The microelectronics industry requires continuous advances due to ever-evolving
technology and the corresponding need for higher density substrates with smaller
features. Specifically, new dielectric materials with enhanced electrical properties are
needed. At the same time, adhesion must be maintained in order to preserve package
reliability and mechanical performance. As a result, this research investigates the use
of thin glass sheets as an alternative substrate material as it offers a number of
advantages including coefficient of thermal expansion similar to silicon, good
dielectric properties and optical transparency to assist in the alignment of buried
features. As part of this project it was necessary to deposit metallic coatings onto the
glass sheets to create electrical tracks, pads and microvias. In order to meet these
requirements, the metallisation of both smooth as received glass surfaces and surfaces
roughened by laser machining using electroless copper and nickel deposition were
investigated. This study resulted in a number of important conclusions about the roles
of chemical bonding and mechanical anchoring in both the adhesion and catalyst
adsorption, that are key factors in the electroless metallisation process.....


Earth observation satellites have been continuously monitoring the earth environment for years at different loca-tions and spectral bands with different modalities. Due to complex satellite sensing conditions (e.g., weather, cloud, atmosphere, orbit), some observations for certain modalities, bands, locations, and times may not be available. The MultiEarth Matrix Completion Challenge in CVPR 2022 [1] provides the multimodal satellite data for addressing such data sparsity challenges with the Amazon Rainforest as the region of interest. This work proposes an adaptive realtime multimodal regression and generation framework and achieves superior performance on unseen test queries in this challenge with an LPIPS of 0.2226, a PSNR of 123.0372, and an SSIM of 0.6347.


ABSTRACT Recent accounts of democratic backsliding are negligent about the cultural foundations of autocracy-vs-democracy. To bring culture back in, I demonstrate that (1) the countries' membership in culture zones explains some 70% of the global variation in autocracy-vs-democracy and (2) that this culture-bound variation has remained astoundingly constant over time – in spite of all the trending patterns in the global distribution of regime types over the last 120 years. Furthermore, the explanatory power of culture zones over autocracy-vs-democracy roots in the cultures' differentiation on "authoritarian-vs-emancipative values." Against this backdrop, lasting regime turnovers happen as a corrective response to glacially accruing regime-culture misfits – driven by generational value shifts into a pre-dominantly emancipatory direction. Consequently, the backsliding of democracies into authoritarianism is limited to societies in which emancipative values remain under-developed. Contrary to the widely cited deconsolidation-thesis, the prevalent generational profile in people's moral orientations exhibits an almost ubiquitous ascension of emancipative values that will lend more, not less, legitimacy to democracy in the future.


A thermodynamic theory of heterophase structures is proposed, describing the relation of the volumes, shape, internal structure, and mutual disposition of the crystals that are formed in a phase transformation in the solid state. An important feature of solid heterophase systems is the presence of internal-stress fields arising as a consequence of the contact between the phases. The tendency to reduce the elastic energy of the internal stresses leads to the breakdown of the crystals composing the heterophase system into elastic domains and to the formation of ensembles of crystals arranged in an ordered manner. As a result of the competition between the elastic energy of the internal stresses and the interphase surface energy in a solid, metastable many-phase states arise, characterized by a regular spatial distribution of plate-like structural elements.


We analyze an isolated low‐frequency earthquake (LFE) family located at the downdip edge of the main episodic tremor and slip (ETS) zone beneath western Washington State. The 9000 individual LFEs from this repeating family cluster into 198 swarms that recur roughly every week. Cumulative LFE seismic moment for each swarm correlates strongly with the time until the next swarm, suggesting that these LFE swarms are time predictable. Precise double‐difference relative locations for 700 individual LFEs within this family show a distribution that is approximately 2 km long and 500 m wide, elongated parallel to the relative plate convergence direction. The distribution of locations (<300 m vertical spread) lies within a few hundred meters of two different plate interface models and has a similar dip. Peak‐to‐peak LFE S wave amplitudes range from 0.2 to 18 nm. Individual LFEs exhibit a trend of increasing magnitude during swarms, with smaller events at the beginning and the largest events toward the end. The largest LFEs cluster in a small area (300 m radius) coincident with maximum LFE density. We propose that the less‐concentrated smaller LFEs act to unlock this patch core, allowing it to fully rupture in the largest LFEs, usually toward the end of a swarm. We interpret the patch responsible for producing these LFEs as a subducted seamount on the downgoing Juan de Fuca (JdF) plate. LFE locking efficiency (slip estimated during 5 years from summing LFE seismic moment divided by plate‐rate‐determined slip) is at most 20% and is highly concentrated in two ∼50 m radius locations in the larger patch core. Estimated individual LFE stress drops range from 1 to 20 kPa, but could also be significantly larger.


We present a thermodynamic model describing the operation of solar thermochemical reduction and oxidation chambers utilizing a non-stoichiometric metal oxide. The system under consideration is a generic reactor implementing an ideal counter-current flow (CF) configuration with prescribed inlet conditions of reactant flow rates and thermodynamic states. Conservation of species and mass as well as Gibbs's criterion are used to determine the maximum and minimum limits of oxygen non-stoichiometry for reduction and oxidation, respectively, under a CF configuration. The methodology presented here is first used to analyze the previous models appearing in literature. It is found that existing efforts to model the CF configuration can violate Gibbs's criterion. Motivated by this, a revised CF model is formulated and ensures the criterion is met thereby ensuring process spontaneity of the desired reaction for all conditions existing within the reaction chambers. The model identifies the highest reduction (oxidation...


Background: While great strides have been made in the treatment of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) metastatic breast cancer (MBC), therapeutic resistance invariably occurs. A better understanding of the underlying resistance mechanisms is critical to enable durable control of this disease. Methods: We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) on metastatic tumor biopsies from 88 patients with ER+ MBC who had developed resistance to one or more ER-directed therapies. For 27 of these patients, we sequenced the treatment-naive primary tumors for comparison to the resistant specimens. Tumors were analyzed for point mutations, insertions/deletions, copy number alterations, translocations, and gene expression. Detailed clinicopathologic data was collected for each patient and linked to the genomic information. Results: WES of all metastatic samples demonstrated several recurrently altered genes whose incidence differed significantly from primary, treatment-naive ER+ breast cancers sequenced in the TCGA study (TCGA). These include ESR1 mutations (n=17, 19.3%; 32.86 fold enrichment, q.value Comparing to matched primary samples from the same patient, many alterations were found to be acquired in several cases, including for ESR1, ERBB2, PIK3CA, PTEN, RB1, AKT1, and others. Initial analysis of RNA-seq data from metastatic samples (n=59) allowed classification of individual resistance mechanisms into broader resistance modes based on the observed transcriptional state. Conclusions: We present a genomic landscape of resistant ER+ MBC using WES and RNA-seq. Multiple genes were recurrently altered in these tumors at significantly higher rates than in ER+ primary breast cancer. When compared with matched primary tumors from the same patient, alterations in these and other genes were often found to be acquired after treatment, suggesting a role in resistance to ER-directed therapies and/or metastasis. Potential resistance mechanisms appear to fall into several categories; integrating RNA-seq data may enhance the ability to identify these categories even when genomic alterations are not identified. Multiple clinically relevant genomic and molecular alterations are identified in metastatic biopsies– with implications for choice of next therapy, clinical trial eligibility, and novel drug targets. Citation Format: Cohen O, Kim D, Oh C, Waks A, Oliver N, Helvie K, Marini L, Rotem A, Lloyd M, Stover D, Adalsteinsson V, Freeman S, Ha G, Cibulskis C, Anderka K, Tamayo P, Johannessen C, Krop I, Garraway L, Winer E, Lin N, Wagle N. Whole exome and transcriptome sequencing of resistant ER+ metastatic breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr S1-01.


We use price data underlying the Consumer Price Index to assess how restaurants, whose prices are generally quite sticky, respond to minimum wage increases. Aggregate prices rise, quickly, by amounts reflecting the increase in costs, and they rise more among fast food outlets and in low-wage locations. But restaurants do not construct price increases by raising all their prices by amounts reflecting the increase in wages. Instead, they raise only some prices, but by larger amounts. Prices at cluster points are less likely to be changed, and prices that were recently increased (decreased) are less (more) likely to be raised.


The Jonkershoek Forestry Research Station was established in the Mediterranean climate region of South Africa in 1935 to implement a multiple catchment experiment to determine the effects of afforestation on water yield. The experiment consists of six neighbouring catchments previously supporting indigenous fynbos shrublands, five of which were sequentially afforested with Pinus radiata plantations every 8 years from 1940 to 1980 and one kept as the control. They conclusively demonstrated a significant impact of afforestation on streamflow. The treatment catchments have seen subsequent plantation rotations since 1980 and rainfall and streamflow observations have been continued to date. Here we describe the site, experimental design, rainfall and streamflow records, instrumentation, and how to access the data. We also provide details of recently installed instrumentation, including full weather stations, fog gauges, and an eddy covariance flux tower. The Jonkershoek catchment experiment was the core of a globally significant interdisciplinary research programme (1935–1992) that shaped most environmental policies and practices relating to biodiversity, forestry, fire and water in South Africa and beyond. The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) inherited the experiment in 2010 and is maintaining it as a long‐term eco‐hydrological research platform and global change observatory.


Quantum and quantum-inspired optimisation algorithms are designed to solve problems represented in binary, quadratic and unconstrained form. Combinatorial optimisation problems are therefore often formulated as Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimisation Problems (QUBO) to solve them with these algorithms. Moreover, these QUBO solvers are often implemented using specialised hardware to achieve enormous speedups, e.g. Fujitsu's Digital Annealer (DA) and D-Wave's Quantum Annealer. However, these are single-objective solvers, while many real-world problems feature multiple conflicting objectives. Thus, a common practice when using these QUBO solvers is to scalarise such multi-objective problems into a sequence of single-objective problems. Due to design trade-offs of these solvers, formulating each scalarisation may require more time than finding a local optimum. We present the first attempt to extend the algorithm supporting a commercial QUBO solver as a multi-objective solver that is not based on scalarisation. The proposed multi-objective DA algorithm is validated on the bi-objective Quadratic Assignment Problem. We observe that algorithm performance significantly depends on the archiving strategy adopted, and that combining DA with non-scalarisation methods to optimise multiple objectives outperforms the current scalarised version of the DA in terms of final solution quality.


Two types of corneal cell membrane receptors are described, one occurs on the surface of only regenerating or cultured cells, that is, actively metabolizing and/or proliferating ones. The other type of corneal membrane receptors occurs on the cell surface independent of the metabolic state, e.g. on excised resting cells. In contrast to the restricted ontogenic specificity of the metabolically dependent corneal cell membrane antigens, the metabolically independent cell surface antigens were found to be universally distributed across ontogenic or species barriers. Such metabolically independent corneal cell surface antigens include Forssman or blood group antigens. The immuno-cytotoxic reaction of corneal cells involving the metabolically independent cell surface antigens was enhanced by complement, whereas a similar immunocytotoxic reaction involving the metabolically dependent antigens was not.


We show that all supersymmetric Type IIA D-branes can be constructed as bound states of a certain number of unstable non-supersymmetric Type IIA D9-branes. This string-theoretical construction demonstrates that D-brane charges in Type IIA theory on spacetime manifold X are classified by the higher K-theory group K 1 (X), as suggested recently by Witten. In particular, the system of N D0-branes can be obtained, for any N, in terms of sixteen Type IIA D9-branes. This suggests that the dynamics of Matrix theory is contained in the physics of magnetic vortices on the worldvolume of sixteen unstable D9-branes, described at low energies by a U(16) gauge theory. e-print archive: http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-th/9812135


This document contains a synthesis of the debate on the significant developments since 1986 and on the future agenda for li'.eracy education, held at a seminar attended by 40 participants from 21 countries. The synthesis summarizes workshops on models of literacy practice, national policies, development of partnerships, evaluation, and research, citing achievements and limitations in each area. An agenda for the future is proposed. The following seminar papers are included: "Literacy in the USA: The Present Issues" (Hanna Arlene Fingeret); "Functional Illiteracy in Latin America" (Isabel Infante R.); and "Sociocultural Dimensions of Literacy: Literacy in an International Context" (Brian Street). An appendix contains country reports from the following: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia/Slovak Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Korea, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as from the European Community and UNESCO. A list of participants' addresses is also included. (KC) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


The use of a milk progesterone assay in determining the extent to which dairy cows are presented for insemination at the wrong time is reported. Milk samples were taken from cows at the time of insemination and were subjected to plasma progesterone assay. In a preliminary study samples were obtained from 96 cows in an experimental herd at insemination. The calving rate of these cows was compared with the milk progesterone level at insemination. Eight cows which had levels of progesterone much above the normal oestrus level 9 more than 0.3 ng per ml) failed to conceive. As the progesterone level at insemination rose, calving rate declined. A further 1177 milk samples taken from cows being inseminated in commercial dairy herds were also examined. Ninety-one animals (7.7%) had levels of milk progesterone in excess of those observed at normal oestrus. A negative correlation was confirmed between non-return rate and milk progesterone level at insemination. These investigations show that the proportion of cows from the national herd which have high progesterone levels when presented for insemination is similar to that found under experimental conditions and suggests that the problem of heat detection may be a relatively constant factor in reduced conception to artificial insemination.


An unusual dinuclear chiral iron complex has been synthesized and effectively utilized in the asymmetric hydrophosphorylation of aldehydes to synthesize optically active α-hydroxy phosphonates with excellent yield and good enantioselectivity.


Online technologies make a powerful contribution to university teaching and learning. The widespread adoption of learning management systems in higher education and the prevalence of subject-based websites reflect this. It is not only distance education students who benefit from the potential of online support for university subjects and the various developments captured under the banner of 'e-learning'. Campus-based students also benefit from ready access to information and opportunities for online communication and interaction. From the advent of the internet, universities have been exploring the ways in which an online presence for subjects can be used to support teaching and learning. In response, various software systems have evolved specifically to support the creation and management of subject websites. The trend has been toward combination of website design tools and software into integrated packages, and these have come to be known as 'learning management systems'. The intent behind the design of such systems has been to provide ease of use for staff, including in most cases the facility to link to other university information systems. The term 'LMS' is now widely used to refer, generally, to any suite of systems that supports subject websites, and as a result subject websites are often referred to as 'LMS sites'. This guide presents a conceptual framework for planning subject websites, based upon educational purpose rather than technology. The booklet provides a practical tool that presents the options and considerations in a question-based approach.


The objective of this study was to attempt to distinguish the various processes of producing SMS spelling forms. The production of these different spelling forms was compared by means of an experimental paradigm: the dual task. This paradigm aimed at identifying the attentional resources necessary for the process of producing SMS spelling. Another way in which to address the degree of automation of these production processes was to compare SMS productions in terms of the level of SMS writing expertise. The results of this study demonstrated that the spelling forms produced in SMS language (eSMS), and therefore their production process, differ according to the degree of SMS writing expertise and the attention that the participants are able to devote to the SMS writing task. The results confirm that SMS writing represents a cognitive cost for novice texters and tends to become automatic as the users acquire expertise.


Influence of sex-hormones on hepato-toxicosis induced by 2 halogenalkanes viz. carbon tetrachloride and trichloroethylene has been studied in rats. Rate of peroxidative decomposition thus measured by determining malonaldehyde has shown the protective effects of testosterone on CCl4 toxicity but an additive effect on injury caused by trichloroethylene, whereas progesterone failed to offer protection against their toxicity. Modification in histopathological lesions thus caused by these hormones have also been studied and discussed.


INTRODUCTION: Fractures of the distal tibia can be challenging to treat because of limited soft tissue, the subcutaneous location and poor vascularity. Fractures of distal tibia remain a controversial subject despite advances in both nonoperative and operative care. The goal in expect care is to realign the fracture, realign limb length and early functional recovery. Fractures of distal tibia remains one of the most challenging for treatment because of high complication rates both from initial injury and also from treatment. All these fractures are severe injuries. They are increased in frequency because of higher incidences of Road Traffic Accidents. Accounts to 1% of all lower extremity fractures, 10% of tibial fractures and bilateral in 0-8% and compartment syndrome in 0-5%.
AIM: To Study and analyze the functional outcome of Distal Tibial fractures Treated by Medial Distal Tibial Locking Compression Plate in our Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Madras Medical College and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital Chennai over a period of May 2011 to November 2012.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study analyses the functional outcome of Medial distal tibial LCP for treatment of distal tibial fracture depending on the type of fracture and to find out their prognosis. The study included patients who were treated in Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital with Medial distal tibial Locking compression plate for distal tibial fractures. The period of study was from may2011 to December 2012 with a total duration of 20 months. In this period patients admitted for distal tibial fractures with or without intra-articular extension were considered for this study. The mean duration from hospital admission to definitive surgery was around 10 days to 14days in cases of closed fractures. Inclusion Criteria
• Patients willing to participate in this study. • Skeletally mature patients. • Ruedi and Allgower type – I, II, III fractures. • Only closed fractures. • Minimum follow up of 6 months. Exclusion Criteria - • Age less than 16 years and above 60. • Compound fractures. • Associated calcaneum fractures and talus fractures. • Severely mangled extremity. • Associated spinal and abdominal injuries. The total number of patients in this study was 30.
RESULTS: Distal tibial fractures though amenable to open reduction and internal fixation carries a high risk of complication and a potential for redo surgery. The outcome of an injury is best judged by how much it affects the patients, deformity, impairment or loss of function. Ovoida and Beals considered "an excellent result to be pain free patient who has returned to all activities without limp". A number of factors affect the outcome of distal tibial fractures. The single most important factor is the severity of the initial injury, which is indicated primarily by the amount of damage to the plafond and the impaction, comminution and the displacement of the fragments and the extent to which soft tissue damage have occured. Another is the extent to which reduction was achieved and also the postoperative complications.
CONCLUSION: A short series of result of our study were analyzed and the overall results have encouraged us in preferring the surgical management of distal tibial fractures over conservative methods. Distal tibial fractures are to be internally fixed either within 24 hrs of the injury before the edema sets in or a delay of 8 to 12 days for the edema to settle down and the wrinkle sign appears. Respect the soft tissues: do not operate too early or through compromised skin, instead wait till the soft tissues is amenable for surgery. Restoration of the articular surface and reestablishing its relationship to the tibial shaft is the primary goal of treatment. Good functional result depends on reasonable anatomic reduction of the articular surface either by direct or indirect methods.


Summary: The proceedings include summary papers containing both previously published and unpublished work on a wide range of issues concerning the invasion of Caulerpa and issues concerning similar invasive species and their habitats. The Editors have attempted to put together all the information presented in a way that accurately reflects how this information was presented at the conference. They hope that this information will help guide future eradication efforts in both the U.S


The Feminist Judgments Project involved the writing of alternative feminist judgments in significant legal cases. This article describes how the project was used to introduce students in a legal philosophy module to the ideas sitting behind the project, i.e. that there could be a distinctively feminist approach to judgment writing and that such an approach could be legitimate. One of the aims of the module is to explore critical accounts of the law. Briefly outlining the content of the module, we then focus on two particular facets of this content: the role of judgments in the module, and the issue of where feminist judging sits within this. We then go on to consider a particular activity we have developed for use in the class, which involves students seeking to identify the gender of the judges involved, and the distinctions (if any) between judgments. Finally we reflect on how the students have used this activity within their own summatively assessed work for the module. As we proceed, we refer to our experience of bringing the Feminist Judgments Project into our work, and the extent to which we think it has been successful.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the reaction to earnings announcements in a small stock market. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses the traditional event study method to examine the information content of annual earnings announcements in the small Danish stock market from 1999-2004. Findings - The paper finds abnormal volatility in the days surrounding the announcements, indicating that they contain relevant information for the stock market. The abnormal volatility persists several days after the announcement, suggesting that the information environment of this small stock market works to decrease the speed of adjustment. In addition to this sign of inefficiency, the paper finds significant positive abnormal returns accompanying the announcements. These results are robust across various methodologies. Surprisingly, the paper finds a positive correlation between the information content and predisclosure information. This contradicts previous studies, and it is interpreted as evidence of a low level of pre-announcement information. Confirming the results of similar studies, the paper finds that unexpected earnings are best proxied using a model based on consensus analyst forecasts. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the existing literature by analyzing the information content of earnings announcements in a small stock market with accounting standards that are congruent with the International Accounting Standards.


This paper proposes a new system called the collision-captured multicarrier modulation system which can realize the capture of a packet collision. Based on the OFDM system using partial symbol transmission, the transmitter can select a specific duration to achieve promising PAPR characteristics and realize the capture of a packet collision. The simulated results show that over 90% collision occurrences and the correct position of the collided part can be captured even in severe near- far situations. The proposed system can also achieve a PAPR reduction with an acceptable BER performance degradation.


In this work, we report on the flow effects induced by a nanosecond pulsed helium cold atmospheric pressure plasma jet impinging on a glass substrate. Gas temperature measurements have been performed using optical emission spectroscopy including rotational spectra of OH(A-X) (0,0) and N2(C-B) (0,0) and resonance broadening of a helium emission line at 667.8 nm. The measured increase in gas temperature was less than 15 K. We have measured the air concentration distribution in the jet effluent by means of Rayleigh scattering exploiting the large difference in Rayleigh cross-section of air and helium. The obtained results show that the plasma causes a broadening of the helium channel suggesting an enhanced gas velocity and mixing with the ambient air. The impact of the plasma on the jet effluent is polarity dependent and is larger in the case of positive applied voltage pulses. Using an estimation of the increased gas velocity required to obtain the observed air concentrations, we have shown that both gas heating and electrohydrodynamic (EHD) forces related to the propagation of an ionization front are not causing the observed phenomena. The surface charge which can exist for a much longer time than the duration of the applied voltage pulse is the primary cause of the EHD forces on the bulk charges which lead to significant different air concentration profiles in the jet effluent for plasma on and off.


The preparation for English language teaching materials in Thai secondary schools rely primarily on the use of western-published textbooks. Reasons are given by teachers that the books have assured the accuracy of the language (Ulla, 2019), and they provide proper models of language use (Tomlinson, 2008; Ulla, 2019). By using these textbooks, one of the ultimate goals for every school is to prepare students for the Ordinary National Educational Test (O-NET) in the final year of their secondary education (Grade 12). It is therefore interesting to examine whether or not the textbook series equip students with the knowledge and skills of language which align with the secondary school final year assessment. The preliminary investigation of this study (Sritrakarn, 2021) found that the English O-NET test items designed during the years 2016-2019 were partially aligned with the learning domains of the basic education core curriculum. This present study examined further the alignments of the O-NET tests and the school's equipped knowledge through textbook series. Taking the lens of Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) genre-based approach, the texts and discourses used in the textbook series of one school were compared with those found in the O-NET test items. This paper discusses the findings and the implications of how to prepare the sources of input knowledge for the national assessment.


This paper studies the nonparametric regressive function with missing response data. Three local linear -estimators with the robustness of local linear regression smoothers are presented such that they have the same asymptotic normality and consistency. Then finite-sample performance is examined via simulation studies. Simulations demonstrate that the complete-case data -estimator is not superior to the other two local linear -estimators.


The demand for vegetable powder has been escalating considerably due to its various health benefits and higher shelf life compared to fresh green leafy vegetables. Thus, much research emphasised manufacturing vegetable powder at a lower operational cost and higher efficiency while preserving the nutritive values of the vegetables. In this study, zinc- (Zn-) amaranth puree was liquefied with three types of cell wall degrading enzymes (i.e., Viscozyme L, Pectinex Ultra SP-L, and Rapidase PAC) with varying concentrations (0–3% v/w) and incubation time (0.5–24 h) at pH 5 and 45°C before the drying process. The results showed that enzymatic liquefaction using 1% (v/w) of Viscozyme L for 3 h was the optimal procedure for the reduction of the viscosity of the puree. The liquefied puree was then microencapsulated through either spray- or freeze-drying with different wall materials, e.g., 10% of maltodextrin (MD) DE 10, resistant maltodextrin (RMD), N-octenyl succinate anhydride (OSA) starches from waxy maize, HI CAP 100 (HICAP), Capsul (CAP), and gum Arabic (GA). The results showed that all freeze-dried powders generally had higher process yield (except for that encapsulated by HICAP), higher moisture content (but similar water activities), higher retention of total Zn-chlorophyll derivatives, lower hygroscopicity with slab-like particles, larger particle size, and lower bulk density than those of spray-dried powders. In contrast, the spray-dried powders exhibited irregular spherical shapes with relatively high encapsulation efficiency and antioxidant activities. Nonetheless, encapsulation using different wall materials and drying methods had no significant effect on the powder's cohesiveness and flowability.


In the era of information on cloud, the information security plays a critical role. There are so many security schemes available. All the available security schemes developed by many folds encoding of original data. Because of these complex many fold security steps, all these algorithms taking long time to compute the cipher text. Blow fish algorithm is a popular encryption scheme. This algorithm involves many complex stages. To compute these complex stages, software program may take long time. There by many other factors like power consumption and throughput also effects. To avoid these difficulties, a high-speed crypto algorithm based on Blowfish security scheme is developed. Hardware implementation of the proposed algorithm may be useful in high-speed communication systems. Entire system is described using Verilog HDL and is implemented using Spartan 3E FPGA.


Introduction According to a recent report by the British Lung Foundation, 1 in 3 people with a COPD exacerbation in the UK are readmitted within 28 days of discharge. Aim To reduce readmissions of COPD patients within 30 day subsequent to hospital discharge. Method From June 2011, we introduced a telephonic follow up service (once a week phone call by outreach nurses for 30 days), thereby offering extended monitoring and advice beyond standard home visits, for patients sent home with early facilitated discharge. Further home visits were arranged and treatment advice was provided when appropriate. Patients were encouraged to contact the outreach team themselves if needed. Results Over the course of subsequent 6 months, 136 patients were sent home with early facilitated discharge. A total of 353 phone calls were made. 11% (n=15) of patients received further nursing intervention to prevent readmission, of these 66% (n=10) of patients required antibiotics and/or steroids, prescribed by the outreach nurses. Interventions in this group led to 28 additional home visits and 8 telephone consultations. 11% of patients (n=16) were readmitted within 30 days of hospital discharge but only 5% (n=7) of readmissions were due to a respiratory cause. Of the 16 readmissions, 70% (n=11) were admitted out of service hours, with just over 10 % (n=2) being within working hours of the outreach team. Conclusion The telephonic follow up service prevented 15 patients from readmitting with an exacerbation of their COPD. It may be that offering this simple intervention will lead to an improvement in readmission rates for COPD in South Tees. To assess this, we plan to review readmission rates of patients prior to June 2011 and compare them with our current figures.


PURPOSE
This randomized, multicenter, phase III study compared doxorubicin and docetaxel (AT) with doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (AC) as first-line chemotherapy (CT) in metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients (n = 429) were randomly assigned to receive doxorubicin 50 mg/m(2) plus docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) (n = 214) or doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2) plus cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m(2) (n = 215) on day 1, every 3 weeks for up to eight cycles.

RESULTS
Time to progression (TTP; primary end point) and time to treatment failure (TTF) were significantly longer with AT than AC (median TTP, 37.3 v 31.9 weeks; log-rank P =.014; median TTF, 25.6 v 23.7 weeks; log-rank P =.048). The overall response rate (ORR) was significantly greater for patients taking AT (59%, with 10% complete response [CR], 49% partial response [PR]) than for those taking AC (47%, with 7% CR, 39% PR) (P =.009). The ORR was also higher with AT in patients with visceral involvement (58% v 41%; liver, 62% v 42%; lung, 58% v 35%), three or more organs involved (59% v 40%), or prior adjuvant CT (53% v 41%). Overall survival (OS) was comparable in both arms. Grade 3/4 neutropenia was frequent in both groups, although febrile neutropenia and infections were more frequent for patients taking AT (respectively, 33% v 10%, P <.001; 8% v 2%, P =.01). Severe nonhematologic toxicity was infrequent in both groups, including grade 3/4 cardiac events (AT, 3%; AC, 4%).

CONCLUSION
AT significantly improves TTP and ORR compared with AC in patients with MBC, but there is no difference in OS. AT represents a valid option for the treatment of MBC.


In this technical report, we explore the use of homomorphic encryption (HE) in the context of training and predicting with deep learning (DL) models to deliver strict \textit{Privacy by Design} services, and to enforce a zero-trust model of data governance. First, we show how HE can be used to make predictions over medical images while preventing unauthorized secondary use of data, and detail our results on a disease classification task with OCT images. Then, we demonstrate that HE can be used to secure the training of DL models through federated learning, and report some experiments using 3D chest CT-Scans for a nodule detection task.


OBJECTIVE
COVID-19 is associated with an increased incidence of pulmonary embolism (PE). Elevated D-dimer levels are linked to an increased risk of PE and poor clinical outcome. We reported a case of PE in a COVID-19 patient with normal D-dimer levels and conducted a review of the literature on the subject.

CASE REPORT
A 38-year-old man with no prior comorbidities returned to the COVID-19 outpatient clinic 36 hours after being discharged from the hospital, where he had been treated for COVID-19 pneumonia. He reported a sudden feeling of dyspnea and chest pain. The physical examination was unremarkable. No new changes were detected on the chest X-ray. D-dimer and cardiac-specific markers values were within the referent range. The patient underwent an urgent computerized tomography pulmonary angiography which revealed signs of bilateral arterial thrombosis. He was treated with a therapeutic dose of low molecular weight heparin and discharged after 15 days, with a recommendation to use a direct oral anticoagulant.

CONCLUSIONS
Healthcare professionals should be aware that PE can occur as a late complication of COVID-19. Clinical suspicion of PE should lead physicians to use additional diagnostic methods to confirm or rule out PE, even if D-dimer levels are within the referent range.


The Arabic Diatessaron has often been neglected in research on the New Testament, and understandably so. It is, indeed, a late and remote witness, written in a language that does not belong to the usual outfit of most theologians. Moreover, its text sometimes presents readings that are not easy to explain. One of these readings occurs in the Transfiguration Narrative and has found its way into the apparatus of the large Oxford edition of Luke's Gospel. This short study is an attempt to evaluate this variant reading and to clarify its origin.


Hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients have relatively good prognosis after tamoxifen treatment but still about 40% of patients experience treatment failure (1). Recently microRNAs (miRNAs) have been spotlighted as a new biomarker for predicting prognosis and treatment response. The purpose of this study is to identify microRNAs (miRNAs) that related with distant recurrence after tamoxifen and standard treatment and then build an early recurrence prediction model. Methods: Our study measured the expression of 5 miRNAs (miR-134, miR-125b-5P, miRNA-30a, miR-10a-5p, and miR-222) that are selected as a tamoxifen resistant related miRNA by previous micro-array experiment and paper review. 176 FFPE tumor tissues of 176 patients who have hormone receptor positive breast cancer with tamoxifen were measured miRNA expression by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Results: We identified all 5 miRNAs are up-regulated in distant recurrence cases within 5 years after surgery. Other clinico-pathological parameters that are tumor grade, pathologic stage, HER2 statue and P53 status didn9t have any specific correlation with expression of miRNAs. The results suggest that distant recurrence during tamoxifen treatment might be affected by tamoxifen resistant related miRNAs. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses based on expression cut-offs determined by receiver characteristics curves show high expression of miR-134, miR-125b-5P, miRNA-30a, miR-10a-5p, and miR-222 were associated with short relapse-free time(log-rank P = 0.006, P Citation Format: Aeree Kim, Chungyeul Kim. Recurrence prediction model using microRNA expression in hormone receptor positive and tamoxifen treated breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3980. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3980


We study the international transmission of the monetary policy of the two world's giants: China and the US. From East to West, the channels of global transmission differ markedly. US monetary policy shocks affect the global economy primarily through their effects on integrated financial markets, global asset prices, and capital ows. EMEs in particular see both a reduction in in ows and a surge in out ows when the market tide turns as a result of a US monetary contraction. Conversely, international trade, commodity prices and global value chains are the main channels through which Chinese monetary policy transmits worldwide. AEs with a strong manufacturing sector are particularly sensitive to these disturbances.


Guaiacol represents a large fraction of lignin derived pyrolysis bio-oils. It was shown in our prior work that Pt has higher activity and stability for guaiacol hydrodeoxygenation as compared to other noble metal catalysts. In the present study, further theoretical and experimental investigations were conducted to reveal the reaction pathways and kinetics. For Pt/C catalyst in a fixed-bed reactor, the main liquid phase reaction products were phenol, catechol and cyclopentanone. Because cyclopentanone was typically not observed in the prior literature, a pathway for its formation was proposed and supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. By varying the space velocity, kinetic data was acquired in the temperature range 275 to 325 °C. The rate constants and activation energies for each subreaction in the network were obtained based on the power-law model.


The aim of this study was to investigate perspectives for securing driver's trust in automated driving. We considered driving scenes of passing other traffic objects (a bicycle or a scooter) and the relationship between the drivers' trust and the variety of speeding, taking lateral distance and steering timing by automated driving. A driving simulator study was implemented to investigate effects of applying characteristics of manual driving for each driver into design on drivers' trust when passing the objects. The results showed that driver's trust was affected by driver subjective speed, lateral distance and steering timing for automated driving. A longer lateral distance and an earlier steering timing for automated driving compared to manual driving contributed to subjectively appropriate speed and steering timing. Moreover the automated passing speed was regarded as an appropriate one if automated vehicles take the same or slightly slower speed compared to manual driving.


State of stress and deformation of buried oil-gas pipelines under, operation must meet appointed requirements on strength, deformability, general stability, etc. Fulfilment of those requirements while designing main and field pipelines in conditions of marshes and marshy soils is very problematical. The cause lies both in weak knowledge of peat reaction to longitidual and lateral displacements of the pipe and in impossibility on account of that to analize the pipe state of stress and deformation taking into consideration the joint pipe-soil deformation.Wide research into pipe-peat interaction has been carried out at the Institute of Construction (Republic of Komi, Russia). In the paper there are enumerated main principles on design, analysis and engineering of buried ballasted pipelines on marshes, which have been worked at the Institute. The practical value of the work results for improvement of pipelines reliability under operation is emphasized in the paper, too.Copyright © 1996 by ASME


ABSTRACT
 This study investigates the relationships between the observed quality of classroom teaching assessing Atmosphere, Instruction, Management and Student Engagement, (AIMS, Roehrig, A. D., and E. Christesen. 2010. 'Development and Use of a Tool for Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness in Grades K-12.' In Innovative Assessment for the 21st Century, edited by V. J. Shute, and B. J. Becker, 207–228. New York, NY: Springer), and growth in reading and listening comprehension across grade 4 in typical English-French dual language learners. For the majority, (67%), English was a first language (L1), for 16% French was an L1. N = 332 children in 36 classrooms were assessed on reading and listening comprehension measures and observed in the fall and winter semesters in English and French. Results showed that, overall, ratings of AIMS sub-scales did not differ markedly across English and French classrooms. Classroom teaching quality ratings were not, however, correlated across English and French classes. AIMS ratings in either language for Atmosphere were reliable and relatively stable between fall and winter, as was Management in English. AIMS ratings predicted growth in classroom-level variance in reading and listening for English and French both concurrently and longitudinally. These results suggest that there are broad, stable commonalities in effective teaching in English and French classrooms that can be validly and reliably observed. Practically, such observations of (majority) second language teaching quality can facilitate assessment of student needs and mentoring and development needs of teachers.


From the many different cooling schemes for particles stored in electromagnetic traps three schemes which seem to be most generally applicable to a large variety of systems are discussed in detail. Special emphasize is placed on obtaining fast cooling rates in large storage structures which will allow more efficient use of particles injected from accelerators into these devices.


Family Pteropodidae could consume either fruit or flower parts to sustain their energy requirement. In some species of fruit bats, population growth is sometimes dependent on the food availability and in return bats could be pollinators of certain species of plants. In this study, 152 female bats captured from the Manilkara zapota orchard of the University of Southern Mindanao were examined for their reproductive stages. Lactation of fruit bat species Ptenochirus jagori and Ptenochirus minor were positively correlated with the fruiting of M. zapota. While the lactation of Cynopterus brachyotis, Eonycteris spelaea and Rousettus amplexicaudatus were positively associated with the flowering of M. zapota. Together, thirty M. zapota trees were observed for their generative stage (fruiting or flowering) in 6 months. Based on the canonical correspondence analysis, only P. jagori was considered as the natural forager as its lactating stage coincides with the fruiting peaks and only C. brachyotis and E. spelaea were the potential pollinators since its lactating stage coincides with the flowering peaks of M. zapota tree. The method in this study can be used to identify potential pollinators and foragers in other fruit trees.


The main aim of this study is to generate global strain maps within the myocardial wall. Transmural strain calculations are performed using DENSE MRI data, acquired in a long-axis plane for canine subjects over the complete cardiac cycle. Continuum mechanics formulations were applied to all segments of the myocardium and later analyzed from anatomical and physiological perspectives. Characteristic parameters of the myocardial wall – namely global strain distributions – were quantified by means of numerical analyses of DENSE MR data. Our study demonstrated the initiation of myocardial strain as well as heterogeneous contraction patterns across the ventricle wall. There were measurable wall shear strains throughout the cardiac cycle, with the maximum strain within the long-axis plane concentrated in the septal wall at the start of systole and later becoming more pronounced in the lateral wall in the diastolic period. The methods described will lead to a better understanding of the complex myocardial contraction from these space- and time-resolved data on wall motion.


3 ABSTRACT Objectives: To assess how the early stages of National governments Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) containment strategies impacted upon the physical activity, mental health and well-being of adults in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia Design: Observational, cross-sectional Setting: Online survey disseminated in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia within the first 2-6 weeks of government mandated COVID-19 restrictions Participants: Adults (n = 8,425; 44.5 ± 14.8 y), ≥ 18 y who were residing in the surveyed countries Main outcome measures: Stages of Change scale for exercise behaviour change, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short-form), World Health Organisation-5 Well-being Index and the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-9 Results: Participants who reported a negative change in exercise behaviour between pre-and during the early COVID-19 restrictions demonstrated poorer mental health and well-being compared to those who had either a positive change-or no change in their exercise behaviour ( p <0.001). Whilst women reported more positive changes in exercise behaviour, young people (18-29y) reported more negative changes (both p <0.001). Individuals who engaged in more physical activity reported better mental health and well-being ( p <0.001). Although there were no differences in physical activity between countries, individuals in New Zealand reported better mental health and well-being ( p <0.001). Conclusion: The COVID-19 restrictions have differentially impacted upon the physical activity habits of individuals based upon their age and sex, and therefore have important implications for international policy and guideline recommendations. Public health interventions that encourage physical activity should target specific groups (e.g., men, young adults) who are most vulnerable to the negative effects of physical distancing and/or self-isolation.


Introduction
Acute respiratory infections are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in older adults and patients with chronic diseases. Among the responsible etiological agents are human respiratory viruses, such as: respiratory syncytial virus, parainfluenza virus and metapneumovirus.

Objective
To carry out a differential diagnostic study of respiratory viruses circulating and co-circulating in an adult population.

Methods
A pilot study was conducted in patients older than 18 years, who presented signs and symptoms suggestive of acute respiratory infection and whose clinical picture did not exceed 15 days of evolution; end-point polymerase chain reaction assays were performed with the use of specific oligonucleotides for molecular diagnosis.

Results
72 specimens of patients with an age of 51.33 ± 19.33 years, with a predominance of females (4.5:1); original inhabitants of Mexico City; only 22 were positive for respiratory viruses, being mostly metapneumovirus infections.

Conclusions
The knowledge of the circulating viral strains in the population will allow to determine changes that can declare an epidemiological alert leading to the best decision making for the benefit of the patients.


We propose a new soft clustering scheme for classifying galaxies in different activity classes using simultaneously 4 emission-line ratios; log([NII ]/Ha), log([SII]/Ha), log([OI]/Ha) and log([OIII]/Hb). We fit 20 multivariate Gaussian distributions to the 4-dimensional distribution of these lines obtained from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) in order to capture local structures and subsequently group the multivariate Gaussian distributions to represent the complex multi-dimensional structure of the joint distribution of galaxy spectra in the 4 dimensional line ratio space. The main advantages of this method are the use of all four optical-line ratios simultaneously and the adoption of a clustering scheme. This maximises the available information, avoids contradicting classifications, and treats each class as a distribution resulting in soft classification boundaries and providing the probability for an object to belong to each class. We also introduce linear multi-dimensional decision surfaces using support vector machines based on the classification of our soft clustering scheme. This linear multi-dimensional hard clustering technique shows high classification accuracy with respect to our soft-clustering scheme.


Approximately 20-30% of all breast cancers overexpress the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her2). Breast cancers that overexpress Her2 have been associated with a more aggressive phenotype and decreased disease free survival. It has been demonstrated that uniparous Her2/neu transgenic mice developed smaller mammary tumors and these tumors had significantly decreased metastatic potential despite that this cancer type is phenotypically ER negative. We had earlier demonstrated that short-term treatment with pregnancy levels of estradiol was very effective in delaying tumor progression and decreasing tumor burden in activated Her2/neu transgenic mice. In this present investigation, we have attempted to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this anti-tumor effect of short-term pregnancy levels of estradiol treatment against Her2/neu driven mammary carcinogenesis. Seven week old activated Her2/neu transgenic mice were treated for 3 weeks with 100micrograms of estradiol in silastic capsules. We have shown that this dose of estradiol treatment mimics pregnancy levels of the hormone in circulation. Control animals received empty silastic capsules for the same duration. Mice were palpated once every week for nine months to monitor the development of mammary cancer. Histopathological examination was performed to confirm the carcinomatous nature of the palpable tumors. A group (n=3) of mice were terminated from control and estradiol treated groups at 6 and 12 weeks post withdrawal of the treatment. Mammary tumors were excised, snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 C. Protein and total RNA were extracted from these tissues. Pathway focused microarray analysis was done on the PI3K/AKT and P53 pathway. Results from the PI3K/AKT pathway demonstrate that, in estrogen treated mice, proteins and genes involved in tumor-suppression (Mtcp1,Rbl2,Srf and Ywhah) and immune response (Cd14,Tlr4) (which have been shown to play a role in reducing tumors by induction of apoptosis) were up-regulated. Many genes involved in promoting tumorigenesis were significantly down-regulated (Birc5,Ccnb2,Mdm2) while genes involved in cell cycle regulation and apoptosis were upregulated (Dapk1, Cul9, Sesn2).This trend in gene expression demonstrates that short-term pregnancy levels estrogen is altering key pathways leading to the delay and inhibition of Her-2 positive mammary cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5567. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-5567


ABSTRACT Few oil and gas reservoirs have been interpreted as sands deposited within eolian depositional systems. Eolian facies may, however, be more common in ancient basins than heretofore recognized. Continued documentation of Holocene eolian systems, such as the South Texas system, provides a model for reevaluating the genesis of many unfossiliferous, well-sorted blanket sand bodies, many of which are associated with ancient, paralic depositional systems. Pleistocene paralic depositional systems along the South Texas coast dictate the nature and distribution of facies patterns, environments and processes exhibited by the overlying Holocene South Texas eolian system. A dominant southeast wind, high summer temperatures, and high rainfall deficiency combine with an abundant supply of Pleistocene sand to provide the proper framework within which extensive eolian deflation and dune migration can occur. Eolian lobes are supplied with sand from Pleistocene barrier-strandplain facies and fluvial meanderbelt deposits. Loess sheets are derived from distant lobes, as well as from deflation of local Pleistocene deltaic and fluvial facies. Deflation of thick Pleistocene fluvial-deltaic sand facies is commonly stabilized when erosion reaches the shallow groundwater table. Maximum deflation occurs on the upwind, coastward margin of the system, especially where only thin Pleistocene paralic sands are available to supply dune trains; mud deflated by strong offshore winds is moved into clay dune complexes and eventually carried downwind to develop loess sheets. This extensive upwind deflation of the system is accompanied by windward accreting claysand ridges with nuclei composed of either beach-ridge remnants of a Pleistocene barrier-strandplain system or remnants of inter-blowout areas developed during early phases of the deflation of the coastward margin of the system. Principal source of sand and loess is, therefore, local, representing reworking of underlying, older sands. A sand source resulting from longshore convergence and inland transport from Padre Island accounts for only the minor, local in-filling of Laguna Madre in the land-cut area, and is not the principal source of eolian sand throughout the system. Facies fabric within Pleistocene depositional systems provides principal control of environments, sedimentary processes, and resulting facies within the subsequent eolian system. End_of_Record - Last_Page 58--------


Background: The effects of jaw movement pattern on masticatory activity during chewing remains unclear in chronic temporomandibular joint disorders individuals. Objective: to assess the effect of habitual and non-habitual mastication patterns based upon the activation of the masseter and temporalis muscles in individuals with or without temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD). Methods: Fifty-four participants (age: 18–44 years) were divided into two groups: the TMJD (n=27) and control (n=27) groups. TMJD was identified using the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders (DC/TMD). Electromyographic activity of the masticatory muscles was measured during 2 tasks: habitual mastication with parafilm (HM) and non-habitual mastication with parafilm (NHM). MATLAB software was used to process electromyography (EMG) signals. The root mean square, symmetry index (SI%), anteroposterior coefficient (APC%) and torque coefficient (TC%) were determined from the processed EMG signal. Results: Reduced right masseter activation was observed for the TMJD group (p<0.05) during jaw agonist phase. During the jaw agonist phase, all muscles presented with more activation during NHM. Symmetry of temporalis (ST%) and APC% were the lowest for HM. TC% was increased for HM. Conclusion: Habitual and non-habitual mastication differ in masticatory activity during jaw agonist and antagonist phase and TMJD individuals presented a different way to recruit muscles under these circumstances. Non-habitual mastication has a more coordinating and stable motor pattern in masticatory activity and has less variability than habitual mastication to assess masticatory activity.


The author describes anti-homosexual attitudes in the entertainment industry. Effeminate male actors generally have a hard time being cast, whether for gay or straight roles. Attitudes in the performing arts mirror those in society as a whole. Case reports are interspersed in the discussion to illustrate the points.


Background: Microbial exposures have been suggested to confer protection from allergic disorders, and reduced exposures to gastrointestinal microbes have been proposed as an explanation for the increase in asthma severity and prevalence. Since the general prevalence of Helicobacter pylori has been decreasing, we hypothesized that H. pylori serostatus may be inversely related to the severity of asthma.
Objective: The aim of this study is to find whether infection with H. pylori reduces the probability of development of severe asthma in patients with persistent asthma.
Methodology: In this study fifty patients with persistent asthma includes 19 males and 31 females their ages range between (17 – 66) years For all those patients, full history and complete physical examination have been done, then after, the patients subjected to pulmonary function test. After that, two milliliters sample of venous blood have been drawn, then, the sample centrifuged and sent to assess for H. pylori infection serology. Data was analyzed by using SPSS.
Results: There is significant association between severity of asthma and result of H. pylori so with increase severity of asthma there is decrease in percentage of positive H. pylori serology. And there is no statistical significant are noted between patients sex or age and results of H. pylori infection test.
Conclusion: There is significant inverse association between severity of asthma and result of H. pylori infection serology. This association not affected by ages and sex of patients.
Recommendations: Since the exact mechanism by which H. pylori affect asthma is not clear, there is need for further studies to explore it.


Construction of building and infrastructure development is a part of great civilizations throughout the different time of development. The great examples of buildings such as great pyramid, Great Wall of China and many more ancient structures of historical importance, all are examples of marvellous Architecture. The basic part of completion of these buildings are design, execution and closure. Design is the foremost and important whereas the execution is the most important in order to complete the project in timely manner and with quality. There is certainly some excellent quality and construction management methodology was adopted during those time and someone is present there to manage the resources and time scheduling. In present time there are various mathematical tools and techniques are being used such as Bar chart, CPM, PERT etc. in construction project management to handle the construction projects. Various standalone and web-based packages are also in practice to handle the multi-tasking and complex construction environment. This paper aims to explore the start of management tools and techniques in historical era to present day time, when we are handling very complex construction practices.


The human gut microbiota respond to particular food components, interact with intestinal mucosa and thereby contribute to health and diseases. Key microbiome features are under comprehensive investigation and are likely to be developed as reliable evidences for clinical diagnosis. And the underlying mechanisms lay the foundation of assembling bespoke nutritional ingredients including functional food additives that may lead to favorable outcomes in facilitating amelioration of host dysfunctions. Functional hydrocolloids serve as multiple food additives with promising application prospects and outstanding adjunctive beneficial characteristics. Therefore, in this review, we introduce the latest advances in food additives-gut microbiota-host axis by summarizing the physiochemical and physiological properties of a collection of functional hydrocolloids from various sources, describing the functional hydrocolloids-related intestinal commensal markers, and deciphering the underlying mechanisms of their beneficial effects, and propose the feasibilities and guidelines for further developments of gut microbiota-oriented personalized nutrition.


PURPOSE
A recent study revealed that polyethylene (PE) would cause extra carbon-ion attenuation per range shift by 0.45%/cm due to compositional differences in nuclear interactions. The present study aims to assess the influence of PE range compensators on tumor dose in carbon-ion radiotherapy.

METHODS
Carbon-ion radiation was modeled to be composed of primary carbon ions and secondary particles, for each of which the dose and the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) were estimated at a tumor depth in the middle of spread-out Bragg peak. Assuming exponential behavior for attenuation and yield of these components with depth, the PE effect on dose was calculated for clinical carbon-ion beams and was partly tested by experiment. The two-component model was integrated into a treatment-planning system and the PE effect was estimated in two clinical cases.

RESULTS
The attenuation per range shift by PE was 0.1%-0.3%/cm in dose and 0.2%-0.4%/cm in RBE-weighted dose, depending on energy and range-modulation width. This translates into reduction of RBE-weighted dose by up to 3% in extreme cases. In the treatment-planning study, however, the effect on RBE-weighted dose to tumor was typically within 1% reduction.

CONCLUSIONS
The extra attenuation of primary carbon ions in PE was partly compensated by increased secondary particles for tumor dose. In practical situations, the PE range compensators would normally cause only marginal errors as compared to intrinsic uncertainties in treatment planning, patient setup, beam delivery, and clinical response.


Purpose- This study aims to assess the quality of services provided in women's toilets around Al-Masjid Al-Haram, by identifying the services provided in women's toilets around Al-Masjid Al-Haram, and identifying the most important health requirements available, and then measuring the level of quality of services provided there. Design / Methodology / Approach- To achieve the objectives of this study, the descriptive analytical approach was applied, due to its relevance to the nature of the study problem and its ability to achieve its objectives, in addition to applying a set of appropriate statistical methods. The study tool (the questionnaire) according to the model, and some of its phrases were reformulated in a way that suits the population and sample of the study. In addition to the researcher's use of the observation form to reflect the actual reality of the toilets and evaluate the quality of the service provided from the researcher's point of view, where (4) toilets were randomly selected from different women's toilets on the western and southern sides of the courtyards of Al-Masjid Al-Haram. Findings- The study reached many results, the most important of which are: that the women's toilets distributed around Al-Masjid Al-Haram (which are available in them) apply the five dimensions of service quality, which are reliability, tangibility, empathy, safety, and response. from the point of view of visitors and users of women's courses around Al-Masjid Al-Haram, taking into account Consider that this availability (application) varies among the five dimensions. The evaluation of visitors and users of the same dimensions was similar with respect to all dimensions. The study did not show any differences in the evaluation of visitors and users of quality dimensions due to any of the demographic variables. The researcher recommends many issues related to quality dimensions indicators, the most important of which are: the commitment of those in charge of serving the pilgrims to provide and provide health requirements for toilets distributed around Al-Masjid Al-Haram, and the development of smart toilets that comply with international quality standards for toilets, such as those established at international airports. The presence of a digital system linked to the quality of the sanitary ware used, the development of sanitary ware, and the allocation of places to store visitors' luggage.


The United States has about 30 million people, out of a total population of 178 million, with varying degrees of chronic disease or impairment Mere prolongation of life is an empty achievement unless the sick and the handicapped are helped to regain the maximum level of self-help to attain a useful, dignified life. About 20 million Americans enter hospitals each year. About 16% of persons with chronic disease are under 35 years of age. Unless adequate maintenance rehabilitation is continued, the danger that a partially disabled person will deteriorate eventually to a state of total dependency is real. The problem of rehabilitating the longterm patient is therefore one of tremendous magnitude. To keep pace with an increasing population, the number of personnel as well as the number of approved facilities must be increased to provide care and rehabilitation. Adequate medical direction is essential.


Objectives: Decreases in the levels of plasmalogens, have been consistently demonstrated in rhizomelic chondrodysplasia type 1 (RCDP1), a genetic disorder of peroxisomal function. However, an in-depth lipidomics analysis has not been undertaken. We undertook such an analysis. Study Design: We performed a high-resolution mass spectrometric shotgun lipidomics analyses of plasma and lymphoblasts from RCDP1 patients. Results: We report for the first time, decrements in phosphatidylglycerol levels in plasma and lymphoblasts from RCDP1 patients. Phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylserine levels also were unaltered in plasma and lymphoblasts. These data suggested that decrements in phosphatidylglycerol were due to increased catabolism, possibly in failed cellular attempts to restore deficient plasmalogen levels. This conclusion was further supported by supplementation of RCDP1 lymphoblasts with ether lipid plasmalogen precursors that bypass dysfunctional peroxisomes. These precursors augmented cellular levels of plasmalogens in control and RCDP1 lymphoblasts but only augmented phosphatidylglycerols in RCDP1 lymphoblasts. Conclusions: Overall, our results indicate that the peroxisomal disorder, RCDP1, which is characterized by plasmalogen deficits, also possess decrements in phosphatidylglycerol levels, thereby also compromising mitochondrial function and pulmonary surfactant synthesis. Given the role pf phosphatidylglycerols in surfactant, these new data potentially explain the severe respiratory compromise in RCDP children and may add a new parameter of mitochondrial dysfunction in these patients.


looks at the crises in career; shows the vital importance of colleague groups to work at increasing competence; and underscores the need to involve laity from one's church or institution in the issues of one's professional life. These chapters with their case material ring true and show the effectsof his two year's work with the Young Pastor's Pilot project in which he and several researchers attempted to meet the crisis of entry of young ministers at several areas across the United States. Rouch's best chapters are the two in which he discusses how one plans a continuing education and where one may find resources for such a program. Planning, he feels, involves an evaluation of one's effectivenessor competence in the place in which one is working; the assessment of one's professional and personal needs; the setting of long-range and short-range CE goals; and finally establishing one's plan, through study leave, or degree program or onthe-site study program. Resources, he says, are available for study with the colleague groups at home through short-term study away from home, or for long-term study through university, seminary or continuing education center. The location ofthese centers and the invaluable work of the Society for Continuing Education for Ministry are drawn upon. The field of continuing education has reached its adolescence at least, so that some standards have been set. In groups like the Academy of Parish Clergy, for example, goals are being established so that ministers may evaluate competence in their profession. My impression is that the church has been asleep to the needs of their leaders for educational experiences throughout their career. This book gives some hope that today's ministers may stay alive and help the church to renew itself in the last quarter of this century. CHARLES w. STEWART


Inspired by the diverse drug compounds with various heteroatoms (such as N, S, and P) in the drug library, facile synthesis of a new kind of bright and color-tunable N-doped carbon dots (NCDs) has been reported by using a popular antibiotic-aminosalicylic acid-as precursor. The N doping of CDs not only enable great improvement of photoluminescence (PL) efficiency and tunability of PL emission, but also enrich surface functional groups to broaden its application. The as-prepared NCDs possess tunable PL and show a quantum yield of 16.4%, which is the result of PL improvement effect of introduced nitrogen atoms among CDs. The cellular toxicity on H1299 cancer cells indicates that the NCDs have negligible cytotoxicity, excellent biocompatibility, and great resistance to photobleaching. Moreover, the drug-derived NCDs showed excellent sensitivity in detection of Fe3+ in living cells, which indicates the potential application in diagnosis and related biological study.


Redox proteomics is a field of proteomics which is concerned with the characterization of the oxidation state of proteins in order to gain information about their modulated structure, function, activity and involvement in different physiological pathways. Oxidative modifications of proteins have been shown to be implicated in normal physiological processes of cells, as well as in pathomechanisms leading to the development of cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and some rare hereditary metabolic diseases, like classic galactosemia. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generate a variety of reversible and irreversible modifications of amino acid residue side chains, and within the protein backbone. These oxidative post-translational modifications (Ox-PTMs) can participate in the activation of signal transduction pathways, and mediate the toxicity of harmful oxidants. Thus, the application of advanced redox proteomics technologies is important for gaining insights into molecular mechanisms of diseases. Mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics is one of the most powerful methods that can be used to give detailed qualitative and quantitative information on protein modifications and allows to characterize redox proteomes associated with diseases. The current review illustrates the role and biological consequences of Ox- PTMs under basal and oxidative stress (OS) conditions by focussing on protein carbonylation and S-glutathionylation, two abundant modifications with impact on cellular pathways that were intensively studied during the last decade.


For determination of ploidy levels in bivalves. three techniques are now routinely used: karyological determination. microfluorimetry and flow cytometry. This llaper proposes an alternative technique which is based on determination of the optical dcnsity (00) of stained nuclei using image analysis. A karyological and image analysis comparative exper imcnt conducted on juveniles of Crassostrea gigas (Thunberg) and Ruditapes philippinarum (Adam & Reeve) is deseribed and highlights the advantages of the image analysis technique. Initially developed on C. gigas and R. philippinarum, the image analysis melhod was casily cxtended to atller bivalve spccies and to different developmental stages, as demonstrated by two experiments conducted on Ostrea edulis (L.). First, percentage of triploids was consisteni from the O-larval to the adult stage of development, despile the use of diffcrent preparation techniques depending on the stage examined. Second, a rise in ploidy percentage demon strated a differential mortality between diploid and triploid animais. Image analysis techniques arc cheaper than f10w cytometry but more cxpensive than microfluorime!ry. However, image analysis equipment can also be used for algac, eggs and spermatozoa counting. and other purposes such as fluorescence measurements, analysis of autoradiographs and electro pharcsis gels, and mcasurement of immuno-histoehemical reaetions.


A new species of  Saurichthys ,  S. majiashanensis  , is described. It comes from a series of marine vertebrate-bearing beds of the upper member of the Nanlinghu Formation outcropping in the large quarry at the top of Majiashan (Majia Hill) near Chaohu (Hefei City, Anhui Province, China). Its age is Middle Spathian (Olenekian, Early Triassic). This new species deeply differs from the several pre-Spathian species of  Saurichthys  mainly for having only two longitudinal scale rows together with a reduced grid-like structure for the neural elements in the vertebral column. Further derived characters are in the endoskeleton of the dorsal and anal fin, where radials articulate only to anterior lepidotrichia, the posterior ones being supported by the first scale from the caudal pedicle mid-dorsal and mid-ventral rows, deeply imbedded in the body. In addition, the haemal spines of the caudal region are much enlarged and reversed, with their distal parts pointing forwards. Though the skull is lacking, postcranial characters are enough to justify the erection of a new species. This new  Saurichthys  species, together with other few actinopterygians, can be considered as the oldest assemblage of the Triassic Middle Fish Fauna, which bloomed probably in the early Anisian and widespread especially all over the Tethys for the Middle Triassic and at least the Carnian in the Late Triassic. This new fish assemblage, together with some of the oldest marine reptiles, is considered as the beginning of the actual Triassic recovery among marine vertebrates.


Abstract. Climate projections from global circulation models (GCMs), part of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6), are often employed to study the impact of future climate on ecosystems. However, especially at regional scales, climate projections display large biases in key forcing variables such as temperature and precipitation. These biases have been identified as a major source of uncertainty in carbon cycle projections, hampering predictive capacity. In this study, we open the proverbial Pandora's box and peer under the lid of strategies to tackle climate model ensemble uncertainty. We employ a dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-GUESS) and force it with raw output from CMIP6 to assess the uncertainty associated with the choice of climate forcing. We then test different methods to either bias-correct or calculate ensemble averages over the original forcing data to reduce the climate-driven uncertainty in the regional projection of the Australian carbon cycle. We find that all bias correction methods reduce the bias of continental averages of steady-state carbon variables. Bias correction can improve model carbon outputs, but carbon pools are insensitive to the type of bias correction method applied for both individual GCMs and the arithmetic ensemble average across all corrected models. None of the bias correction methods consistently improve the change in simulated carbon over time compared to the target dataset, highlighting the need to account for temporal properties in correction or ensemble-averaging methods. Multivariate bias correction methods tend to reduce the uncertainty more than univariate approaches, although the overall magnitude is similar. Even after correcting the bias in the meteorological forcing dataset, the simulated vegetation distribution presents different patterns when different GCMs are used to drive LPJ-GUESS. Additionally, we found that both the weighted ensemble-averaging and random forest approach reduce the bias in total ecosystem carbon to almost zero, clearly outperforming the arithmetic ensemble-averaging method. The random forest approach also produces the results closest to the target dataset for the change in the total carbon pool, seasonal carbon fluxes, emphasizing that machine learning approaches are promising tools for future studies. This highlights that, where possible, an arithmetic ensemble average should be avoided. However, potential target datasets that would facilitate the application of machine learning approaches, i.e., that cover both the spatial and temporal domain required to derive a robust informed ensemble average, are sparse for ecosystem variables.


Coronavirus disease pandemic has led to a shortage of disinfectant alcohol (DA; 76.9-81.4% ethanol solution) in Japan. This study investigated the availability of hypochlorous acid (HA) as an alternative disinfectant to DA in clinical environment. HA is a safe and economical disinfectant with a broad antibacterial spectrum and low risk of hand irritation, which is used worldwide. In this study, HA and sodium hypochlorite solution (SH) were degraded over time and the degradation was accelerated by temperature and lighting. Results of bactericidal effects of HA revealed that the realistic effective concentration should be 200 ppm. Compared with DA, the dental carbon steel burs were more severely rusted by SH and HA. These results indicated that high concentration of HA generated on-site could be an effective and safe disinfectant for use immediately after generation with consideration of object materials in clinical environment, as an alternative to DA.


The conditions that led to low expectations for the Rio+20 conference tell us more about the prospects for addressing collective global problems than a focus only on its substantive outcomes. Three conjectures on why expectations were so low are put forward: a lack of vision and modest ambition at the conference's core; unresolved and unconfronted normative contestation that limited progress on potentially transformative ideas such as the green economy; and practices of multilateralism that have not caught up to structural changes in the global system, exacerbated by the inability or unwillingness of key actors to move from entrenched identities. Some surprising institutional outcomes of Rio are also assessed in light of the three conjectures. This form of analysis turns attention to the politics that the outcomes reflect and opportunities and pitfalls going forward.


A multichannel microwave interferometer has been built for the W7-AS fusion experiment in order to study temporal phenomena in plasma density. For this reason, electron density profile reconstruction methods based on regularization functionals were studied. Simulations showed, that the minimum Fisher-information approach (adapted from tomography) gives better results than the maximum entropy approach. This is due to the fact, that in the minimum Fisher-information method the reconstructed distribution is inherently assumed to be continuous, whereas the maximum entropy method the distribution is assumed to be noncontinuous. The profiles reconstructed from multichannel interferometer data are in good agreement with the profiles measured by other diagnostic systems.


Halide perovskite light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) have raised considerable attention due to their high color purity and rapid development performance. Although high‐efficiency PLEDs have been continuously and repeatedly reported, the lack of a highly reproducible manufacturing process for PLEDs hinders their future development and commercialization. Here, a generic protocol for rational control of the nucleation and crystallization process of the perovskite emission layer is reported. Through the monitoring of the photoluminescence during spin‐coating, the antisolvent dripping time can be precisely determined. Therefore, it is possible to repeatedly produce a perovskite emission layer with high PLQY, smooth surface/interface, and good homogeneity. As a result, high‐performance PLEDs are easily obtained. Moreover, the standard deviation of the fabricated PLEDs performance is smaller than 0.8%, showing high reproducibility independent of the process conditions such as the process temperature, solvent atmosphere, and spin‐coating parameters, which highlights the statement of the importance of rationally control of the antisolvent process. The methodology provides important progress towards highly reproducible manufacturing of PLEDs for practical applications.


Two novel heterometallic oxalate-based compounds, [M(phen)3][Ta(OC2H5)(C2O4)3]·H2O [M = Fe (1), Co (2); phen = 1,10-phenanthroline] were synthesized by using an (oxalato)tantalate(V) aqueous solution as a source of complex anions. As a result of the presence of ethanol in the reaction mixture, the ethoxy group coordinated to tantalum(V) and the [Ta(OC2H5)(C2O4)3]2− anion was isolated in the crystalline products. The obtained compounds were characterized by means of IR spectroscopy, X-ray single-crystal diffraction and thermal analysis. Both compounds were investigated as possible molecular precursors for the mixed-metal oxides. Thermal decomposition residues of the compounds at different heating temperatures (800, 1000, 1200 °C) were analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction. When 1 was heated up to 800–1200 °C the mixed-metal oxide FeTaO4, of different crystallite sizes, formed. The thermal decomposition residue of 2, heat-treated up to 1000 °C, contained an up to now non-investigated mixed-metal oxide, Co4Ta2O9, along with the better known mixed-metal oxide CoTa2O6. Co4Ta2O9 was for the first time structurally characterized: the structure is composed of (i) layers containing hexagonally arranged CoO6 octahedra and (ii) layers where both CoO6 and TaO6 octahedra form a hexagonal assembly.


Summary Mammary carcinomas arose in 82% of virgin Sprague-Dawley rats kept in constant light and given a single dose p.o. of 20 mg of 7,12-dimethylbenz( a )anthracene at 55 days of age. Fibroadenomas occurred in 44%. Other rats of the same age and strain given the same dose of the carcinogen but kept in total darkness developed a similar incidence of breast cancer (87%) but only 1 fibroadenoma among the group of 39. The incidence of mammary cancer was reduced to 30% in Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to chronic lung infection, and there was also a reduction in the number of fibroadenomas. The injection of Metopirone, deoxycorticosterone, or progesterone for 0.5 day prior to and 4.5 days after carcinogen dosage reduced the breast cancer incidence to 20, 25, and 42%, respectively. Spontaneous regression of some of the mammary tumors was observed in all groups. Only 5 of 20 rats of a hooded strain developed mammary carcinomas after dosage with the carcinogen, and the latent period of these was much longer than in the Sprague-Dawley strain.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: In 2015 there were more deaths related to opioid overdose (30,000) than renal cell carcinoma deaths (14,080). Furthermore previous studies have shown that a large percentage of patients do not use or fill the prescription for their analgesics. In this study, we evaluated whether ketorolac was equally as effective at pain control as oxycodone after routine outpatient urologic procedures. Secondarily, we evaluated whether patients disposed the leftover medications appropriately. We hypothesize that toradol is non-inferior to oxycodone, and that majority of patients do not dispose of their medications appropriately. METHODS: Patients undergoing routine outpatient urologic procedures with a GFR >40 ml/min/1.73 m2, were consented to participate in the study. Patients were randomized into the oxycodone (5mg tablet, 1-2 tablets every 4 hours for 5 days) or the ketorolac (10mg tablet, 1 tablet every 6 hours for to 5 days) arm. Patient demographics, Charlson Comorbidity score, operative procedure details, and complications were recorded. A phone survey was conducted one week after surgery to determine level of pain control, number of pills taken, and method of pill disposal. A validated pain scale (Indiana Polyclinic Combined Pain Scale) was used to elicit patient responses about their post-operative pain. RESULTS: A total of ninety-one patients were recruited. Table 1 shows that overall there was no difference in demographics between the two groups. The oxycodone group used significantly more pills compared to ketorolac (7.4 vs 3.1; p = 0.005). In addition, the oxycodone group was significantly more likely to hold onto their pills or dispose them inappropriately despite being provided written and oral instruction on appropriate disposal methods. There was no difference in pain levels. CONCLUSIONS: Toradol is a non-inferior alternative to oxycodone for outpatient urologic procedures in properly selected patients. A large percentage of patients in both groups did not fill or use their analgesics. Only 9% of patients disposed of their medications appropriately. Patient and physician education is necessary to curtail the indiscriminate prescription, use, and disposal of opioids. Table. No title available. Source of Funding: None


A selective, accurate and highly sensitive optical chemical sensor (optode) for the simultaneous determination of copper(II) and cobalt(II) without any prior separation or purification ion sensing was developed. The optode was designed by incorporating carbon dots (CDs) and N′-(2-hydroxy-5-iodobenzylidene)isonicotinohydrazide (HIBIN) in plasticized polyvinyl chloride. The membrane composition, such as the ionophore, ionic additive and plasticizer/immobilizer mass ratio, was optimized by central composite design (CCD). Overlaps between the spectra of copper(II) and cobalt(II) complexes were eliminated via a second-derivative zero-crossing spectrophotometric method. The constructed membrane was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The synthesized CDs were investigated via FE-SEM, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses. Cross-sectional SEM images showed that the average thickness of the prepared thin film membrane was 306.6 nm. The proposed optical sensor displayed a calibration response for Cu(II) and Co(II) ions over concentration ranges of 9.23 × 10−8 to 1.08 × 10−5 M, with a limit of detection of 28.1 nM, and 2.36 × 10−7 to 1.03 × 10−5 M, with a limit of detection of 13 nM, respectively, whereas its response time for both ions was determined to be 4.5 min. The stability, reproducibility, regenerability and repeatability of the proposed optical sensor were studied, which revealed good results. The proposed optical sensor was employed successfully for the simultaneous determination of Cu(II) and Co(II) ions in various water samples.


This paper provides an algebraic characterization of the total input strictly local functions. Simultaneous, noniterative rules of the form A → B/C D, common in phonology, are definable as functions in this class whenever CAD represents a finite set of strings. The algebraic characterization highlights a fundamental connection between input strictly local functions and the simple class of definite string languages, as well as connections to string functions studied in the computer science literature, the definite functions and local functions. No effective decision procedure for the input strictly local maps was previously available, but one arises directly from this characterization. This work also shows that, unlike the full class, a restricted subclass is closed under composition.


Abstract Objective: We evaluated what German-speaking women in Berlin know about umbilical cord blood banking (UCBB) and whether a correlation exists between women's knowledge about UCBB and level of education. Method: We used the anonymous questionnaire given to German-speaking women in Berlin, Germany. Results: A total of 300 questionnaires could be evaluated. Although three quarters of our population heard of UCBB, most had no further knowledge about the method. Only about one-third of the interviewed women were informed about whether certain diseases had been treated with umbilical cord blood (UCB) by the time the survey was being conducted, whereas 50–65% did not know how to answer these questions. Conclusion: Women in Berlin were poorly educated about the usefulness, the costs and the methods of cryopreservation. To some extent there is a correlation between women's level of education and their knowledge regarding UCB.


Identifying and understanding the similarities and differences between subjective trust criteria in Russian and European business can help offer scientific recommendations for the development of long-term international business cooperation, based on mutual trust, despite the differences between both cultures. The purpose of this study is to describe the relations between the implicit and explicit trust criteria presented in Russian and European studies, and to compare how these criteria are expressed in Russian and European publications from a quantitative perspective. Using the content analysis of European and Russian publications for the period 2005–2015, the following main research questions are considered: (1) Are more references made to explicit trust criteria than implicit trust criteria? (2) Are the explicit criteria focused on a partner's business mentioned more often than the explicit criteria focused on a partner's competences and personality? (3) Are more references made to implicit trust criteria in Russian or European scientific articles? As the results reveal, although implicit criteria do not dominate in the subjective trust criteria for business partnerships,they nevertheless have a significant presence. Trust criteria based on characteristics related to business dominate the criteria for a partner's competences and personality. The differences between explicit and implicit trust criteria in Russian and European publications are not statistically significant. Nevertheless, on average, the difference between implicit and explicit assumptions of confidence is 0.13 in Russian studies and 0.34 in European studies. The study revealed that small companies entering the international market should consider the risks associated with a failure to understand what a business partner considers an implicit sign for triggering business relations and trust.
Keywords: trust in business relations, implicit and explicit trust criteria


Musicians make elaborate movements while performing, often using gestures that might seem extraneous. To explore these movements, we motion-captured and audio-recorded different pairings of clarinetists and pianists performing Brahms' Clarinet Sonata No. 1 with two manipulations: (a) allowing the performers full vs. no visual feedback, and (b) allowing the performers full vs. partial auditory feedback (i.e., the clarinetist could not hear the pianist). We found that observer ratings of audio–visual point-light renditions discriminated between manipulations and refined this insight through subsequent audio-alone and visual-alone experiments, providing an understanding of each modality's contribution. This novel approach of evaluating point-light displays of performances under systematically manipulated conditions provides new perspective on the ways in which ancillary gestures contribute to both performer communication and audience reception of live performances.


This study is implemented to investigate the effects of 3D animated movies and interactive applications on visual motor development of five year old children. The research has been performed in pretest-posttest-permanence test, experimental pattern with control group. For four months, every fifteen day experimental groups (24 children) watched eight episodes of 3D animated movies; 12 of them performed the interactive applications with computer while the other 12 performed the same applications with worksheets. 14 children in control group engaged merely their preschool education. Test of Visual Motor Skills-3 was used to collect and evaluate the visual motor skills of children. Since the data of the research was not distributed normally, non-parametric Kruskal Wallis, Friedman and Wilcoxon tests were used to analyze the data. The results of the research show that the visual motor skills of children who engaged the study in both test and control groups, had improved significantly.


We formulate the Lebesgue-sampling-based optimal control problem. We show that the problem can be solved by the time aggregation approach in Markov decision processes (MDP) theory. Policy-iteration-based and reinforcement-learning-based methods are developed for the optimal policies. Both analytical solutions and sample-path-based algorithms are given. Compared to the periodic-sampling scheme, the Lebesgue sampling scheme improves system performance.


We describe a cognitive rehabilitation mixed-reality system that allows therapists to explore natural cuing, contextualization, and theoretical aspects of cognitive retraining, including transfer of training. The Human Experience Modeler (HEM) mixed-reality environment allows for a contextualized learning experience with the advantages of controlled stimuli, experience capture and feedback that would not be feasible in a traditional rehabilitation setting. A pilot study for testing the integrated components of the HEM is discussed where the participant presents with working memory impairments due to an aneurysm.