double reaction mechanism in aqueous solution. The potentials of mean force were calculated and the obtained Walden-inversion barrier height agrees well with the available experimental value.


Several wireless sensor network applications ought to decide the intrinsic variance between energy efficient communication and the requirement to attain preferred quality of service (QoS) such as packet delivery ratio, delay and to reduce the power consumption of wireless sensor nodes. In order to address this challenge, we propose the Power Aware Routing Protocol (PARP), which attains application-specified communication delays at low energy cost by dynamically adapting transmission power and routing decisions. Extensive simulation results prove that the proposed PARP attains better QoS and reduced power consumption.


In this article is represented the case of revascularization osteotrefination in patient with atherosclerotic occlusion of the tibials arteries which was complicated by the closed fracture of femur in late postoperative period.


Accessible Summary
The NHS Constitution states that all patients should have opportunity to take part in approved research
This study asked clinical researchers how they include people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism in research
Many barriers were identified that relate to making mental capacity judgements
Many researchers agreed new resources that support consent and capacity judgements for research would be helpful and gave some ideas about what could help

.

AbstractBackground
Adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism are often excluded from participating in health and healthcare research. Understanding study information, which is an important aspect of demonstrating capacity to give informed consent, can be a particular challenge. This study surveyed clinical researchers to discover: (i) their experiences of assessing mental capacity for research; (ii) what methods they used to facilitate the inclusion of adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism; and (iii) their views about a proposal to develop new resources to facilitate mental capacity judgements with adults with intellectual disabilities and/or autism for informed consent for research.

Methods
Clinical researchers in North East England who conduct research with NHS patients with intellectual disabilities and/or autism were invited to participate in a 22-item self-completed semi-structured questionnaire survey, either online or on paper.

Results
Twenty-one clinicians completed the survey (response rate 30.4%). Participants reported on 18 research studies which included people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. In many studies people who lacked capacity to give informed consent were excluded, and often shortcuts were taken in judging capacity. Limited adaptations to support capacity were used. Respondents welcomed the proposal of developing assistive resources that could support capacity judgements and informed consent to research.

Conclusions
To improve access to research for people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism, researchers need robust methods to facilitate informed consent and mental capacity judgements. Future research should determine which assistive resources show potential to support informed consent and capacity decisions, and whether such resources could improve inclusion in research.


Concepts and procedures in statistics are inherent to publications in science. Based on the incidence of standard deviations, standard errors, and confidence intervals in articles published by the American Physiological Society (APS), however, many scientists appear to misunderstand fundamental


Polycrystalline silicon thin-film transistors (Poly-Si TFTs) with F-ions-implantation were investigated in this study. The electrical characteristics and reliability of the F-ions-implanted poly-Si TFTs were reported for solid phase crystallization (SPC) and excimer laser crystallization (ELC) methods respectively. The thermal annealing causes F-ions to pile up at the poly-Si interface, without the initial pad oxide deposition. With the introduction of fluorine in poly-Si film, the trap state density was effectively reduced. Also, the presence of strong Si-F bonds enhances electrical endurance against hot carrier impact by using F-ions-implantation. These improvements in electrical characteristics are even obvious for the ELC poly-Si TFTs compared to the SPC ones


Seven genera (one new), belonging to four subfamilies, seven named species (six new), four species left in open nomenclature and two specimens included in this paper as unnamed Aulophyllidae are described from strata ranging from the lowermost Bashkirian Limestone D5 10 to the lower Bashkirian Limestone F1. A new genus: Voragoaxum and six new species: Dibunophyllum medium , Dibunophylloides columnatus , D. paulus ,  D. similis , Voragoaxum cavum and Rozkowskia lenta are introduced. Comparison of the ontogeny of the earliest Bashkirian species of Nina Fedorowski, 2017a and Dibunophylloides Fomichev, 1953 suggest the derivation by descent of the Family Bothrophyllidae from the Subfamily Dibunophyllinae. This means that true bothrophylla are absent in the Mississippian strata of the Western European Province and, perhaps, in the contemporaneous strata of other areas as well.


Significant structural, developmental, and financial constraints exist in Scottish soccer that may predicate a different approach to talent identification and development. To our knowledge, no published reports exist evaluating the prevalence of the relative age effect (RAE) in Scottish soccer players. Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of the RAE among varied playing levels and ages of male Scottish youth soccer players. Birthdates of male youth players (n = 1,230) from U10 to U17 age groups and from playing levels: "Amateur" (n = 482), "Development" (n = 214), and "Performance" (n = 534), alongside a group of male Scottish senior professional players (n = 261) were recorded and categorized into quartiles (Q1 = January–March; Q2 = April–June; Q3 = July–September; and Q4 = October–December) and semesters (S1 = January–June and S2 = July–December) from the start of the selection year. Birthdates were analyzed for: (a) each playing level and (b) each age group irrespective of playing level. For the varied playing levels examined, an RAE was evident in "Development" and "Performance" playing levels only at youth level. When examining each age group, an RAE was observed in U12–U17 players only. While there was a slight asymmetry favoring Q1 born senior professional players, the RAE was not present within this group of our sample. Results from our study suggest that a bias in selecting individuals born earlier in the selection year may exist within male soccer academy structures, but not at amateur level. The asymmetry favoring chronologically older players at youth but not professional level questions the efficacy of this (un)conscious bias within male Scottish soccer players.


Limb-length discrepancy is a relatively common problem in children. Limb lengthening has traditionally been indicated for projected or actual length discrepancies exceeding 5 cm. Rapid distraction methods of limb lengthening, introduced by Codivilla and popularized by Wagner, have had unacceptably high complication rates. Gradual incremental distraction methods have resulted in improved bone genesis, yet the problems of soft-tissue contracture and decreased joint range of motion have not been solved. A pilot canine study was undertaken to prove the hypothesis that extended limb lengthening can result in injury to articular cartilage. Seven mature beagles underwent application of a transosseous circular fixator to their right femora and a periosteal-sparing osteotomy of the distal right femora. Distraction to a 30% increase over initial femoral length was performed at a rate of 0.75 mm daily in three increments in six dogs. One dog served as a sham-operated control. Free cage activity was allowed postoperatively. At the conclusion of lengthening, experimental and contralateral knee joints were harvested. They were assessed grossly, decalcified, and sectioned sagittally through the femoral and tibial condylar contact surfaces. All sections were stained with safranin-O and assessed histologically. One dog was eliminated from the study because of pin-site sepsis. The five animals who completed lengthening demonstrated gross cartilage fibrillation. Loss of proteoglycan staining was seen in three animals and frank cartilage necrosis in two. The control limbs and sham-operated limb demonstrated no gross or microscopic abnormalities. These findings confirm direct evidence of cartilage injury during limb lengthening.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The aim of this study is to examine the contributions of ancient economic thought to today's financial thought in the light of the relations between the socio-economic, political and intellectual environment of the period. Among the ancient Greek philosophers, although Plato and Aristotle held a different place in terms of their economic views, the opinions of the thinkers who came before and after Socrates began to be taken into consideration. It is known that ancient Greek philosophers propose opinions on many different economic topics from agriculture to trade, from division of labor to money and wealth, from property to interest. However, these views did not go beyond the initial level analysis of economic theory. On the other hand, the Western World has been under the influence of these thinkers for many years. In contrast to the ancient Greek philosophers who contributed to the field even at the beginning, Roman philosophers could not make a specific and unique contribution to the history of economics. But their main contribution has been to the field of law. The concepts such as the freedom of individual, the right to private property and the right to contract are still used today by Roman thinkers.


Trichothecenes are a group of mycotoxins mainly produced by the fungi of Fusarium genus. Consumers are particularly concerned over the toxicity and food safety of trichothecenes and their metabolites from food-producing animals. The metabolism of T-2 toxin, deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), fusarenon-X (FX), diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), 3-acetyldeoxy-nivalenol (3-aDON), and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol (15-aDON) in rodents, swine, ruminants, poultry, and humans are reviewed in this article. Metabolic pathways of these mycotoxins are very different. The major metabolic pathways of T-2 toxin in animals are hydrolysis, hydroxylation, de-epoxidation, and conjugation. After being transformed to HT-2 toxin, it undergoes further hydroxylation at C-3' to yield 3'-hydroxy-HT-2 toxin, which is considered as an activation pathway, whereas transformation from T-2 to T-2 tetraol is an inactivation pathway in animals. The typical metabolites of T-2 toxin in animals are HT-2 toxin, T-2 triol, T-2 tetraol, neosolaniol (NEO), 3'-hydroxy-HT-2, and 3'-hydroxy-T-2, whereas HT-2 toxin is the main metabolite in humans. De-epoxidation is an important pathway for detoxification in animals. De-epoxy products, DOM-1, and de-epoxy-NIV are the main metabolites of DON and NIV in most animals, respectively. However, the two metabolites are not found in humans. Deacetyl can occur rapidly on the acetyl derivatives, 3-aDON, 15-aDON, and FX. DAS is metabolized in animals to 15-monoacetoxyscirpenol (15-MAS) via C-4 deacetylation and then transformed to scirpentriol (SCP) via C-15 deacetylation. Finally, the epoxy is lost, yielding de-epoxy-SCP. De-epoxy-15-MAS is also the main metabolite of DAS. 15-MAS is the main metabolite in human skin. The review on the metabolism of trichothecenes will help one to well understand the fate of these toxins' future in animals and humans, as well as provide basic information for the risk assessment of them for food safety.


Superconducting materials are subjected to various loading in motors, transformers, generators, and other magnet applications. The loading conditions include bending, tension, compression, and fatigue, and result from coil manufacturing, thermal cycling, quenching, and normal operation. Each of these loading conditions can affect the performance of the superconductor and thus the magnet and system. It is important, therefore, to understand the electromechanical behavior of the superconducting material to optimize the design. Here we report the effects of mechanical fatigue at 77 K on the electrical transport properties of YBa2 Cu 3O7-delta/Hastelloy-C coated conductors. The effects of longitudinal tensile fatigue on the critical current and the n-value are reported. Strain controlled fatigue studies include strains up to 0.495% and strain ratios of 0.2 and 0.5. Scanning electron micrographs of the fatigued conductors are used to identify the sources of failure. Crack formation is believed to be the cause of I c degradation in fatigued samples. Further, the fatigue strength and ductility behaviors analyzed using a 5% reduction in I c as the electrical definition of failure showed that the fatigue strength exponent is within the values found for metals but both the fatigue ductility coefficient and exponent show that the material tested is brittle.


Purpose: With post-Genome Project, nurses must be able to incorporate genetic knowledge into their practice. The purpose of the present study aimed at providing the basic information needed to establish an education program for the training of nurses specialized in genetic counseling by comparing and analyzing the education contents in genetics of the various domestic and foreign nursing education institutions, identifying the problems of the existing programs, and investigating the current state of domestic genetic counseling programs. Result: The results of literature review were summarized as follows: Common curricula contents in Korea, Japan and U.S.A were basic genetic knowledge, genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis. However, In Korea the curriculum was not included legal, ethical, and social issues. In U.S.A the course was focused on health promotion related to genetics. The expanded role of nurses is to provide the genetic counseling for clients and their families. So, this articles provided a sample of the new genetic counseling program for nurses which are included basic genetics, genetic counseling, nurse's role and knowledge, legal, ethical, social issues and practicum, Conclusion: this study suggests that this educational program is to brought up genetic specialized nurses in the master's course in the near future.


Despite the notorious influence of rootstocks on cultivar behavior, in-depth studies of mango rootstocks and rootstock cultivars interactions are probably the main pending subject of mango research. Based on literature review and interviews with researchers and producers all over the world, the influence of rootstocks in quantitative and qualitative aspects of mango production is discussed and future research lines are identified. Tolerance to salinity, dwarfing effect, ability to absorb nutrients, adaptation to flooding, dry conditions or problematic soils, tolerance to pests and diseases, increase of yield and improvement of fruit quality are the subjects discussed along the paper. Identified future research needs include: developing standardized coordinated trials of rootstocks and cultivars, clonal propagation, morphological, physiological and anatomical studies of different rootstocks, molecular and chemical markers, use of tetraploids and interstocks studies. The possibilities for future cooperative projects in different parts of the world (American Continent and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Europe) are also examined.


The article argues that the growth of religious service provision directed at the Muslim diaspora in Europe has led to greater professionalization and pluralism within the Islam state in Muslim countries. Contemporary Muslim governments have claimed a monopoly over public prayer and religious education and have heavily invested in a network of infrastructure and services – the Islam state. The recent breakthrough of Islamist parties into governments in Turkey and across North Africa poses a challenge to the continued 'civilian control' over religion. What will become of the enormous Islamic Affairs ministries that Islamist parties have inherited – the hundreds of thousands of public servants of state Islam across the region, the tens of thousands of mosques and thousands of religious schools? Liberals demand the abolition of the Islam state because it violates the separation of religion and state; Islamists detest it for its repressive qualities. Despite progressive liberalization, governments in the past decade have not sought disestablishment, and have instead increased the resources and policing of state-run religion. I draw on the experience of Muslim governments in the competitive field of state–Islam relations in European countries to explain the modest beginnings of reform of the official religion apparatus in Muslim-majority countries.


The 2011 Challenge on Context-Aware Movie Recommendation (CAMRa2011) was held in conjunction with the Fifth ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys2011). The challenge focused on group-based recommendation for households, as well as identification of household members who had rated specific movies. The participants were provided with anonymized datasets from a real world online movie recommendation community and competed against each other for obtaining the highest recommendation accuracy. Over 45 teams from 23 countries participated in the challenge. Their participation was summarized by the nine papers accepted to the CAMRa2011 workshop. This paper presents an overview of the tracks and datasets of CAMRa2011.


which has been on the drawing board for some three decades, is the largest inter-basin water transfer planned to date in India or elsewhere. The idea has waxed and waned depending upon the political dispensation at any given point in time. Under the Challenge Program for Water and Food, IWMI undertook a broad strategic exploration of the basic idea of NRLP and its assumptions. This Highlight examines few contentious issues of the NRLP that received considerable attention in the national discourse. And it concludes that the donor basins may have surplus water to make NRLP technically feasible; however, there is need for nuanced analysis of whether, as the best possible option available to India, it is justifiable.


The volume of plastics that are subjected to impact simulation has grown rapidly. In a previous paper, we discussed why different material models are needed to describe the highly varied behavior exhibited by these materials. In this paper, we cover the subject in more detail, exploring in depth, the nuances of commonly used LS-DYNA material models for plastics, covering important exceptions and criteria related to their use.


Existing frameworks for biophilic design have similar strategies and attributes as useful checklists for designers; however, the focus has been on adults rather than children, and there remains the need for more guidance related to school design by extension. The application of biophilia would be a design resolution in schools because of its impact on children's health and well-being, which has been more important since the pandemic started; however, it remains quite unexplored in school design in many countries, including the UK. Biophilic design patterns can be used in school buildings and grounds for greater connectivity between spaces and nature in order to promote children's well-being. This paper focuses on ten biophilic design patterns under two categories of 'nature in the space' and 'natural analogues.' This study presents the findings of case studies in various countries. The analysis focuses on the manifestations of biophilia to inform the application of biophilic design patterns for primary schools. Finally, this paper suggests how primary school children could be involved in a co-design process in order to evaluate biophilic design patterns.


Decreased high density lipoproteins (HDL) plasma levels are a recognized independent risk factor for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Attempts were therefore initiated to pharmacologically raise plasma HDL cholesterol, and the most impressive increase was obtained by inhibiting cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) by means of the synthetic compound torcetrapib. Clinical trials were however disappointing, as torcetrapib increased mortality and did not reduce the progression of atherosclerosis. According to some view, it was claimed that CETP inhibition is unfavourable and that development of this class of compounds should be abandoned. Controversy nevertheless stimulated research on HDL structure, heterogeneity and functions which are not limited to reverse cholesterol transport and exert antioxidant and antiinflammatory actions. It could also be demonstrated that the deleterious effects of torcetrapib are compound specific, including its tight binding to CETP on HDL particles, thereby blocking both neutral lipids and phospholipid transfer from HDL to other lipoproteins, and would also exert an off-target effect by increasing plasma sodium and decreasing potasium concentrations (an aldosterone-like effect). As the structure of CETP was elucidated, it became possible to design CETP inhibitors that lack such off-target toxicity and may successfully slow the progression of atherosclerosis. Noteworthy, mice and rats naturally lacking CETP are resistant to diet induced atherosclerosis, while rabbits with high CETP levels are very susceptible. Families with deficient activity and exceptional longevity had also been reported.


A research study is underway to develop automated methods for rapidly grading aggregates on the production line in a typical aggregate separation or mixing facility. This interim report serves to document preliminary work on this project and presents: (1) A discussion of typical plant layouts, to identify potential sampling locations. The bast sampling locations appear to be just after final screening, where sorted material is sent to stockpiles, and just before mixing the final product, where aggregates are fed from either stockpiles or charge bins. (2) A thorough examination of six potential technologies that could be used to rapidly determine particle size. After a critical review and a formal decision analysis, both digital image analysis and laser profiling appear to be equally promising and worthy of additional study. (3) A discussion of the authors' current thinking on how to configure scanning equipment of this kind. By considering innovative methods for presenting aggregate particles to the scanning sensor, the opportunity exists for advancing this technology. (4) An outline of project work planned for the immediate future. Continuing their study of both digital image analysis and laser profiling, the authors plan to: 1. Conduct a limited, independent evaluation of three commercial particle-sizing machines, which all use digital image analysis; 2. Perform preliminary tests using a laser profiler; 3. Construct a laboratory test bed that can be used to test and evaluate various scanning sensors.


This paper presents an empirical study in an industrial context on the production of software using a framework. Frameworks are semicomplete applications, usually implemented as a hierarchy of classes. The framework is developed first, then several applications are derived from it. Frameworks are a reuse technique that supports the engineering of product lines. In the study, we compare quality (in the sense of rework effort) and productivity in traditional and framework-based software production. We observe that the latter is characterized by better productivity and quality, as well as a massive increase in productivity over time, that we attribute to the effect of learning the framework. Although we cannot extrapolate the results outside the local environment, enough evidence has been accumulated to stimulate future research work.


The frequency of occurrence of cosmic-ray bursts under large thicknesses of iron and lead has been investigated as a function of the thickness. A definite maximum is found to occur in the curves for the smaller bursts, its prominence diminishing with bursts of increasing size. The dependence of the burst frequency on the size of the ionization chamber and the proximity of the shielding material to the chamber has also been investigated. The results suggest the production of showers of mesotrons which spread out, and ultimately give rise to electron showers originating in widely separated areas in the material above, and round the sides of, the ionization chamber.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of alcohol and/or tobacco exposure on spontaneous alveolar bone loss in Wistar rats. Twenty-four, male, 60 day-old, Wistar rats were assigned to 4 groups: Group 1 received 10 mL/kg of glucose solution (5%). Group 2 received 2 g/kg alcohol (20%). Group 3 was exposed to tobacco smoke (6 cigarettes/60 min). Group 4 received both interventions of groups 2 and 3. Alcohol was given by gastric gavage and cigarette exposure was performed using a forced ventilation chamber. After 30 days, animals were sacrificed and the upper maxillae removed and defleshed. Morphometric analysis of alveolar bone loss (ABL) around the second molar was performed in standardized digital photographs. Statistical analysis was conducted using paired t-test, one-way ANOVA and occurrence of spontaneous periodontal disease (ABL ≥ 0.39 mm) was analyzed by Fisher's exact test. Significant differences in body weight were observed between all groups. Group 2 presented higher body weight as compared to the 3 other groups at 4 weeks (p≤0.05). Mean ABL values were 0.31 mm (±0.08), 0.29 mm (±0.07), 0.33 mm (±0.10), and 0.33 mm (±0.08) for groups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. No significant differences were found among groups. In the analysis of occurrence of periodontal breakdown, alcohol exposure decreased the occurrence of ABL and cigarette exposure increased ABL. The combination of alcohol and cigarette exposure did not differ from the control group. Alcohol consumption decreased the occurrence of periodontal breakdown, while tobacco increased this rate.


Objective: A reliable RP-HPLC SIAM (stability indicating assay method) was developed for the approximation of armodafinil in presence of its degradation product in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Materials and Methods: Mobile phase composition of water and methanol (10% v/v OPA) 55:45 % v/v was used for separation by using C 8 , (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 μ m) column. Eluents were detected at 225 nm at 1ml/min. Stress studies were performed using acid, base, oxidizing agents, light, and heat to get sufficient degradation about 10-20%. Results: A total of six degradation products were detected and were well separated from active drug. The linearity was found in between 10 – 150 mcg/ml. The LOD, LOQ were found as 0.78, 2.37 μ g/ml respectively. The % RSD for precision study was less than 2 % the accuracy by the recovery study was 98-102%. The ARM was found to more sensitive to base hydrolysis followed by acid and photolytic degradation. In acid hydrolysis, four major degradants and rest of them are stress sensitive. Conclusion: It is concluded that the developed method is a specific stability indicating assay, suitable to quantify armodafinil in presence of six degradants. Notably, this method represented degradation product even in thermal and oxidation stress unlike other reported methods. Key words: Armodafinil, Stability indicating, RP-HPLC method, Degradation studies.


To investigate nanoparticles' antitumor effect, a globose 30~35nm Ce(IV) doped Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (CDT) were prepared by impregnation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). Proliferation of BEL7402 human Hepatoma cells was studied in vitro by using fluorescence microscopy and Flow Cytometry. The results show that cerium elements doping enhanced thermal stability of nano-size titanium dioxide to 800°C. With UV irradiated for 8min, BEL7402 were induced a dose-dependent apoptosis by CDT, about 28.2% , 41.5% and 88.3% cells were induced apoptosis after 24h at concentration of 60, 120 and 180ug/ml respectively, relative to 3.9% of that of control group cell just only in the presence of UV.


One of the most promising technologies for lignocellulosic biomass utilization employs ionic liquids for the conversion of isolated components into fuels, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and composites after fractionation of lignocellulose. However, the time required for dissolution of the whole cell wall has been excessive. To explore a possible dissolution and fractionation pathway of lignocelluloses, the dissolution of holocellulose isolated from bagasse was investigated in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C4mim]Cl) assisted with ball-milling pretreatment and ultrasound irradiation. Ball milling pretreatment, ultrasonic irradiation assistance, and their combination were found to effectively improve the holocellulose dissolution in [C4mim]Cl. The effects of ultrasound power and irradiation duration on the dissolution time of ball-milled holocelluloses in [C4mim]Cl were studied. The regenerated holocelluloses were characterized with FT-IR, X-Ray, and CP/MAS 13C-NMR. It was found that there were no obvious changes of chemical structure after dissolution and regeneration of the holocellulose. The crystalline structure of cellulose was converted from cellulose I in native holocellulose to cellulose II in the regenerated holocellulose. The crystallinity decreased after the process of dissolution and regeneration assisted by ball-milling pretreatment and ultrasound irradiation.


There was an urgent requirement for a low-cost fast-track solution to increase the oil processing capacity in one of the ADNOC Offshore facilities in order to facilitate the scheduled maintainence of the Oil Trains as well as to handle additional production before a new train is commissioned. Capacity of each of the four Oil Trains is primarily limited by the vibration problem of the 1st vessel (Inlet Sphere) in the train, due to which field tests could not be performed to establish Oil Train maximum throughput. It was concluded through detailed studies, including Computation Fluid Dynamic Analysis, that there is no techno-economically feasible solution to overcome the vibration problem of the Inlet Spheres. However, the problem could be circumvented if the extra flow is routed to the downstream facilities by bypassing the Inlet Sphere completely. The objective of this in-house study is to find a low-cost solution to overcome the limitation of the Inlet Spheres and other bottlenecks in the trains. Based on the debottlenecking study outcome, it was proposed to use the stand-by Emergency Sphere - while retaining its original design functionality of handling emergency liquid relief - and its associated Crude Transfer Pump to transfer the additional flow (above the Inlet Sphere allowable capacity) directly to the Inlet Sphere downstream system. Similarly, course of actions were also identified for other bottlenecks. Based on the debottlenecking study recommendations, it was agreed to carry out the modification in two of the four Oil Trains considering the Crude Transfer Pump capacity limitation as well as to keep the cost to minimum by maximizing the usage of the existing assets.
 Subsequent to the modifications, field tests were conducted and test result showed that the oil-handling capacity of each Oil Train could be increased by 17%. No change in the operating conditions of the existing facilities were required and all the specifications of export crude oil were also met. Based on the test results, other improvements were also suggested. Accordingly, it was concluded to embark on executing the proposed modifications for all the Oil Trains.
 The debottlenecking scheme, which is implemented at a cost of ~1 Million USD, is able to generate a revenue of ~2 Million USD per day. Hence, the scheme when extended to the all the four trains would generate a revenue of ~8 Million USD per day. Execution cost for this modification for all the four trains is estimated to be less than 15 Million USD, whereas a new train of similar capacity would cost more than 200 Million USD.
 This paper highlights how in-house Technical Support can provide a fit-for-purpose and cost-effective solution to Company's business needs. The study is a perfect example of "Maximizing Value of Every Barrel Produced".


As-synthesized colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are usually covered by an organic capping ligand. These ligands provide colloidal stability by preventing QDs agglomeration. However, their inherent electrical insulation properties deliver a problem for hybrid solar cell application, disrupting charge transfer, and electron transport in conjugated polymer/QDs photoactive blends. Therefore, a surface modification of QDs is crucial before QDs are integrated into solar cell fabrication. In this work, enhancement of power conversion efficiency (PCE) in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) hybrid solar cells based on hexadecylamine- (HDA-) capped CdSe quantum dots (QDs) has been achieved via a postsynthetic hexanoic acid washing treatment. The investigation of the surface modification was performed to find the optimum of washing time and their effect on solar cell devices performance. Variation of washing time between 16 and 30 min has been conducted, and an optimum washing time was found at 22 min, resulting in a high PCE of 2.81%. The efficiency enhancement indicates improved electron transport, contributing in an increased short-circuit current density of solar cell devices.


This study followed during 10 years 322 Belgian patients aged between 20 and 39 years living in the district of Anderlecht and who had presented themselves for the first time to the psychosocial sector of this district between 1970 and 1973. Fifteen deaths were observed, 10 of which were among the under 30's. The S.M.R. observed (5.27) is similar to the results obtained in other international studies. The survival curves (Kaplan-Meier method) confirm the more considerable excess of mortality during the first years of the follow-up. The decreased sample was matched to a control sample of patients frequenting the centre and compared by the Mac Nemar test. There was very little difference between the two samples. The deceased had however rarely moved house during their follow-up and had accumulated a series of risk factors from the beginning.


Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid with a broad-range of therapeutic potential in several conditions, including neurological (epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic and ischemic brain injuries) and psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, addiction, major depressive disorder, and anxiety). The pharmacological mechanisms responsible for these effects are still unclear, and more than 60 potential molecular targets have been described. Regarding neuropsychiatric disorders, most studies investigating these mechanisms have focused on neuronal cells. However, glial cells (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia) also play a crucial role in keeping the homeostasis of the central nervous system. Changes in glial functions have been associated with neuropathological conditions, including those for which CBD is proposed to be useful. Mostly in vitro studies have indicated that CBD modulate the activation of proinflammatory pathways, energy metabolism, calcium homeostasis, and the proliferative rate of glial cells. Likewise, some of the molecular targets proposed for CBD actions are f expressed in glial cells, including pharmacological receptors such as CB1, CB2, PPAR-γ, and 5-HT1A. In the present review, we discuss the currently available evidence suggesting that part of the CBD effects are mediated by interference with glial cell function. We also propose additional studies that need to be performed to unveil the contribution of glial cells to CBD effects in neuropsychiatric disorders.


With the development and improvement of CRISPR/Cas9 system in genomic editing technology, the system has been applied to the prevention and control of animal viral infectious diseases, which has made considerable achievements. It has also been applied to the study of highly efficient gene targeting editing in plant virus genomes. The CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted gene modification has not only achieved the genome editing of plant DNA virus, but also showed the genome editing potential of plant RNA virus. In addition, the CRISPR/Cas9 system functions at the gene transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, indicating that the system could regulate the replication of plant viruses through different ways. Compared with other plant viral disease control strategies, this system is more accurate in genome editing, more stable in gene expression regulation, and has broader spectrum of resistance to virus disease. In this review, we summarized the advantages, main problems and development tendency of CRISPR/cas9 system in breeding of new antiviral plant germplasms.


Multiple fires conducted in spring (March-April) and summer (June-July) on blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis [H.B. K. Lag.]) grassland near Corona, N.M. were used to relate broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae [Pursh] Britt &Rusby) control to pre-burn vegetation, weather, and fire conditions. Spring fires moved faster and burned cooler than summer fires as indicated by measurements from thermocouples giving the fire's rate of spread, temperature, and heat. In spring, broom snakeweed was in the bud stage with little green foliage and fires provided less average crown destruction (8%) and shrub mortality (65%) compared to summer fires (66% crown destruction, 92% mortality) when the shrub was growing actively. Air temperature and total fuel biomass positively influenced fire temperatures, and duration of heat above 60 degrees C resulting in high broom snakeweed mortality. Conversely, as relative humidity, wind speed, and fuel moisture increased, fire heat decreased, resulting in less broom snakeweed mortality. Attempts to conduct spring or summer fires over a 6-year period in central New Mexico were complicated and often unsuccessful because of unsuitable weather and fuel conditions. We concluded ideal weather conditions must converge before, during, and after a prescribed burning event in order to maximize broom snakeweed control and forage growth on these grasslands.


Directional distributed co-ordination function (D-DCF), a modified medium access control protocol of IEEE 802.11, is proposed to support hybrid antennas such as smart adaptive array antennas and normal omni-directional antennas, in one wireless local area network cell. Nodes equipped with smart antennas follow D-DCF and nodes equipped with normal antennas follow DCF. D-DCF based on a hybrid virtual carrier sense mechanism maintains compatibility with DCF. In D-DCF, before sending any data-frames, the sender and receiver node transmit a pilot sequence by means of an omni-directional request-to-send/clear-to-send handshake mechanism. Based on the pilot, the directional beam can be formed by the smart antenna. Then the node can transmit its data-frame in the directional mode. The other nodes save the transmission time between the sender and receiver in the omni-directional mode in their network allocation vectors. When the sender and receiver communicate in the directional mode, the other nodes can access the channel to send their data-frames. Hence, D-DCF supports space division multiplexing. Moreover, D-DCF fully supports time division duplex, namely both the forward and backward transmission in one access period. Simulation results show that D-DCF can support the hybrid antenna system effectively and provide much higher network throughput, lower delay, jitter and packet-loss-rate than DCF does.


Bronchocentric granulomatosis is a rare entity and has only recently been characterised. We report a case of a forty-three year old man presenting with multifocal bronchocentric granulomatosis which was revealed following some oto-rhino-laryngological and bronchopulmonary symptoms. The open lung biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. Treatment was by bolus doses of corticosteroids (30 mg/kg) and of methotrexate in low dosage (7.5 mg/week, then 15 mg/week) which checked the initially unfavourable outcome.


Al2O3 ceramic coatings were directly prepared on 6063 aluminum alloy in borate electrolytes by micro-arc oxidation (MAO) technique. The phase composition, microstructure, elemental distribution, and micro-hardness of Al2O3 ceramic coatings were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and micro-hardness test. XRD results show that the coating consists of α-Al2O3 and γ-Al2O3. SEM results show that the pores with different sizes distributed all over the coating surface. Adhesion and tribological and wear tests were also performed. It was found that ceramic coatings with high hardness, excellent adhesion and wear resistance could be formed.


Chloroquine is an anti-malarial and immunosuppressant drug that has cationic amphipathic chemical properties. We performed genome-wide screens in human cells with chloroquine and several other widely used cationic amphipathic drugs (CADs) including the anti-depressants, sertraline (Zoloft) and fluoxetine (Prozac), the analgesic nortriptyline (Pamelor), the anti-arrhythmic amiodarone (Cordarone), and the anti-hypertensive verapamil (Calan) to characterize their molecular similarities and differences. Despite CADs having different disease indications but consistent with them sharing key chemical properties, we found CADs to have remarkably similar phenotypic profiles compared with non-CADs we and others have previously screened (1–5). The most significant genetic interaction for all CADs was the initiating step in sphingolipid biosynthesis catalyzed by serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT). A comparison of genome-wide screens performed with diverse pathogens from viruses, bacteria, plants, and parasites including Ebola (6), adeno-associated virus AAV2 (7), HIV (8), Rotavirus (9), Influenza A (10), Zika virus (11), Picornavirus (12), Exotoxin A (13), Cholera toxin (14), Type III secretion system and Shiga toxin (15, 16), Ricin toxin (17), and Toxoplasma gondii (18) showed SPT as a top common host factor and 80% overlap overall in top hits specifically with CADs. Potential sphingolipid-mediated mechanisms for the host response- and virulence-modulating effects of CADs involve autophagy and SERPINE1/PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1). Chloroquine has recently shown potential as an anti-viral agent for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19 respiratory disease (19, 20). Our study demonstrates that numerous readily available drugs molecularly function highly similar to chloroquine, which suggests they might be considered for further pre-clinical investigation in the context of SARS-CoV-2. More generally, our work suggests the diverse pathogen mitigating potential of drugs that inhibit host sphingolipid biosynthesis such as CADs. Brief Summary Our study demonstrates that numerous readily available drugs molecularly function highly similar to chloroquine, which suggests they might be considered for further pre-clinical investigation in the context of SARS-CoV-2.


The XYZ antiferromagnetic model in linear spin-wave frame is shown explicitly to have an su(1,2) algebraic structure: the Hamiltonian can be written as a linear function of the su(1,2) algebra generators. Based on it, the energy eigenvalues are obtained by making use of the similar transformations, and the algebraic diagonalization method is investigated. Some numerical solutions are given, and the results indicate that only one group solution could be accepted in physics.


This paper presents a prepare-and-measure scheme using N-dimensional quantum particles as information carriers where N is a prime power. One of the key ingredients used to resist eavesdropping in this scheme is to depolarize all Pauli errors introduced to the quantum information carriers. Using the Shor-Preskill-type argument, we prove that this scheme is unconditionally secure against all attacks allowed by the laws of quantum physics. For N=2n>2, each information carrier can be replaced by n entangled qubits. In this case, there is a family of eavesdropping attacks on which no unentangled-qubit-based prepare-and-measure (PM) quantum key distribution scheme known to date can generate a provably secure key. In contrast, under the same family of attacks, our entangled-qubit-based scheme remains secure whenever 2nges4. This demonstrates the advantage of using entangled particles as information carriers and of using depolarization of Pauli errors to combat eavesdropping attacks more drastic than those that can be handled by unentangled-qubit-based prepare-and-measure schemes


The most influential approaches to reciprocals (Heim, Lasnik and May 1991, Dalrymple et al. 1998) involve a scoping operator, but there are good arguments by Murray (2008) and Dotlačil (2013) that reciprocals do not involve distributive quantification but are instead pronouns with both coference and noncoreference requirements. However, the latter analyses cannot straighforwardly account for apparent scopal variability in complex sentences with reciprocals. In this paper we extend the pronominal analysis of reciprocals to long distance cases by extending the original plural CDRT (Brasoveanu 2007) analysis with ideas from partial CDRT (Haug 2014).


The size of the labor force will diminish with on-going population aging. However, the magnitude of the anticipated decline remains unclear and differs according to the choice of labor input measure. If the current patterns of gender- and age-specific labor supply would remain unchanged, it is projected that the number of employed population and the total hours of work will decrease to 88% and 83% of the current levels, respectively. The actual decline in labor inputs will heavily depend on long-term changes of labor supply, especially employment of the elderly and women as well as unemployment of younger people. Given that long-term trend of labor demand is highly unpredictable, it is difficult to determine whether a large-scale decline in the work force (if actually emerged) will cause significant labor shortages. Furthermore, the extent of labor shortage will widely differ across industries and across worker types because of sectoral disparities in labor-demand changes. Over the next 10~15 years, the overall size of labor inputs in Korea will not diminish. However, the exit of the baby boom generation from the work force can produce serious labor shortages in sectors with high and increasing fractions of aging workers. In particular, population aging will hit hard the industries in which the entry of young workers is insufficient to meet rapidly growing labor demand.


Digital image and video have been widely applied to many practical applications due to their simple image acquirement. Image registration is an important image processing for integrating information from images. For Image registration, it is intuitive to orientate images by matching corresponding pixels being considered idealistically identical on the overlapping region. Based on this idea, this article proposes an image registration method that applies the information theorem to the corresponding intensity data. An entropy-based objective function is developed upon the histogram of the intensity differences as to evaluate the similarity between images. Intensity differences represent the differences of the corresponding pixels between the referenced and sensed images on the overlapped region. The sensed image is aligned to the referenced image by minimizing the proposed objective function through iteratively updating the parameters of the projective transformation during the optimization process. The experimental results obtained by means of several test image sets illustrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed image registration method.


An international interlaboratory comparison for numerical calculations of head phantom SAR involving three mobile phones with computer-aided design-based models has been conducted in order to evaluate the repeatability of such calculations and for providing input in the development of standardized procedures. SAR in the standardized specific anthropomorphic mannequin (SAM) head phantom was calculated by ten laboratories in a blind study manner. The agreement in calculated SAR between the participating laboratories is very similar to the agreement obtained in interlaboratory comparisons involving SAR measurements. The results support the opinion that standardized procedures for numerical calculations of SAR can be developed. The agreement between calculated SAR results and corresponding measurement results ranges from good to poor for the three phone models. Most probably, a significant reason for the observed deviations is the simplifications made to the models, which implies that device modeling specifications are of utmost importance in standards.


The first-generation protease inhibitors (PIs) of hepatitis C virus (HCV), telaprevir and boceprevir, are the harbingers of important advances in the treatment of chronic HCV infection. Improved response rates have been observed in both previously untreated and previously treated patients who have failed pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) and ribavirin (RBV) treatment.1–5 Sustained virological response (SVR) rates of >70% have been reported. Despite the side effects of the agents and their continued necessity for a PEG-IFN and RBV backbone, the high rates of early viral response translate into higher rates of cure than with PEG-IFN and RBV alone in genotype 1 infection. Their efficacy in the treatment of genotype 2–6 has not been fully tested.6 Activity in in vitro cell culture systems showed similar efficacy of PIs against genotypes 2a, 5a and 6a and comparatively low but varying efficacy against genotype 3a isolates.7 Replication-competent intergenotype chimaeras inserted into the JFH clone of HCV have shown susceptibility to telaprevir, with genotypes 1 and 2 being most susceptible and genotypes 4 and 5 most resistant.8

Previously untreated (naive) patients without severe fibrosis respond better to the first-generation PIs than those with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis. Although response rates in patients with cirrhosis are improved compared with PEG-IFN and RBV treatment, they remain suboptimal. Patients with a prior null response (defined as a decline in HCV RNA of <2 log10 after 12 weeks of treatment) and cirrhosis are less likely to respond to retreatment with telaprevir or boceprevir.9 ,10 Approximately 15% of prior null responders and cirrhosis respond to first-generation PIs, and only 35% of those with a prior partial response and cirrhosis respond to retreatment. Inherited IL28b haplotypes continue to influence response rates.11 ,12 Response rates are slightly lower in subtype 1a compared with subtype 1b.

These …


Framing is a political strategy in which politicians carefully word their statements in order to control public perception and discussion of current issues. Previous works exploring political framing have focused on analysis of frames in longer texts, such as newspaper articles, or tweets relevant to specific events. We present the first in-depth analysis of issue-independent framing for political discourse in social media, specifically the microblogging platform Twitter. Building upon the fifteen frames designed by Boydstun, we propose three additional frames relevant to Twitter and provide insights into the dynamic usage of frames by party and over time. Finally we present a global probabilistic model for combining linguistic, issue, and party bias features of the tweets of politicians for the task of tweet frame prediction.


Using South African performance artist Athi-Patra Ruga's ...the Naivete of Beiruth (2008) photographic series as its genesis, this article employs critical approaches to semiotics and textual analysis to examine the history of police brutality in South Africa with a focus on the experiences of the queer community both under apartheid and after the transition to democracy – a history that repeatedly doubles back to the former-South African Police Force headquarters: John Vorster Square/Johannesburg Central Police Station. For queer subjects, South Africa's transition to democracy in 1994 brought with it many significant de jure changes to the daily lived reality of life in South Africa. However, misconduct and violence at the hands of the police – referred to as 'Priscilla' in the gay South African argot, Gayle – continues under democracy albeit of a divergent nature. Through Ruga's radical aesthetic and disruptive artistic intervention with the Johannesburg Central Police Station – a site which has deeply penetrated South Africa's cultural imaginary – this paper examines state violence against those who are identified as queer to expose the limits of the Rainbow Nation project, question the transformation of the South African police, and serve as an unsettling reminder of the complex and often dangerous societal position of women and queer subjects in South Africa. Significantly, while predominantly phenomenological in nature, this article to also partly auto-ethnographic as I draw from my own experience as a queer subject born in apartheid-era
State violence
Johannesburg and living in democratic South Africa.


A ventilator function of the lungs and indices of biomechanics of respiration were analyzed in 70 patients with progressive muscular dystrophy: 48 individuals with Erb-Roth's form (the 1-st group), 8 patients with Landouzy-Dejerine form (the 2-nd group) and 14 cases with Charcot-Marie's form (the 3-d group). Any clinical-roentgenologic signs of the pathology of bronchopulmonary system were absent in the patients. A control group consisted of 65 healthy individuals. All the patients were characterized by a moderate decrease of both maximal pulmonary ventilation and a volume of the forced expiration during the 1-st second, while the indices of the loop flow-volume were normal. Total work of breathing was normal too. Elastic fraction was increased significantly as compared with total work of respiration. Aerodynamic resistance was equal to normal values. Increase of total non-elastic resistance of lungs was conditioned by the elevation of the tissue resistance. Statistic stretching of the lungs was decreased in all the groups, while elastic tension of lungs--in the patients of the 1-st and 3-d groups. Obstructive type of the alteration of the ventilator function of the lungs was conditioned by non-pulmonary reasons. Alterations of the biomechanics of the respiration were considered as the functional ones.


We study the market for fake product reviews on Amazon.com. Reviews are purchased in large private groups on Facebook and other sites. We hand collect data on these markets and then collect a panel of data on these products' ratings and reviews on Amazon, as well as their sales rank, advertising, and pricing policies. We find that a wide array of products purchase fake reviews, including products with many reviews and high average ratings. Buying fake reviews on Facebook is associated with a significant but short-term increase in average rating and number of reviews. We exploit a sharp but temporary policy shift by Amazon to show that rating manipulation has a large causal effect on sales. Finally, we examine whether rating manipulation harms consumers or whether it is mainly used by high-quality in a manner like advertising or by new products trying to solve the cold-start problem. We find that after firms stop buying fake reviews, their average ratings fall and the share of one-star reviews increases significantly, particularly for young products, indicating rating manipulation is mostly used by low-quality products.


Purpose: This study aims to examine the impact of terrorism on risk perception and travel behaviour of the Dutch market towards Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach: The research process involved an online self-administered method created with one of the leading research and web-based survey tools called Qualtrics. The questionnaire was filled in by 328 respondents. Findings: Findings indicate that Sri Lankan is perceived to be a relatively safe destination. However, the likeliness of visiting the country is unlikely. The respondents with past travel experience (PTE) perceive Sri Lanka to be safer than those without PTE and are more likely to revisit. Male respondents have a higher safety perception of Sri Lanka than women. Most of the respondents see Sri Lanka as an attractive destination and would consider travelling there with children. Research limitations/implications: The majority of the respondents are female and aged between 18 to 29 years old. The majority of the respondents' children were already 19 or older and not accompanying their parents on holiday. This study has managerial implications for Sri Lanka's tourism board that could work on developing a marketing strategy that focusses on promoting Sri Lanka as a safe destination in combination with all the other unique selling points. Originality/value: To the best of author's knowledge, no analysis has been so far published with a focus on the impact of terrorism on risk perception and attitudes of the Dutch tourist towards Sri Lanka. The aim of this paper is to close the existing gap in the literature and to provide valuable knowledge on the influence of terrorism on risk perception and attitudes of the Dutch tourists' travel behaviour towards Sri Lanka as a destination.


A Versatile Method of Resolution Enhancement for Tactile Sensor Array Used as Synthetic Skin: Modeling and Implementation Karen Flores De Jesus Tactile sensors are one of the major devices that enable robotic systems to interact with the surrounding environment. In particular, modern assistive robotic systems need to carry out many human-like activities. Thus, it is desired to have sensor arrays that can acquire different environmental information just like human skin. In the past two decades, various types of tactile sensor arrays have been developed to acquire different physical properties, such as temperature, force, and geometric shapes. However, though the measurement of a single sensor can be accurate, the planar resolution is limited due to fabrication difficulties. This research aims to propose a mathematical model to describe the behavior of a tactile sensor based on experimental and statistical analyses. Moreover, to develop a versatile algorithm that can be applied to different tactile sensor arrays to enhance the limited resolution. With the proposed algorithm, the resolution can be increased up to twenty times if multiple measurements are available. To verify if the algorithm can be used for tactile sensor arrays that are used in robotic system, a 16 × 10 force sensing array (FSR) is adopted. The force was first measured by a scanning data acquisition device integrated by a synthesized electronic circuit, DAQ station and an interface developed using MATLAB. The acquired two dimensional measurements were then processed by the Proposed Resolution Enhancement Algorithm (PREA) to enhance the resolution. The proposed algorithm can be used to improve the resolution for single image or multiple measurements. In this study, the developed MATLAB scripts can automatically identify the location of the targeted objects if multiple measurements are recorded. As a result, the resolution of the sensor is increased and it can be used as synthetic skin to identify accurate shapes of objects and applied forces. To my mother Eva de Jesus


Palm oil, scientifically known as Elaeis guineensis, is a rapidly growing commercial sector in Southeast Asia with a diverse economic composition. Palm oil plantations are crucial in economic activities and growth, as they generate employment in managing the palm oil quality. However, the lack of nutrients can affect the growth and quality of the crops. The manual detection of palm leaf nutrient deficiency can be one of the challenges as the visual symptoms of the deficiency demonstrate a similar representation. Thus, in this study, the palm leaf nutrient deficiency detection using Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is proposed. CNN or ConvNet is a branch of deep neural networks in Deep Learning that is commonly used in analysing images and has proven to produce better feature extraction from dataset. A total of 350 images of healthy leaf and six types of palm leaf nutrient deficiency are Nitrogen, Potassium, Magnesium, Boron, Zinc, and Manganese were tested. The application of CNN to a variety of testing datasets returned good detection accuracy at 94.29%. It can be deduced that the proposed implementation of CNN for palm leaf nutrient deficiency detection is found to be successful. Nonetheless, the number of datasets could be increased in the future to improve the detection performance.


China is the greatest challenge facing the world today. Yet fears of the yellow peril are not new. They started with fear of the rise of Bolshevism and later the Soviet Union after World War II (the red scare) and European fears of the USA becoming dominant following WW2 and the subsequent fear of the spectacular technological rise of Japan. The article shows that considerable differences exist among such challengers in their size, political system, ideological basis, military strength, geopolitical ambitions and, finally, cultural differences. These fears have proven to be overblown. Still, they play a positive role as a wakeup call to draw attention to the need to adapt to the tectonic changes occurring in the entire world system and the strategies/policies of certain individual actors. The explanatory power of different theories with respect to certain cases is considered. Somewhere along the line, the greatest weight has been attributed to economic/quantitative factors (Japan, USA, China), ideological/military ones with respect to the Soviet Union/ Russia, while elsewhere more ethnocentric factors are stressed (Japan, China). A multidisciplinary approach is called for because a single discipline is unable to explain such tectonic changes and the ensuing reactions.