A method for solving the specular reflection problem of sonar systems has been developed and implemented. This method, the specular reflection probability method, permits the robot to construct a high-quality probability map of an environment composed of specular surfaces. The method uses two parameters, the range confidence factor (RCF) and orientation probability. The RCF is the measure of confidence in the returning range from a sensor under a reflective environment, and the factor will have low values for long range information and vice versa. Orientation probability represents the surface orientation of an object. Bayesian reasoning is used to update the orientation probability from the range readings of the sensor.<<ETX>>


Advances in motion tracking technology, especially for commodity hardware, still require robust 3D gesture recognition in order to fully exploit the benefits of natural user interfaces. In this paper, we introduce a novel 3D gesture recognition algorithm based on the sparse representation of 3D human motion. The sparse representation of human motion provides a set of features that can be used to efficiently classify gestures in real-time. Compared to existing gesture recognition systems, sparse representation, the proposed approach enables full spatial and rotation invariance and provides high tolerance to noise. Moreover, the proposed classification scheme takes into account the inter-user variability which increases gesture classification accuracy in user-independent scenarios. We validated our approach with existing motion databases for gestural interaction and performed a user evaluation with naive subjects to show its robustness to arbitrarily defined gestures. The results showed that our classification scheme has high classification accuracy for user-independent scenarios even with users who have different handedness. We believe that sparse representation of human motion will pave the way for a new generation of 3D gesture recognition systems in order to fully open the potential of natural user interfaces.


Liu, Na, Yanbo Zhang, Pu Zhang, Kerui Gong, Chunyang Zhang, Kai Sun, and Guo Shao. Vascular endothelial growth factor and erythropoietin show different expression patterns in the early and late hypoxia preconditioning phases and may correlate with DNA methylation status in the mouse hippocampus. High Alt Med Biol. 00:000-000, 2022. Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and erythropoietin (EPO) have been proven to participate in neuroprotection induced by hypoxia preconditioning (HPC), and they can be regulated by hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1). It has been reported that DNA methylation can affect VEGF and EPO expression. This study aimed to explore the expression of VEGF and EPO in the early phase and late phase of HPC and whether their expression was affected by DNA methylation. Method: Acute repeated HPC mice were used as the animal model, and detection of molecular changes was performed immediately (early phase) and 1 day (late phase) after HPC treatment. The mRNA and protein expression levels of VEGF, EPO, and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) in the hippocampi were measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, respectively. The activity of DNMTs and global methylation levels were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. DNA methylation levels of VEGF and EPO promoters, which were catalyzed by DNMTs, were determined by bisulfite-modified DNA sequencing. Results: The expression of VEGF was increased in the early phase and late phase of HPC (p < 0.05), whereas the expression of EPO was unchanged in the early phase (p > 0.05) of HPC and was increased in the late phase (p < 0.05). VEGF and EPO expression were negatively correlated with the DNA methylation levels of their promoters. DNMT3A and DNMT3B were decreased in the early phase and late phase (p < 0.05), whereas DNMT1 was unchanged in the early phase and late phase (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our data demonstrated that DNMTs affect VEGF and EPO expression by regulating the DNA methylation levels of the promoters of VEGF and EPO.


OBJECTIVE
To study the absorption of baicalin (BA), baicalin-phospholipid complex (BA-PC), and two kinds of self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) of BA-PC (BA-PC-NE-SMEDDS with natural emulsifier and BA-PC-NS-SMEDDS with nonionic surfactants) and predict the ability of improving bioavailability through changing the formulation of BA.

METHODS
Transmembrane transports of each formulation were studied by Caco-2 cell model and the concentration of BA was determined by HPLC.

RESULTS
With the increasing concentration of BA, the transport rate and apparent permeability coefficient (Papp) of BA was increased,indicating the passive absorption mechanism of BA. While with the increase of transport time, the transport rate and Papp of BA was decreased slowly, most likely due to the biological transformation of BA during the permeation process as reported in other people's paper. When coupled with P-gp inhibitor (Verapamil), the efflux rate (ER) of BA decreased from 2.07 to 0.48, indicating it was the substrate of P-gp. Compared with BA,the cumulative permeate quantity of BA-PC and BA-PC-SMEDDS were with no significant increase before 90 min (P > 0.05), but increased obviously after 90 min (P < 0.05). Three hours later, the cumulative permeate quantity and Papp showed significant differences (P < 0.05) among each formulation and were arranged in the following order: BA-PC-NS-SMEDDS > BA-PC-NE-SMEDDS > BA-PC > BA. Furthermore, the Papp of BA-PC and BA-PC-SMEDDS was significantly greater than that of BA coupled with Verapamil (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
PC promotes the permeation of BA; PC-SMEDDS further accelerates its permeation bases on BA-PC; And BA-PC-NS-SMEDDS shows the better effect than BA-PC-NE-SMEDDS to promote the permeation of BA.


Soil compaction has effect on soil physical properties which could affect crop growth and yield. This study was conducted to determine the influence of incorporating organic materials and load application (tractorization) on the physical properties of sandy loamy soil in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Organic materials were cow dung, poultry and swine manure. Application rates of organic manures were 0 (control), 5 and 10 tonnes per hectare.  Forty-five plots measuring 5 by 3 m were established in a complete randomized block experimental design with three replications making a total of 135 plots. Load application was done using an MF 435 tractor coupled with a 20-disc harrow at 0 (control), 5, 10, 15 and 20 passes. Penetration resistance, bulk density, gravimetric moisture content and porosity were determined using standard procedures. Penetrometer resistance at these passes were 392.2, 293.3, 285.0, 302.0 and 224.9 kPa respectively with significant differences between treatments (P≤0.05). Mean bulk density for the passes were 1.21, 1.26, 1.31, 1.27 and 1.29 g/cm3 respectively and bulk density increased with tractor passes. The effect of tractor passes, and manure incorporation rate did not have any significant effect on gravimetric moisture content. Poultry manure increased bulk density and penetrometer resistance on plots than swine manure and cow dung hence poultry manure at 10 t/ha can be incorporated on a sandy loam soil to enhance soil fertility and sustainability.


This article assesses how far it is possible to discern any form of what we might term a Whitean sensibility amongst contemporary practitioners of the history of international politics. An audit of contemporary practice reveals a good deal of work which is frankly disappointing by the yardstick of White, some of which reflects at least a degree of sensitivity to his concerns, and some of which demonstrates both his clear stimulus and hopeful portents for the fruitful future application of his ideas.


With the ageing of the European population, the housing choices of the elderly will have consequences on the whole housing market. In this paper we use data from the first two waves of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to analyse the residential mobility decisions of the elderly and the factors influencing them in eleven European countries.


With the emergence of global market and virtual enterprises, coordination of business processes in dispersed organizations by distributed workflow execution will take on more importance. At the same time, grid workflow is now been regarded as a fundamental service in grid environment. In this paper we give a real life example to see how distributed workflow technology can be used in virtual enterprises in grid environment. We propose a novel distributed workflow execution architecture, and we also address the key technologies in implementing this architecture, i.e., the procedure of distributed process execution and the model partition method. With the real life example we demonstrate how to use the proposed method to support distributed workflow execution inside virtual enterprises. Our method can be used in many scenarios such as service oriented computing and the grid, to serve as the process management platform. We also stress that future research should focus on making further investigations on the model partition policy, i.e., how to partition the model and allocate task to different sites to improve the overall system performance


Glaciers in the central Andes of Chile are fundamental freshwater sources for ecosystems and communities. Overall, glaciers in this region have shown continuous recession and down-wasting, but long-term glacier mass balance studies providing precise estimates of these changes are scarce. Here, we present the first long-term (1955–2013/2015), region-specific glacier elevation and mass change estimates for the Maipo River Basin, from which the densely populated metropolitan region of Chile obtains most of its freshwater supply. We calculated glacier elevation and mass changes using historical topographic maps, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurements (TanDEM-X), and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) digital elevation models. The results indicated a mean regional glacier mass balance of −0.12 ± 0.06 m w.e.a−1, with a total mass loss of 2.43 ± 0.26 Gt for the Maipo River Basin between 1955–2013. The most negative glacier mass balance was the Olivares sub-basin, with a mean value of −0.29 ± 0.07 m w.e.a−1. We observed spatially heterogeneous glacier elevation and mass changes between 1955 and 2000, and more negative values between 2000 and 2013, with an acceleration in ice thinning rates starting in 2010, which coincides with the severe drought. Our results provide key information to improve glaciological and hydrological projections in a region where water resources are under pressure.


A middle-aged woman presented with fatigue and mild increases in hematocrit and red cell mass. Polycythemia vera was diagnosed. She underwent therapeutic phlebotomy but clinically worsened. On reevaluation, other problems were noted including episodic malaise, nausea, rash and vasomotor issues. The JAK2V617F mutation was absent; paraneoplastic erythrocytosis was investigated. Serum tryptase and urinary N-methylhistamine were normal, but urinary prostaglandin D2 was elevated. Skin and marrow biopsies showed no mast cell abnormalities. Extensive other evaluation was negative. Gastrointestinal tract biopsies were histologically normal but revealed increased, aberrant mast cells on immunohistochemistry; the KITD816V mutation was absent. Mast cell activation syndrome, recently identified as a clonal disorder involving assorted KIT mutations, was diagnosed. Imatinib 200 mg/d rapidly effected complete, sustained response. Diagnosis of mast cell activation syndrome is hindered by multiple factors, but existing therapies for mast cell disease are usually achieve significant benefit, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis. Multiple important aspects of clinical reasoning are illustrated by the case.


In recent years, many efforts are being made to produce tef-based food for its nutritive and health-promoting advantages. Tef grain is always whole milled because of its tiny grain size and whole flours contain bran (pericarp, aleurone, and germ) where major non-starch lipids could be deposited along with the lipid-degrading enzymes: lipase and lipoxygenase. As lipoxygenase shows little activity in low moisture, the inactivation of lipase is the common objective for most heat treatments to extend the shelf life of flours. In this study, tef flour lipase inactivation kinetics via hydrothermal treatments assisted using microwaves (MW) were studied. The effects of tef flour moisture level (12%, 15%, 20%, and 25%) and MW treatment time (1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 min) on flour lipase activity (LA) and free fatty acid (FFA) content were evaluated. The effects of MW treatment on flour pasting characteristics and the rheological properties of gels prepared from the treated flours were also explored. The inactivation process followed a first-order kinetic response and the apparent rate constant of thermal inactivation increased exponentially with the moisture content of the flour (M) according to the equation 0.048·exp (0.073·M) (R2 = 0.97). The LA of the flours decreased up to 90% under the studied conditions. MW treatment also significantly reduced (up to 20%) the FFA level in the flours. The rheological study confirmed the presence of significant modifications induced by the treatment, as a lateral effect of the flour stabilization process.


In spite of the wide attention performance-based financing (PBF) has received over the past decade, no evidence is available on its impacts on quantity and mix of service provision nor on its interaction with parallel health financing interventions. Our study aimed to examine the PBF impact on quantity and mix of service provision in Burkina Faso, while accounting for the parallel introduction of a free healthcare policy. We used Health Management Information System data from 838 primary-level health facilities across 24 districts and relied on an interrupted time-series analysis with independent controls. We placed two interruptions, one to account for PBF and one to account for the free healthcare policy. In the period before the free healthcare policy, PBF produced significant but modest increases across a wide range of maternal and child services, but a significant decrease in child immunization coverage. In the period after the introduction of the free healthcare policy, PBF did not affect service provision in intervention compared with control facilities, possibly indicating a saturation effect. Our findings indicate that PBF can produce modest increases in service provision, without altering the overall service mix. Our findings, however, also indicate that the introduction of other health financing reforms can quickly crowd out the effects produced by PBF. Further qualitative research is required to understand what factors allow healthcare providers to increase the provision of some, but not all services and how they react to the joint implementation of PBF and free health care.


Triacylglycerol (TG) lipase activity, with an alkaline pH optimum, has been identified in the cellular fraction of L8 myotube cultures. This TG lipase activity was stimulated by serum and inhibited by NaCl and protamine sulfate. These characteristics have been classically described for lipoprotein lipase. It was possible to increase the activity of this TG lipase three- to five-fold by incubating the cells with dibutyryl cAMP. Maximal enzyme activity was observed 16 h following the addition of 10-100 microM dibutyryl cAMP to the cultured cells. Enzyme activity returned to control levels 24 h after removal of the nucleotide from the culture medium. Serum-sensitive alkaline TG lipase activity was also identified in five other myotube preparations of cultured muscle cells. The highest levels of activity were found in rat skeletal muscle primary, H9, and L6 cell types. The finding that dibutyryl cAMP is an effective inducer of alkaline TG lipase activity provides us with a valuable model to investigate mechanisms regulating synthesis, compartmentalization, and transport of lipoprotein lipase in muscle.


: Monoclonal antibodies were raised against the reaction product of benzo[a]pyrene diol-epoxide (BPDE) and deoxyguanosine-5'-monophosphate. The antibodies were used for detection of DNA adducts in situ in BPDE-treated cultured human fibroblasts by immunofluorescence microscopy. Analogue-digital conversion of the fluorescence signal and further image processing allowed measurement of the immunospecific fluorescence in the nuclei of these cells. The results are compared with the adduct levels measured in isolated DNA by 32P-postlabelling. Preliminary results are shown of the application of the immunofluorescence method to the analysis of DNA adducts in bronchial cells obtained from smoking individuals.


The objective is to make the investment sensibility analysis in drop irrigation by gravity in sugar cane production, there are three variables involved into the sensibility analysis for both of the irrigation systems: Cane production by hectare (it was sensibilized to low prices), sell price for sugar cane ton (it was sensibilized to low prices), and variations in the production's direct costs (sensibilized to high prices). The Novelo's methodology for sensibility analysis (1944) was used. The three variables involved into the sensibility analysis showed differences to support the outcome results got with the irrigation drop system over the irrigation gravity system by drop.


With the recent prevalence of reinforcement learning (RL), there have been tremendous interests in utilizing RL for ads allocation in recommendation platforms (e.g., e-commerce and news feed sites). To achieve better allocation, the input of recent RL-based ads allocation methods is upgraded from point-wise single item to list-wise item arrangement. However, this also results in a high-dimensional space of state-action pairs, making it difficult to learn list-wise representations with good generalization ability. This further hinders the exploration of RL agents and causes poor sample efficiency. To address this problem, we propose a novel RL-based approach for ads allocation which learns better list-wise representations by leveraging task-specific signals on Meituan food delivery platform. Specifically, we propose three different auxiliary tasks based on reconstruction, prediction, and contrastive learning respectively according to prior domain knowledge on ads allocation. We conduct extensive experiments on Meituan food delivery platform to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed auxiliary tasks. Both offline and online experimental results show that the proposed method can learn better list-wise representations and achieve higher revenue for the platform compared to the state-of-the-art baselines.


The article by Froese, Gould and Seth deals with the intertwined issues of the validity of first person reports and of their interest for a science of consciousness.While acknowledging that experiential research has already produced promising results, the authors find that it has not yet produced "killer experiments" providing a definitively positive answer to these two questions, and wonder what kind of experiment would allow it. Our response will address these two questions successively.


In the present study, numerical investigations are performed on cascaded phase shift, all-optical intensity modulation and spatial soliton in quadratic media with nonuniform distributions of phase mismatch. The wavevector mismatch (/spl Delta/k) associated with SHG is assumed to vary as a step function along the beam propagation direction. For each purpose, the /spl Delta/k distribution is optimized.


ABSTRACT Incidence of food allergy (FA) during nursing period is 6–8% globally and It is reported %5,7 in Turkey. In our study, the aim is to determine whether the prevalence of food allergy (FA) increases in children vaccinated against rotavirus. The files of 681 infants who are still followed-up were retrospectively evaluated. Children who did not come to our clinic for all of their well-child follow-up visits were excluded from the study. Moreover, children diagnosed with allergy before vaccination and children with known gastrointestinal system disease were excluded from the study. The number of patients diagnosed with food allergy after being vaccinated against rotavirus was 12 (1.76%). Three children had a family history of allergy. Of 12 patients who were diagnosed after vaccination, 3 (n:104) were vaccinated with pentavalent vaccine and 9 (n:507) with monovalent vaccine. In the monovalent vaccination group, food allergy was found in 9 children (1.55%), and in the pentavalent vaccination group, food allergy was found in 3 children (2.88%). The difference between the two vaccination groups in terms of food allergy prevalence was not significant (p > .05). Although it is believed that food allergy, and even cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) prevalence increases in infants vaccinated against rotavirus, in this study, no significant increase was observed in the prevalence of food allergy after rotavirus vaccination. Both types of vaccine had similar rates to each other.


Abstract The Democratic Party has long used a system of caucuses and councils to reach out to marginalized groups among convention delegates. This article tests two hypotheses about how this system works within the party. First, the Parties in Service to Candidates Hypothesis holds that caucuses and councils mobilize elites from marginalized groups to increase support for the party nominee. Second, the Group Solidarity Hypothesis holds that caucuses and councils mobilize elites from marginalized groups to enhance group solidarity. Regression analysis of data drawn from an original survey of delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention provides no support to the Service Hypothesis, while the evidence supports the Solidarity Hypothesis in the case of the Women's Caucus, which became a rallying point for women who were disappointed that Hillary Clinton was not the Democratic Party nominee. A similar survey of delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention did not uncover a parallel system of representing marginalized groups within the Republican Party.


Experimental tests show that particle (inclusion or precipitate) size and interparticle spacing, besides volume fraction, have a considerable effect on the macroscopic mechanical response of metal matrix microreinforced composites. Classical (local) plasticity models unlike nonlocal gradient enhanced plasticity models cannot capture this size dependency due to the absence of a material length scale. In this paper, one form of higher-order gradient plasticity enhanced model, which is derived based on principle of virtual power and laws of thermodynamic, is employed to investigate the size effect of elliptical inclusions with different aspect ratios based on unit cell simulations. It is shown that by decreasing the particle size or equivalently the interparticle spacing (i.e., the spacing between the centers of inclusions), while keeping the volume fraction constant, the average stress–strain response is stronger and more sensitive to the inclusion's aspect ratio. However, unexpectedly, decreasing the free-path interparticle spacing (i.e., the spacing between the edges of inclusions perpendicular to the principal loading direction) does not necessarily lead to largest strengthening. This is completely dependent on the plastic strain gradient hardening due to distribution and evolution of geometrically necessary dislocations that depend on the particle size and shape. Gradient-hardening significantly alter the stress and plastic strain distributions near the particle-matrix interface. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4004702]


We report on an empirical study of a multiparty turn-taking model for physically situated spoken dialog systems. We present subjective and objective performance measures that show how the model, supported with a basic set of sensory competencies and turn-taking policies, can enable interactions with multiple participants in a collaborative task setting. The analysis brings to the fore several phenomena and frames challenges for managing multiparty turn taking in physically situated interaction.


Germanium ions of an expanding plasma were implanted in a silicon collector. The plasma was produced by a femtosecond laser pulse with an intensity of ∼1015 W cm-2 at the surface of the solid-state target. A technique was proposed for determining the energy characteristics of the ion component of the laser plasma from the density profile of the ions implanted in the substrate.


ABSTR ACT This research aims to know the  effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in annual report and firm profitability toward firm value. The samples are colected by using purposive sampling method. The samples of this research are banking industry that listing in Indonesia Stock Exchange during period 2009 – 2012, amounting 64 banks. Data collected through secondary data observation method. Analysis Method that is used in this research is multiple linier regression that includes classical assumption test, hypothesis test, F test and t test, and analysis of coefficient of determination (R 2 ). To analyze data using SPSS software version 16. The result of this research perform that based on partial test, both of the independent variables, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and return on equity (ROE) have a significant effect on the dependent variable that is firm value. And based on simultaneous test, both of the independent variables in this research also have a significant effect on the dependent variable. The amount of R 2 in this research is 0,822 . This result indicates that the effect of independent variables, CSR disclosure and ROE to dependent variable, firm value can be explained by this model amount 82 %, while the remaining 12 % is influenced by other factors out of this research.  Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility disclosure, Return on Equity (ROE) and Firm Value.


Previous studies have reported an inverse association between cancer and Alzheimer's disease (AD), which are leading causes of human morbidity and mortality. We analyzed the SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results) data to estimate the risk of AD death in (i) cancer patients relative to reference populations stratified on demographic and clinical variables, and (ii) female breast cancer (BC) patients treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, relative to those with no/unknown treatment status. Our results demonstrate the impact of race, cancer type, age and time since cancer diagnosis on the risk of AD death in cancer patients. While the risk of AD death was decreased in white patients diagnosed with various cancers at 45 or more years of age, it was increased in black patients diagnosed with cancers before 45 years of age (likely due to early onset AD). Chemotherapy decreased the risk of AD death in white women diagnosed with BC at the age of 65 or more, however radiotherapy displayed a more complex pattern with early decrease and late increase in the risk of AD death during a prolonged time interval after the treatment. Our data point to links between molecular mechanisms involved in cancer and AD, and to the potential applicability of some anti-cancer treatments against AD.


ABSTRACT Background Páramos are tropical alpine ecosystems where climate change is expected to cause yet unknown consequences for plant growth, ecosystem structure, ecosystem function and the provision of ecosystem services. Aim To quantify the relationship between environmental factors (abiotic and biotic) and the spatial distribution of three common Hypericum species in the páramo and their physiological vulnerability to drought. Methods We recorded soil water content, soil temperature, and vegetation cover in 10 plots along a moisture gradient. Additionally, we measured a series of physiological traits associated with the risk of drought-induced mortality. Results We found that H. goyanesii and H. juniperinum mainly grew in areas with high soil water content, and similar high vegetation cover. These two species had wider xylem vessels, showed anisohydric behaviour and were equally vulnerable to cavitation with low safety margins against hydraulic failure. H. mexicanum grew in places with less vegetation cover, lower soil water content, and higher soil temperatures. H. mexicanum showed a different strategy that probably allows it to thrive in these conditions; it maintains high values of water potential at noon and has narrower xylem vessels, making it less vulnerable to cavitation. Conclusion The distribution of the three Hypericum species in the páramo responds essentially to soil water content, in line with the physiological mechanisms of the species to cope with water deficit. Hypericum species from moist habitats could decline if longer drought episodes become more common in the future.


A high performance exfoliated biochar carbon with a layered nanosheet structure was prepared from a low cost agricultural residue (corn cob) via a novel synthesis strategy involving biomass pre-treatment, nitrogen pyrolysis, and a high temperature thermal–chemical flash exfoliation. The exfoliation strategy resulted in porous carbon nanosheets with BET specific surface area of 543.7 m2 g−1, far higher than the 7.9 m2 g−1 of the natural biochar produced without any pre- or post-treatment modifications. The exfoliated material also showed increased oxygen functionality in the form of electrochemically active quinone and pyrone surface groups. This combination of high specific surface area and highly active surface functional groups resulted in very promising capacitive performance, demonstrating a high capacitance of 221 F g−1, over 100 times greater than the natural biochar. The exfoliated biochar electrodes fabricated without any conductive or organic additives showed outstanding high rate capability retaining 78% of their low rate capacitance at a fast 40 A g−1 discharge. This combination of high capacitance and fast charge–discharge capability distinguishes this material from most other high surface area activated carbons; in fact, the electrochemical behaviour more closely resembles that of designer nanomaterials such as graphene and carbon nanotubes. The biochar electrodes were also extremely durable showing only a 3% reduction in capacitance after 5000 successive potential cycles. The exfoliation strategy developed here could provide a novel route for the low cost production of high performance energy storage materials from a variety of waste biomass feedstocks.


NASA has licensed technology to a Washington state company for improving the performance, stability and control of helicopters. Under the agreement, Boundary Layer Research, Inc., Everett, Wash., will commercially market an aerodynamic device called "tailboom strakes." The license will allow the company to market the NASA-patented device to civil and military operators of single rotor helicopters. For the past year Boundary Layer Research has been working with NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., to explore the viability of helicopter strake technology developed by a NASA-Army team of researchers. The technology is applicable to all single rotor helicopters and is patented by NASA as a "Low Speed Anti-Torque System." The company has applied for Federal Aviation Administration certification to make the technology available to civil operators and owners.


In this paper, we present how liquid-phase addition affects the formation of Y-Ba-Cu-O (YBCO) films during the fabrication process using the sedimentation deposition technique. In addition, we identify how the introduction of liquid-phase affects the surface morphology and superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the films. The results suggest significant effect of liquid-phase addition, which yielded good surface morphology, by improving matter transport and grain growth. Resistance-Temperature measurements also show improvement of Tc with liquid-phase addition. This study shows that YBCO films can be fabricated through a simple mechanical, low-cost, and non-vacuum technique.


Ethical issues in health-related research on politically oppressed migrant populations differ in significant ways from community health research in other contexts. The United Nations has set goals for such research. The health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were investigated in communities ("clusters") of migrants from Burma living in villages in the Sangkhlaburi District of Thailand, adjacent to the Thai-Burma border. Hunger was experienced regularly in 70% of the households, and 26% of children under 5 years were underweight. Malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS were prevalent. Few households took part in family planning, and there were many large families and disabled children. The health of the migrant populations was compromised by poverty, social exclusion, and under- or unemployment. Stakeholders in discussion groups concurred with the authors that tuberculosis detection and treatment and food production activities were important issues to address in developing projects to improve migrant health. This case study illustrates how the MDGs can be operationally defined.


The incidence of endocarditis is increased in patients with cardiac lesions causing turbulent flow. A 400-fold increase is observed in patients with prosthetic valves and a prior history of endocarditis. Other high risk lesions include rheumatic valvular disease, cyanotic congenital heart disease, and degenerative valve lesions. The smaller increased incidence in patients with mitral valve prolapse is important because of the high prevalence of mitral valve prolapse in the population. In addition, intravenous drug use and nosocomial bacteremia have emerged as important factors among patients with endocarditis.


Purpose
That knowledge acquisition from external sources can play a pivotal role in product design is a well-known fact. However, knowledge acquisition need not play a pivotal role in every context; it is also documented to have a dark side (i.e. negative impacts). Specifically, given that product stewardship, by definition, calls on each party in the product life cycle – including suppliers – to share responsibility for the environmental impact of products, the purpose of this study is to answer the question "whether knowledge acquired from suppliers plays a beneficial role in the context of product stewardship?"

Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on the effect of knowledge acquisition on product stewardship and its subsequent effect on environmental performance. Given that the effect of knowledge acquisition could be moderated by firm-specific and relational factors, this study also considers the moderating role of knowledge exploitation and supplier opportunism. Using primary data, the hypotheses are tested using two-stage hierarchical ordinary least squares regression models involving valid instruments.

Findings
Though extant research doubts that knowledge acquisition will always be beneficial, this study adheres to the tenets of knowledge-based view and hypothesize that knowledge acquisition is pivotal to product stewardship and its subsequent impact on environmental performance. But the results suggest an intriguing double-edged effect of knowledge acquisition; while its direct effect on product stewardship is nonsignificant, it seemed to have a significant positive moderating effect on the relationship between product stewardship and environmental performance. But whenever knowledge exploitation and supplier opportunism are maintained at ideal levels, this double-edged effect of knowledge acquisition is successfully negated.

Originality/value
While knowledge acquisition is key for new product design, its specific role in the product design that incorporates environmental considerations is still not clear. By proposing that knowledge acquisition could instead have a double-edged effect within the unique context of product stewardship, the study makes an invaluable contribution to the extant literature on knowledge management within supply chain relationships.


This paper describes a portfolio optimization system by using Neuro-Fuzzy framework in order to manage stock portfolio. It is great importance to stock investors and applied researchers. The proposed portfolio optimization approach Neuro-Fuzzy System reasoning in order to make a more yields from the stock portfolio, and hence maximize return and minimize risk of a stock portfolio through diversification and right investment allocation to the particular stock under uncertainty. To evaluate the performance of forecasting and optimization system, BSE Sensex index of India considered as benchmarks in this study to measure efficient forecasting models. The results show that the proposed Neuro Fuzzy system produces much higher accuracy when compared to other portfolio models.


The paper describes a new numerical method for the calculation of noncrossing probabilities for arbitrary boundaries by a Poisson process. We find the method to be simple in implementation, quick and efficient - it works reliably for Poisson processes of very high intensity n, up to several thousand. Hence, it can be used to detect unusual features in the finite-sample behaviour of empirical process and trace it down to very high sample sizes. It also can be used as a good approximation for noncrossing probabilities for Brownian motion and Brownian bridge, in particular when the boundaries are not regular. As a numerical example we demonstrate the divergence of normalized Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics from their prescribed limiting distributions (Eicker (1979), Jaeshke (1979)) for quite large n in contrast to very regular behaviour of statistics of Mason (1983). For the Brownian motion case we considered square-root, Daniels' (1969) and Grooneboom's (1989) boundaries.


Reaching an electricity system which is both economically efficient and environmentally friendly is motivating countries to design and execute different types of TOU demand response programs. But there are certain deficiencies which prevent these programs to effectively modify the load shape. Smart grid as a means could help the electricity system to reach the highest demand side management goals which are inaccessible through today's methods. In this paper, problems facing today's demand response programs have been described and Iran's recently designed TOU program has been analyzed as an example. The influence of this program has been simulated on Iran's actual load curve. As a solution to the problems facing DR programs, Smart Grid has been introduced and the influence of Real Time Pricing (RTP) program in Smart Grid has been simulated on an actual load curve of Iran's grid, using multi period load model and adaptive periods. Reaching market equilibrium and the effect of Smart Grid on price curve has also been simulated. Finally, the current TOU program designed for Iran and the RTP program in smart grid have been compared with respect to load shape modification, load factor, price curve, and production cost. Eventually, savings made possible through smart grid per day have been evaluated.


The present study was conducted to investigate whether monochromatic light affects the production performance, egg quality and some plasma parameters of layers. In this study, white and green fluorescent lamps were used to illuminate Brown-Nick hens for 8 weeks. Light sources made uniform to a light intensity of 15 lx. Forty-seven-week-old layers were divided into 2 groups of similar mean weight comprising 16 birds each and housed in individual cages. A 16:8 hours light:dark photoperiod was employed. The layers were exposed to conventional ambient temperature and 50-60% relative humidity for 24h per day. Performance was evaluated by recording feed intake, egg weight and egg production on daily basis; egg quality and egg cholesterol level on weekly basis; and blood parameters on 56 day of the experiment. The results indicated that green light application did not have any significant effect on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg production, total number of eggs, total egg weight, average egg weight, cholesterol level of egg yolk and egg quality of laying hens. However, green light application affected egg yolk color a and b values, but decreased serum albumin concentration. The results suggest that green light application may improve the yolk color of laying hens.


Experiments on mutation induction in Drosophila melanogaster by injections of exogenous DNAs or a synthetic polyribonucleotide solutions into the hemolymph of the male demonstrated that Drosophila spermatozoa were able to transfer passively molecules of these mutagens into fertilized eggs. This induced mutations in both paternal and maternal chromosomes in offspring.


This research compared university student-athletes and other university students to analyze differences in attitudes towards COVID-19. The objective was to examine the impact of student-athletes' attitudes on their future athletic activities and perform verification that will contribute to the deliberation and creation of university support measures for student-athletes. Google Forms were used to administer an online questionnaire to university students nationwide. The responses to questions on the questionnaire were recorded on either 5 or 8 point scales, as well as open-ended questions without word limitations at the end of the questionnaire. The results were analyzed by separating results into two cohorts;student-athletes and other university students, and then categorizing responses to each question as positive or negative. Cross-tabulation was used and then Fischer's exact test was performed. To analyze the open-ended questions, KH-Coder3 software, which excels at Japanese analysis and is used in a great deal of research, was used. The analysis found a significant difference for some questions. In particular, a greater percentage of student-athletes than other university students felt unease regarding infection at university facilities, the impact of infection on university life, and the impact on activities from April 2020 onwards. Some of the reasons for the higher percentage of responses indicating unease were the lack of transparency in student life, with universities not defining clear approaches.


The objective of this investigation was to study the growth of thick passivating layers on the Li anode in Li/BCX (Li/SOCL[sub 2] + BrCl) cells which were stored for a period of 3 years. Impedance spectroscopy and equivalent circuit models were used to determine characterizing parameters for these cells. The equivalent circuit used for virgin cells includes a faradic contribution and diffusion of the electroactive species. The equivalent circuit for batteries stored 1 or 2 years includes the impedance of a metal/passive film interface, the resistance of the film, and the impedance of the passivating film/electrolyte interface. The equivalent circuit used for batteries stored for 3 years accounts for cathodic contributions in the overall impedance spectrum.


This study was conducted in universities found in Amhara regional state. There are 7 public universities in the region. The study focused on all students with sensory (visual & hearing) and physical disability who were attending their education in the selected universities.  One university was selected from each generation. The participants of this study were students with disabilities, teachers and students without disabilities, special needs directorates, library and students service coordinators (dormitory and cafeteria). Four methods of data collection instruments were used to obtain rich information and for the purpose of triangulation. The result showed that most students with disabilities did not obtain disability specific academic supports services from teachers. In addition, most students with disabilities obtained different support services from students without disabilities and administrators. The physical environment including the roads, campus and buildings are inaccessible for students with disabilities. It is recommended that universities should employee special needs education professionals in order to decide the students' eligibility and provide different support services for students with severe disabilities. Keywords : Support services, Students with disabilities, Higher education institution


: Two-dimensional magnetotelluric (MT) inversion algorithm using minimum support (MS) stabilizer functional was implemented in this study to enhance the contrast of inverted images. For this implementation, this study derived a formula in discrete form for creeping model updates in the least-squares linearized inversion. A spatially varying regularization parameter determination algorithm, which is known as ACB (Active Constraint Balancing), was also adopted to stabilize the inversion process when using MS stabilizer as a model constraint. Inversion experiments for a simple isolated body model show well the feature of MS stabilizer in concentrating the anomalous body compared with the second-order derivative model constraint. This study also compared MS stabilizer and the second-order derivative model constraints for a model having multiple anomalous bodies to show the applicability of the algorithm into field data.


Summary Non-muscle-invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder has a high rate of recurrence, necessitating use of a variety of adjuvant treatments. A single, immediate post-operative administration of chemotherapy is an important measure for reducing the rate of recurrences, but the overall effect is not satisfactory and the treatment is a burden to the patient. Hence, there is a need for a new, more effective and cheaper agent for adjuvant treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder carcinomas. Although cationic surfactants such as benzalkonium salts are used clinically and hygienically for the control of bacterial growth, there have been reports that cationic surfactants such as benzethonium chloride induce apoptosis in normal and in cancerous cells. We report our experience with benzalkonium bromide (BB) accidentally administered into a patient's bladder as saline. It caused severe hematuria and pain, but after a week of persistent administration in the bladder, the patient was cured, as supported by evidence from cystoscopy, indicating that BB destroys bladder mucosa and suggesting that BB maybe a novel agent for use in a single, immediate post-operative administration. We present preliminary data to support this hypothesis and provide discussion we hope will be useful as the foundation for further experiments.


Pronounced changes in the Arctic environment add a new potential driver of anomalous weather patterns in midlatitudes that affect billions of people. Recent studies of these Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages, however, state inconsistent conclusions. A source of uncertainty arises from the chaotic nature of the atmosphere. Thermodynamic forcing by a rapidly warming Arctic contributes to weather events through changing surface heat fluxes and large-scale temperature and pressure gradients. But internal shifts in atmospheric dynamics—the variability of the location, strength, and character of the jet stream, blocking, and stratospheric polar vortex (SPV)—obscure the direct causes and effects. It is important to understand these associated processes to differentiate Arctic-forced variability from natural variability. For example in early winter, reduced Barents/Kara Seas sea-ice coverage may reinforce existing atmospheric teleconnections between the North Atlantic/Arctic and central Asia, and affect downstream weather in East Asia. Reduced sea ice in the Chukchi Sea can amplify atmospheric ridging of high pressure near Alaska, influencing downstream weather across North America. In late winter southward displacement of the SPV, coupled to the troposphere, leads to weather extremes in Eurasia and North America. Combined tropical and sea ice conditions can modulate the variability of the SPV. Observational evidence for Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages continues to accumulate, along with understanding of connections with pre-existing climate states. Relative to natural atmospheric variability, sea-ice loss alone has played a secondary role in Arctic/midlatitude weather linkages; the full influence of Arctic amplification remains uncertain.


The studies in this thesis were designed to elucidate the role of clinical and endocrinological factors in the growth suppression that is a recognised feature of chronic renal failure (CRF) and renal transplantation, and to determine whether the mechanism of action of recombinant growth hormone (rhGH) is by improving endocrine disturbances or via a direct anabolic effect. Endocrine parameters (IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF bioactivity, IGFBP-1, IGFBP-2, IGFBP-3, ALS, insulin and c-peptide) were studied in 3 groups of children - those with renal transplants and those with reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR), moderate and severe. Clinical variables (age, gender, body mass index - BMI), aetiology of renal failure, steroid dose and renal modality - (CRF/ transplant/ dialysis) were also included in the analysis. All 3 groups had elevated mean IGF-II, IGFBP-2 and -3 levels. IGF-I levels, although in the normal range, would be considered low in this population as GH levels are elevated. IGF-II and ALS had a significant positive influence on growth, whilst renal modality, age, steroid treatment and duration of dialysis all had a significantly negative effect. Collectively these parameters explained 38.4% of the variability in height (Ht) standard deviation score (SDS) in the population studied. Of all the parameters studied, only transplantation had a significant influence on Ht velocity (Vel) SDS. This was positive and accounted for 26% of the variability in Ht Vel SDS. Protein turnover was measured in 8 fasting children (4 CRF, 4 transplant) using stable isotopes (13C) incorporated into leucine. Turnover was lower at baseline, and remained so despite any increases with rhGH treatment, in transplanted children compared with those with CRF. The body mass index of transplanted children who were on steroid treatment was higher, but their resting energy expenditure (REE) was lower than CRF patients. RhGH improved growth rate, arm muscle area and REE significantly whilst fat area decreased. C-peptide and IGFBP-3 showed a more consistent increase than IGF-I whilst IGFBP-1 decreased with rhGH. The studied parameters can only partially explain the observed variability in growth rate suggesting the involvement of other factors. RhGH has anabolic effects which are apparent despite variation in endocrine responses between individuals. This variation could be attributed to differing levels of resistance to the actions of hormones.


The studies reported here address the molecular events underlying the interactions of arrestins with the M2 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (mAChR). In particular, we focused on the role of receptor phosphorylation in this process. Agonist-dependent phosphorylation of the M2 mAChR can occur at clusters of serines and threonines at positions 286–290 (site P1) or 307–311 (site P2) in the third intracellular loop (Pals-Rylaarsdam, R., and Hosey, M. M. (1997)J. Biol. Chem. 272, 14152–14158). Phosphorylation at either P1 or P2 can support agonist-dependent internalization. However, phosphorylation at P2 is required for receptor interaction with arrestins (Pals-Rylaarsdam, R., Gurevich, V. V., Lee, K. B., Ptasienski, J. A., Benovic, J. L., and Hosey, M. M. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 23682–26389). The present study investigated the role of acidic amino acids between P1 and P2 in regulating receptor phosphorylation, internalization, and receptor/arrestin interactions. Mutation of the acidic amino acids at positions 298–300 (site A1) and/or 304–305 (site A2) to alanines had significant effects on agonist-dependent phosphorylation. P2 was identified as the preferred site of agonist-dependent phosphorylation, and full phosphorylation at P2 required the acidic amino acids at A1 or their neutral counterparts. In contrast, phosphorylation at site P1 was dependent on site A2. In addition, sites A1 and A2 significantly affected the ability of the wild type and P1 and P2 mutant receptors to internalization and to interact with arrestin2. Substitution of asparagine and glutamine for the aspartates and glutamates at sites A1 or A2 did not influence receptor phosphorylation but did influence arrestin interaction with the receptor. We propose that the amino acids at sites A1 and A2 play important roles in agonist-dependent phosphorylation at sites P2 and P1, respectively, and also play an important role in arrestin interactions with the M2 mAChR.


In the present report, crude glycerol, waste discharged from bio‐diesel production, was used as carbon substrate for three natural Yarrowia lipolytica strains (LFMB 19, LFMB 20 and ACA‐YC 5033) during growth in nitrogen‐limited submerged shake‐flask experiments. In media with initial glycerol concentration of 30 g/L, all strains presented satisfactory microbial growth and complete glycerol uptake. Although culture conditions favored the secretion of citric acid (and potentially the accumulation of storage lipid), for the strains LFMB 19 and LFMB 20, polyol mannitol was the principal metabolic product synthesized (maximum quantity 6.0 g/L, yield 0.20–0.26 g per g of glycerol consumed). The above strains produced small quantities of lipids and citric acid. In contrast, Y. lipolytica ACA‐YC 5033 produced simultaneously higher quantities of lipid and citric acid and was further grown on crude glycerol in nitrogen‐limited experiments, with constant nitrogen and increasing glycerol concentrations (70–120 g/L). Citric acid and lipid concentrations increased with increment of glycerol; maximum total citric acid 50.1 g/L was produced (yield 0.44 g per g of glycerol) while simultaneously 2.0 g/L of fat were accumulated inside the cells (0.31 g of lipid per g of dry weight). Cellular lipids were mainly composed of neutral fraction, the concentration of which substantially increased with time. Moreover, in any case, the phospholipid fraction was more unsaturated compared with total and neutral lipids, while at the early growth step, microbial lipid was more rich in saturated fatty acids (e.g. C16:0 and C18:0) compared with the stationary phase.


BACKGROUND
The Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability (FLACC) scale is a five-item tool that was developed to assess postoperative pain in young children. The tool is frequently used as an outcome measure in studies investigating acute procedural pain in young children; however, there are limited published psychometric data in this context.

OBJECTIVE
To establish inter-rater and intrarater agreement of the FLACC scale in toddlers during immunization.

METHODS
Participants comprised a convenience sample of toddlers recruited from an immunization drop-in service, who were part of a larger pilot randomized controlled trial. Toddlers were video- and audiotaped during immunization procedures. The first rater scored each video twice in random order over a period of three weeks (intrarater agreement), while the second rater scored each video once and was blinded to the first rater's scores (inter-rater agreement). The FLACC scale was scored at four timepoints throughout the procedure. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used to assess agreement of the FLACC scale.

RESULTS
Thirty toddlers between 12 and 18 months of age were recruited, and video data were available for 29. Intrarater agreement coefficients were 0.88 at baseline, 0.97 at insertion of first needle, and 0.80 and 0.81 at 15 s and 30 s following the final injection, respectively. Inter-rater coefficients were 0.40 at baseline, 0.95 at insertion of first needle, and 0.81 and 0.78 at 15 s and 30 s following the final injection, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The FLACC scale has sufficient agreement in assessing pain in toddlers during immunizations, especially during the most painful periods of the procedure.


The primary goal of the Midas project is to build a system that enables easy and scalable integration of unstructured and semi-structured information present across multiple data sources. As a first step in this direction, we have built a system that extracts and integrates information from regulatory filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Midas creates a repository of entities, events, and relationships by extracting, conceptualizing, integrating, and aggregating data from unstructured and semi-structured documents. This repository enables applications to use the extracted and integrated data in a variety of ways including mashups with other public data and complex risk analysis.


The head lift exercise (HLE) is a head-raising workout performed in a supine position. This exercise facilitates activation of the submental muscles located above the hyoid bone in front of the neck. HLE is a potential method to improve the movement of the hyolaryngeal movement and swallowing functions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of HLE on the hyolaryngeal movement and aspiration in patients with dysphagic stroke. A total of 27 patients with stroke were randomly assigned either into the experimental (n = 13) or the control group (n = 14). The experimental group performed HLE 5 days a week for 4 weeks (a total of 20 sessions). Both groups received the same conventional dysphagia therapy. Two-dimensional analysis of the hyolaryngeal movement was carried out using Image J program based on a videofluoroscopic swallowing study. Penetration-aspiration was assessed using Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS). The experimental group showed a significant increase in the only superior movements of the hyoid bone compared with the control group (P = 0·033). Aspiration in liquid also exhibited a significant decrease in the experimental group compared with the control group (P = 0·044). Findings from this study confirmed that HLE is an effective intervention to improve hyoid movement and decrease aspiration.


ABSTRACT:This article investigates two recent cases of academic mobbing in the United States. The first concerns Bruce Gilley, whose paper "The Case for Colonialism," published in Third World Quarterly, was heavily criticized by the academic left. The second concerns Rebecca Tuvel, whose article "In Defense of Transracialism," published in Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy, was equally reviled. In both cases, the authors and journal editors endured extreme on-line criticism, including some death threats. The authors analyze this on-line academic bullying through the lens of social psychology. They particularly identify a scissors logic, opening up a major division between the politics of academia and the general public; a new ideology of safetyism; and a new culture of complaint. They argue that these new on-line and sociological phenomena amount to ideacide, or the attempt to extinguish ideas rather than debate them either within the academy or within the public spheres.


An immobilized metal affinity electrophoresis (IMAEP) method is described here. In this method, metal ions are immobilized in a native polyacrylamide gel to capture phosphoproteins. The capture of phosphoproteins by IMAEP is demonstrated with immobilized metals like iron, aluminum, manganese, or titanium. In the case studies, phosphoproteins alpha-casein, beta-casein, and phosvitin are successfully extracted from a protein mixture by IMAEP.


The yeast [PSI+] determinant is related to formation of large prion-like aggregates of the conformationally altered Sup35 protein. Here, we show that these aggregates are composed of small Sup35 prion polymers and associated proteins. In contrast to other protein complexes of yeast lysates, but similarly to amyloid fibers, these polymers are insoluble in SDS at room temperature. The polymers on average are about 30-fold smaller than the aggregates and comprise from 8 to 50 Sup35 monomers. The size of polymers is characteristic of a given [PSI+] variant and differs between the variants. Blocked expression of Hsp104 chaperone causes gradual increase in the size of prion polymers, while inactivation of Hsp104 by guanidine HCl completely stops their fragmentation, which shows indispensability of Hsp104 for this process.


The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) removes the outer segments of photoreceptor cells by phagocytosis. We studied the effects of tamoxifen and chloroquine on the activity of the lysosomal enzymes N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase and cathepsin D in RPE in vitro to evaluate the possible eye toxicity caused by these drugs. The results show decreases in the activities of lysosomal enzymes after drug exposure. The enzymes tested seemed to be more sensitive to tamoxifen than to chloroquine. A profound decrease in the activities of the lysosomal enzymes only started at concentrations above therapeutic dose levels.


This paper describes five cases of an uncommon acral rash, acute palmoplantar pustulosis, which is precipitated by infection, and may represent a true pustular bacterid. Acute and chronic palmoplantar pustulosis are probably different forms of the same disease, but the prognosis in the acute form is good and aggressive therapy is not indicated. The relationship to psoriasis is discussed.


The study on the reproductive indices and gonadal development of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed shrimp based diet (SBD), chicken offal based diet (COBD) and coppens (commercial diet) was carried-out over a 22 weeks period in concrete tanks measuring 3.5 x 1.7 x 1.5 m3          (8.9 m3). Forty juveniles with average length of 9.15 ± 0.17 cm and weight of 20.00 ± 4.53 g were stored per group in triplicate, resulting in 360 juveniles in total. Fish were fed daily at 3% of their body weight through-out the duration of the experiment. The nutrient composition of the 3 nutrients differed significantly at p<0.05. The dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and ammonia levels in the culture water with fish fed the 3 diets were within the required level for normal fish growth through-out the experiment. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) of the male C. gariepinus fed diet A (Coppens feed), diet B (SBD) and diet C (COBD) were 0.35 ± 0.03%, 0.41 ± 0.04% and 0.36 ± 0.02% respectively. Female C. gariepinus fed diet A, diet B and diet C had a mean GSI of 1.17 ± 0.26%, 0.88 ± 0.27% and 0.77 ± 0.06% respectively. The male gonad weight and GSI varied significantly between the treatment group fed coppens, shrimp based diet and chicken offal based diet (p<0.05), while female gonad weight and GSI did not vary significantly between treatment groups (p>0.05). The hepatosomatic index (HSI) of the male C. gariepinus fed diet A, diet B and diet C were 1.36 ± 0.07%, 1.18 ± 0.07% and 1.21 ± 0.06% respectively. Female C. gariepinus fed diet A, diet B and diet C had a mean HSI of 1.27 ± 0.09%, 1.20 ± 0.06% and 4.27 ± 0.38% respectively. The male and female HSI varied insignificantly between the treatment group at p>0.05. Fecundity was highest (3200 ± 717.90 eggs) in fish fed diet A, followed by fish fed diet B (2392 ± 749 eggs) and least in fish fed diet C (1973 ± 184 eggs). The mean fecundity varied significantly between the fish fed the 3 experimental diet at p<0.05. Normal arrangement of the oocytes, liver and testis was observed in fish fed COBD and SBD, just as in the case of the group fed coppens. Though coppens feed yielded better fecundity, the use of COBD and SBD is recommended for fish farmers in Nigeria. More researches should be carried out on using varying levels of chicken offals and shrimps in fish feed formulation.


This article presents a new approach based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) to calculate the characteristic parameters of elliptic and circular-shaped microshield lines. Six learning algorithms, bayesian regularization (BR), Levenberg-Marquardt (LM), quasi- Newton (QN), scaled conjugate gradient (SCG), resilient propagation (RP), and conjugate gradient of Fletcher-Reeves (CGF), are used to train the ANNs. The neural results are in very good agreement with the results reported elsewhere. When the performances of neural models are compared with each other, the best and worst results are obtained from the ANNs trained by the BR and CGF algorithms, respectively.


We assessed the long-term efficacy of imatinib dose escalation in 84 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase who met the criteria of failure to standard-dose imatinib. Twenty-one patients with hematologic failure and 63 with cytogenetic failure had their imatinib dose escalated from 400 to 800 mg daily (n = 72) or from 300 to 600 mg daily (n = 12). After a median follow-up of 61 months from dose escalation, 69% remained alive. Complete cytogenetic responses were achieved in 40%; including 52% of patients with cytogenetic failure and 5% of those with hematologic failure. The estimated 2- and 3-year event-free survival and overall survival rates were 57% and 47%, and 84% and 76%, respectively. Responses were long-lasting; 88% of patients with major cytogenetic response sustained their response beyond 2 years. Treatment was well tolerated, with 76% of patients, at 12 months, continuing to receive imatinib at 100% of the intended dose. In conclusion, imatinib dose escalation can induce sustained responses in a subset of patients with cytogenetic failure and a previous cytogenetic response to standard-dose imatinib.


Background Body size measurements are critical in the correct assessment of cardiac adaptation to exercise in athletes. However, the impact of high body mass index (BMI) on cardiac dimensions in athletes is largely unknown. The aim of the study was to describe the normal cardiac parameters of a cohort of elite athletes characterised by BMI in the obesity range. Methods Between 2007 and 2014, 1857 elite athletes with complete anthropometric data (age 21±5 years, males 70%) free from any cardiac disease after a normal echocardiogram were studied. The analysis was focused on the echocardiograms of 50 athletes (72% rugby players) with BMI 30 and height <1.95 m (Group 1). We compared them with athletes matched for age and body surface area (BSA) with height >1.95 m and BMI<30 (Group 2, n=87) and age matched athletes with height<1.90 m and BMI between 20 and 29 (Group 3, n=243). Results The number of hours per week of exercise was lower in athletes of Group 1 (17±6 vs 22±7 in Group 2 and 19±7 in Group 3, p<0.001 between Group 1 and Group 2). Athletes belonging to Group 1 exhibited larger left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD) compared with Group 3 (57±6 vs 53±6 mm, p<0.001), but not with Group 2 (57±4, p=0.98). Twenty-five (50%) athletes of Group 1 vs 33 (38%) of Group 2 and 31 (13%) of Group 3 had a LV end-diastolic diameter >57 mm (p<0.001 between Group 1 and Group 3, p=0.23 between Group 1 and Group 2). Left ventricular (LV) wall thickness was higher in athletes of Group 1 (11±1 vs 10±2 in Group 2, p=0.001, vs 9±1 in Group 3, p<0.001). Twelve (24%) athletes in Group 1 vs 19 (21%) in Group 2 and 16 (6%) in Group 3 exhibited a LV wall thickness>11 mm (p<0.001 between Group 1 and Group 3, p=0.85 between Group 1 and 2). Left atrial diameter was significantly higher in Group 1 compared to Group 3 (40±5 vs 36±1 mm, p<0.001). BMI had a lower correlation coefficient for LVEDD with respect to BSA (r=0.39, p<0.001 vs r=0.59, p<0.001). Conclusions Athletes with BMI 30 are characterised by significantly increased LV size and left ventricular hypertrophy with wall thickness exceeding normal values in one in four cases.


This article deals with the problem of female gender stereotypes in French advertising texts. On the ground of the practical analysis of advertising texts published in some modern French periodicals, we managed to expose and define general and national-cultural female gender stereotypes fixed in collective consciousness of the French.


The author reviews the literature of the familial incidence of Gaucher's disease. Almost all the familial cases which have been described occurred in the members of one generation (siblings or cousins) only. To these cases reported in the literature the author adds 25, of which 4 were "sporadic" cases. The other 21 cases occurred in 6 families. The pedigrees of these families are presented. After an analysis of the available data the author presents the following hypothesis for the hereditary mechanism in these families: Gaucher's disease is a mutation which, once established, is transmitted as a simple dominant hereditary trait. In the affected individuals this trait gives rise to a disturbance of lipid metabolism which results in the accumulation of kerasin in the reticulum cells throughout the body. The severity of the disease may vary considerably. It can be present in such a slight degree that the amount of kerasin accumulated during life is too small to give rise to clinical manifestations. In other cases the progression may be so slow that the disease becomes manifest only in old age, provided the affected individual lives long enough. In these "subclinical cases," a diagnosis of Gaucher's disease can sometimes be made by the detection of "early Gaucher cells" in the sternal marrow. Individuals thus affected suffer from Gaucher's trait rather than from the actual disease. However, they can transmit the disease to 50 per cent of their offspring, and thus function as (almost) normal "carriers." In the family trees presented, it appeared that the disease tended to become more severe in every succeeding generation until after two or three generations it became clinically manifest in the affected individuals early in life. In the next generation it would then establish itself during fetal life so as to give rise to abortion, stillbirth or early death of the affected infant. In this way the mutation extinguishes itself, by permitting only the unaffected offspring of the affected individuals to persist. As a practical conclusion it is urged that a sternal marrow examination be included in every genetic investigation of Gaucher's disease as the best method available at present for the detection of subclinical cases or "carriers."


Comparison of the mean results of routine pulmonary function studies of 17 patients with diffuse pulmonary paracoccidioidomycosis (PM) and manifestations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to those of 17 matched patients with pure COPD showed no significant differences. These findings were interpreted as fresh evidence suggesting that expiratory obstruction in PM may be secondary to underlying COPD. Other evidence to that effect is discussed.


Abstract Objective As intake of flavonoids has been associated with reduced risk of coronary heart disease but data on the relation with specific classes of flavonoids are scarce, we assessed the relation between dietary intake of specific classes of flavonoids and the risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in an Italian population. Design Case–control study. Dietary information was collected by interviewers on a questionnaire tested for validity and reproducibility. Adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained by multiple logistic regression models including terms for energy and alcohol intake, as well as sociodemographic factors, tobacco and other major recognised risk factors for AMI. Setting Milan, Italy, between 1995 and 2003. Subjects Cases were 760 patients, below age 79 years, with a first episode of non-fatal AMI, and controls were 682 patients admitted to hospital for acute conditions unrelated to diet. Results A reduced risk of AMI was found for increasing intake of anthocyanidins (OR = 0.45, 95% CI 0.26–0.78 for the highest vs. the lowest quintile, Ptrend = 0.003) and flavonols (OR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.41–1.02, Ptrend = 0.02). A tendency towards reduced risks, although not significant, was observed for flavan-3-ols (OR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.48–1.10) and total flavonoids (OR = 0.74, 95% CI 0.49–1.14). No meaningful heterogeneity was found between the sexes. No association emerged for other flavonoids, including isoflavones, flavanones and flavones. Conclusions High intake of anthocyanidins reduced the risk of AMI even after allowance for alcohol, fruit and vegetables, supporting a real inverse association between this class of flavonoids and AMI risk.


The preparation and characterization of a novel series of radioactively labeled membrane probes is described. These probes are carbohydrate derivatives of fatty acids which contain a photosensitive azide moiety at a specified distance along the alkyl chain. The function of the carbohydrate group is to restrict the azide function to the outer surface monolayer of sealed membrane systems. The azide probes have been used in several well-characterized membrane systems including erythrocyte ghosts, membrane-enveloped viruses, and artificial vesicles. Upon activation, the probes attach to integral proteins to form a stable, covalent complex which may be extracted and identified. The activation protocol is outlined and some of the preliminary results are discussed.


The paper gives data on the ways of identifying the pattern of head insertion, wire point, the degree of head flexion and extension, asynclitism, and configuration from the fetal and neonatal skull. The findings are important for the assessment of the course of labor and the quality of its management and for the diagnosis of birth injury. Emphasis is laid on the significance of brain compression in the genesis of fetal asphyxia.


The most obvious way for a corporation to resist compulsory production of documents that contain evidence of potential misconduct is to claim that production may tend to incriminate the company. Until recently, it was assumed that corporations were entitled to claim the privilege against self-incrimination; the High Court never having expressed a conclusive opinion on the question. In EPA v Caltex, however, a narrow majority of the Court held that the focus of the privilege is to prevent abuses of personal freedoms and individual human rights, and therefore, that the privilege has no application to corporate entities. It also endorsed a wide interpretation of statutory powers to compel production. This note examines the Caltex decision and assesses its implications for white-collar crime investigation and enforcement.


Rational design of catalysts has mostly focused on the nanoscale. However, performance of nanoporous catalysts, such as zeolites, is often diffusion limited in industrial operations. A validated rational design methodology that reduces transport limitations and maximizes particle-based, overall catalytic performance is lacking. There is a wide gap between theoretical and experimental efforts, which this paper aims to narrow by presenting, for the first time, theoretical optimization side by side with experimental catalytic results guided by our numerical optimization. Combining theory with experiments provides a sound basis for the rational design of catalysts at all scales, reducing cost and development time compared to empirical approaches. We illustrate this approach by addressing the optimal design and synthesis of hierarchically structured zeolite composites using a combination of multiscale modeling, optimization and experiments. The composites contain zeolite crystals dispersed in an amorphous mesoporous matrix. The industrially important alkylation of benzene by ethylene over H-ZSM-5 to form ethylbenzene is used to illustrate our approach. The slow diffusion of benzene and ethylbenzene within a zeolite crystal induces strong diffusion limitations, which can be overcome by introducing an optimized network of mesopores surrounding the zeolite crystals. However, the introduction of mesopores reduces the volume of zeolite available for reaction. Therefore, the mesoporosity, the mesopore diameter and the zeolite crystal size are theoretically optimized to maximize the catalytic activity of the zeolite composite. To describe diffusion and reaction within a catalyst pellet, a hierarchical approach is employed. Intrinsic kinetics from density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used, and adsorption and diffusion inside the zeolite crystals are accounted for by using a combination of the dusty gas model adapted for zeolites and the Ideal Adsorbed Solution Theory. Single pellet optimization studies using finite element simulations are used to determine the optimal pore network properties of the zeolite composite. The optimized hierarchically structured zeolite composites are then synthesized using a combination of hydrothermal treatment and sol-gel methods. Properties of the zeolite crystals, such as size and Si/Al ratio, are tuned independently of the meso/macropore properties, providing greater flexibility. Fixed bed reactor experiments are used to compare the catalytic activity of the synthesized zeolite composites with the theoretical predictions from fixed bed reactor simulations. This methodology could speed up catalyst discovery by complementing experiments for screening catalyst candidates, and can be adapted to other industrially important reactions such as isomerizations and cracking.


ABSTRACT In this paper, experiments have been performed to further the development of conductivity of the polyethylene. This study mainly investigated the surface resistivity and surface wettability of the polyethylene (PE) after ionic liquid modifications. In order to activate the surface, PE was pre-treated with chromic acid and then modified with 1-ethyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium ethyl sulfate (IL1) and methyl-tri-n-butylammonium methyl sulfate (IL2) ionic liquids. The effect of the type and concentration of the ionic liquid IL1 and IL2 concentrations is examined by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface resistivity and surface wettability. Results showed that thermal stability of the PE deteriorated after ionic liquid modifications. Both untreated and modified fabrics exhibited resembling crystallinity parameters. Nearly 57% enhancement in surface wettability of the PE was achieved. The pre-treatment process decreased the surface resistivity and increased surface wettability of the PE. The main success in this research is that IL1 and IL2 modifications reduced the resistivity data from 1011 ohm/sq to 107 ohm/sq and 108 ohm/sq, respectively. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


The molecular dipole moments and local environments of water in its liquid phase were examined for a series of first-principles Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations along the vapour–liquid coexistence curve using the Becke–Lee–Yang–Parr (BLYP) and Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange/correlation density functionals. Molecular dipole moments were computed using maximally localized Wannier functions with the Berry phase scheme, while the structure was analysed with respect to tetrahedral order parameter and hydrogen bonding. Increasing the temperature results in a decrease of both the average molecular dipole moment and the local structure, although the width of the dipole distribution remains fairly constant. A correlation is found between the extent of the local structure and the magnitude of the molecular dipole moment, but this correlation is limited to the first solvation shell.


BACKGROUND
Complementary or integrative care therapies are promising adjunctive approaches to pain management for pediatric inpatients that are currently underused and understudied. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential benefits of integrative care therapies delivered to hospitalized children and adolescents at a large Midwestern academic pediatric medical center over a 1-year period.

METHODS
A retrospective chart review of an inpatient clinical database maintained by integrative care therapists over a 1-year period was used for the current study. Pre/post pain and relaxation scores associated with the delivery of inpatient integrative care therapies (primarily massage therapy and healing touch) were examined.

RESULTS
Five-hundred nineteen hospitalized children and adolescents were treated by integrative care therapists for primarily pain or anxiety needs. Patients had a mean age of 10.2 years (standard deviation, 7.0), 224 were female (43%), 383 were white (74%), and most (393 [77%]) received massage therapy. Mean pain and relaxation scores decreased significantly from pre- to post-therapy across all demographic and clinical subgroups (p≤.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Although integrative care therapies are increasingly requested and offered in children's hospitals, provision of these approaches is driven primarily by consumer demand rather than evidence-informed practice. Future controlled studies should examine the incremental effects of integrative care therapies as an adjunct to conventional treatment, assess how these therapies work mechanistically, and determine whether they improve outcomes, such as pain and cost, for hospitalized children and adolescents.


We present the case of a 25 year old Caucasian man with atopic dermatitis since the age of 7 that increased severity after 18 years old. He was medicated with anti-histamines, topical steroids, cycles of high dosage systemic corticotherapy and ultraviolet A phototherapy combined with psoralen (PUVA), without significant improvement and recurrent worsening each time there was a attempt to tapper oral corticotherapy dosage. Several therapy adjustments were made without success before intravenous immunoglobulin G therapy. We present the clinical evolution of this patient under intravenous immunoglobulin G therapy and discuss this therapy's role in the treatment of atopic dermatitis.


In this paper, we evaluate performance of a real-world image processing application that uses a cross-correlation algorithm to compare a given image with a reference one. We implement this algorithm on a nVidia GTX 285 GPU using CUDA, and also parallelize it for the Intel Xeon (Nehalem) and IBM Power7 processors, using both manual and automatic techniques. Pthreads and OpenMP with SSE and VSX vector intrinsics are used for the manually parallelized version, while a state-of-the-art optimization framework based on the polyhedral model is used for automatic compiler parallelization and optimization. The best performing versions on the Power7, Nehalem, and GTX 285 run in 1.02s, 1.82s, and 1.22s, respectively. The performance of this algorithm on the nVidia GPU suffers from: (1) a smaller shared memory, (2) unaligned device memory access patterns, (3) expensive atomic operations, and (4) weaker single-thread performance. These results conclusively demonstrate that, under certain conditions, it is possible for a FLOP-intensive structured application running on a multi-core processor to match or even beat the performance of an equivalent GPU version.


The objective of this study is to determine the type of governance of the four main agricultural value chains in Tamaulipas, northeast of Mexico. For the preparation of this research used a qualitative design, using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to a sample of representatives of the four selected chains. The results showed that in all the studied networks, control and coordination capacity is limited by the influence that has a link on the rest of the chain. In all cases, was that the industrial link is who leads the chains and exert control over the rest of the links. The results showed that, when the industrial link is located close geographically to the rest of the links (chains of rice and sugar cane), the chains showed a hierarchical type, where the industrial exercised dominion over the rest of the links and captures most of the income. On the other hand, in chains where control is exercised by links that are outside the territory (chains of soybeans and sorghum), they function as captive chains, putting the rest of the chain to its influence and control.


A generalized non-local Fokker-Planck type kinetic equation obtained on the basis of quantum-mechanical formalism is used to study the conduction electron dynamics in model semiconductors excited by spatially inhomogeneous pulsed laser irradiation. In this approach the electrons are assumed to undergo a drift-diffusion motion in the energy-position manifold.


ObjectiveAtherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease. Natural killer T cells are a unique lymphocyte subset that can recognize lipid antigens presented by CD1d and secrete copious amounts of pro-atherogenic cytokines such as interferon-&ggr;. We have previously shown that natural killer T cells accelerate atherosclerosis in mice and macrophages incubated with oxidized low-density lipoproteins induce natural killer T cells to produce interferon-&ggr;. Thus, whether the prevalence of natural killer T cells in peripheral blood is altered in patients with angina pectoris and its correlation with coronary risk factors was determined. MethodCell profiling was performed using flow cytometry in patients with stable angina, unstable angina (Braunwald IIIB), and healthy controls. Natural killer T cells in peripheral blood were identified by the expression of natural killer T specific invariant T cell receptor &agr;-chain (V&agr;24) and T cell receptor &bgr;-chain (V&bgr;11). ResultsPrevalence of natural killer T (V&agr;24–V&bgr;11 double positive) cells was significantly decreased in patients with unstable angina and stable angina compared with that in controls. No significant differences were observed in the prevalence between unstable and stable angina. Reduction of natural killer T cells was independently associated with the presence of angina. ConclusionsLower prevalence of circulating natural killer T cells is related to the presence of coronary artery disease. As T cell receptor down-regulation or apoptosis after natural killer T cell activation and subsequent interferon-&ggr; release may contribute to atherogenesis, natural killer T cells can become a novel therapeutic target for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic vascular diseases.


This paper presents some experiments to analyse the popularity effect in music recommendation. Popularity is measured in terms of total playcounts, and the Long Tail model is used in order to rank music artists. Furthermore, metrics derived from complex network analysis are used to detect the influence of the most popular artists in the network of similar artists.
 The results from the experiments reveal that---as expected by its inherent social component---the collaborative filtering approach is prone to popularity bias. This has some consequences on the discovery ratio as well as in the navigation through the Long Tail. On the other hand, in both audio content--based and human expert--based approaches artists are linked independently of their popularity. This allows one to navigate from a mainstream artist to a Long Tail artist in just two or three clicks.


The quality-guided phase unwrapping algorithm is one of the most employed spatial algorithms due to its computational efficiency and robustness. It uses a quality map to guide the unwrapping process such that pixels are processed according to their quality values from highest to lowest. Several improvements have been proposed during the last few years with the purpose of using it in time-demanding applications. However, many of the proposals depend on the distribution of the values on the given quality map. In this paper, a novel pruning strategy based on a red-black tree data structure is proposed, whose complexity time is independent of the distribution of the given quality map. We take advantage of the partial ordering of the branches in a red-black tree together with a pruning strategy to speed up the unwrapping process. Experimental results, using real and simulated data, show that the complexity time of our proposal improves the existing quality-guide-based algorithms. Also, a series of interferometric patterns of a time-varying phase distribution experiment have been processed showing that our proposal can be used for real-time applications. The source code of the implemented algorithms is publicly available.


A novel ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheet-modified BiOCl hierarchical flower-like plate heterostructure (abbreviated as BC/CN) was constructed via a thermal polymerization of urea precursor followed with hydrolysis route. The as-prepared samples were well characterized by various analytical techniques. The morphological observation showed that hierarchical flower-like BiOCl nanoplates were discretely anchored on the surface of ultra-thin C3N4 nanosheets. The photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared photocatalysts was evaluated by degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible-light irradiation. The results showed that BC/CN photocatalyst exhibited enhanced photostability and photocatalytic performance in the degradation process. On the basis of experimental results and the analysis of band energy structure, it could be inferred that the enhanced photocatalytic performance of BC/CN photocatalyst was intimately related with the hybridization of hierarchical flower-like BiOCl nanoplates with ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets, which provided good adsorptive capacity, extended light absorption, suppressed the recombination of photo-generated electron–hole pairs, and facilitated charge transfer efficiently.


INTRODUCTION
Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) encompasses a spectrum of age-related conditions that result in progressive spinal cord injury through static and dynamic injury mechanisms. Through detailed review of MRIs from prospective AOSpine multicenter studies, the global prevalence of degenerative cervical pathologies of surgically treated DCM patients is reported.

METHODS
MRIs of 458 patients were obtained from North America (n = 197), Europe (n = 92), Latin America (n = 57), and Asia-Pacific (n = 112) and assessed for the type of pathology, source of stenosis, level of maximum cord compression, levels of spinal cord compression (SCC), presence of signal changes on T2-weighted images (T2WI) and T1-weighted images, and the levels of T2WI signal change. The proportion of degenerative changes present alongside other diagnoses was computed as well as the prevalence of pathologies per geographical region. The prevalence of degenerative changes was separated by sex and assessed using χ analysis.

RESULTS
Spondylosis was the most frequent cause of SCC (89.7%) and it was frequently accompanied by enlargement of the ligamentum flavum (59.85%). Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) was accompanied by spondylosis in 91.7%. Single-level disc pathology, OPLL, and spondylolisthesis had a prevalence of ∼10%. Klippel-Feil syndrome was observed in 2.8%. Single-level pathology was less common in North America, and OPLL was more common and spondylolisthesis less common in Asia-Pacific. Females presented more commonly with single-level disc pathology (P = .013), and males with spondylosis (P = .017) and enlargement of ligamentum flavum (P = .012). Globally, C5-6 was the most frequent maximum compressed site (39.7%) and region for T2WI hyperintensity (38.9%). T2WI hyperintensity more commonly presented in males (P < .001).

CONCLUSION
DCM pathologies, including OPLL, are highly interrelated and rarely present in isolation. Females presented with milder evidence of DCM on MRI. There are also variances in the spectrum and prevalence of pathologies between geographical regions and these may be due to a multitude of causes.


Extending semantic parsing systems to new domains and languages is a highly expensive, time-consuming process, so making effective use of existing resources is critical. In this paper, we describe a transfer learning method using crosslingual word embeddings in a sequence-to-sequence model. On the NLmaps corpus, our approach achieves state-of-the-art accuracy of 85.7% for English. Most importantly, we observed a consistent improvement for German compared with several baseline domain adaptation techniques. As a by-product of this approach, our models that are trained on a combination of English and German utterances perform reasonably well on code-switching utterances which contain a mixture of English and German, even though the training data does not contain any such. As far as we know, this is the first study of code-switching in semantic parsing. We manually constructed the set of code-switching test utterances for the NLmaps corpus and achieve 78.3% accuracy on this dataset.


This thesis observes the success of 6th grade secondary school students on the topic of fractions with the help of brain based learning and it observes the level of its effects on mathematic course. Pre-test and Post-test control group experimental design is used in this search. The search is carried out of total 30 course hours. In order to collect data achievement test,attitude test, cerebral dominance test and interview form are used in the search.The data which are derived from the search, are analysed with Spss 17.0. In the analysing of statistical data, after searching the normality of the data t-test is used both in control and experimental group. The obtained data from the applied analyses; In the last test markings between the control and the experimental group, the success is statistically different in a clear level for the benefit of the experimental group.In the last test markings between the control and the experimental group,the attitude is statistically different in a clear level for the benefit of the experimental group.Furthermore, In the meetings it is understood that the students have positive ideas on the course practices which based on brain based learning method


Phlebotomines are invertebrate hosts of Leishmania genus species which are etiological agents of leishmaniases in humans and other mammals. Sandflies are often collected in entomological studies of caves both in the inner area and the adjacent environments. Caves are ecotypes clearly different from the external environment. Several caves have been opened to public visitation before any studies were performed and the places do not have scientific monitoring of the fauna, flora, geological and geographical characteristics. These events can lead to the loss of geological and biological information. Considering these aspects, this study aimed to describe the sand fly fauna, including the ecological features, in a limestone cave at the Speleological Province of Bambuí (Minas Gerais State, Brazil). A total of 8,354 specimens of sandflies belonging to 29 species were analyzed: Lutzomyia cavernicola (20%), Nyssomyia intermedia (15%), Martinsmyia oliveirai (13%), Evandromyia spelunca (12%), Evandromyia sallesi (11%), Migonemyia migonei (9%), Nyssomyia whitmani (9%), Sciopemyia sordellii (4%) and Lutzomyia longipalpis (2%). The others species represent 5% of the total. This manuscript presents data found on richness, diversity, evenness and seasonality, comparing the sand fly fauna trapped in the cave and its surroundings.


We study the crystal structure of a triplite-structured (Li0.5Fe0.5)SO4F with full Li+/Fe2+ mixing. This promising polyanion cathode material for lithium-ion batteries operates at 3.9 V versus Li+/Li with a theoretical capacity of 151 mAh/g. Its unique cation mixing structure does not block the Li+ diffusion and results in a small lattice volume change during the charge/discharge process. The calculations show that it has a three-dimensional network for Li-ion migration with an activation energy ranging from 0.53 eV to 0.68 eV, which is comparable with that in LiFePO4 with only one-dimensional channels. This work suggests that further exploring cathode materials with full cation mixing for Li-ion batteries will be valuable.


Although there have been many breakthroughs in the use of convolutional neural networks (CNN) for image classification, facial expression recognition (FER) in real-life is still a challenge in this research area. This paper proposes a method to leverage state-of-the-art multi-deep CNN encoders with support vector machines (SVM) to classify facial expression. We conducted experiments to show that combining features from multi-deep CNN is better than using a single deep CNN model. As well as combining multiple CNN models, we show that using rules to remove noise images from the training dataset improves the performance of the FER system. The FER2013 dataset was used to evaluate the proposed approach, which achieved 73.78% accuracy.


Most patients with facial nerve paralysis have idiopathic, or Bell's palsy. Nevertheless, other more serious causes should be carefully excluded before Bell's palsy is diagnosed. Several tests can help the physician determine the site of the lesion and the physiologic extent of involvement of the facial nerve. The type of treatment depends on the cause of the paralysis and whether it is complete or partial. Familiarity with facial nerve anatomy and the various causes of facial paralysis should facilitate early diagnosis and appropriate treatment.


We study decompositions of automorphisms of various free modules into products of transvections and dilations. In particular, for a free -module (where ) we show that any automorphism can be expressed as a product of not more than transvections and one simple transformation which is a transvection if and a dilation otherwise. As a corollary we obtain that for the width of the group , with respect to the set of commutators, does not exceed 10.