The linear and nonlinear harmonic methods are efficient frequency domain methods for analyzing time periodic unsteady flow fields. They have been widely used in both academia and industry. But the cost and complexity of developing a linear harmonic solver has been limiting its wider applications. On the other hand, the automatic differentiation (AD) has long been used in the CFD community with a focus on generating adjoint codes in a reverse mode. All those AD tools can do a much better job in generating linearized codes in a tangent mode, but so far very little, if any, attention is paid to using AD for developing linear harmonic solvers.
 The linear harmonic method, in comparison with the harmonic balance method, has its own advantages. For example, it can capture small disturbances very effectively, and avoids aliasing errors which can lead to solution instability since each wave component is solved for separately.
 This paper presents the effort of using an AD tool to generate major source codes for the development of a linear harmonic solver for analyzing time periodic unsteady flows. It includes the procedures and advice of using AD for such a purpose. A case study is also presented to validate the developed linear harmonic solver.


Saving is an important indicator of economic development where it is viewed as an element of finance. This main objective of this thesis is to investigate the saving behavior of working and elderly. It is suggested that working people make saving compared to the elderly, which consistent with the life-cycle hypothesis theory. Besides that, the other objectives are to exam the effect on saving for people who have old age protection plans such as pension scheme, EPF and insurance scheme. In this thesis, the data are collected by survey interview. A total of 400 respondents were chosen by the nonprobability sampling design and they are interviewed by face to face. For statistical analysis, the saving behaviors are divided into two. First, the saving rate (which is modeled by multiple regression). Second, the probability of saving (which is modeled by logistic regression). Results of descriptive analysis show that in terms of percentage of savings (save or not), the workers are higher than the elderly. However, by level of education, more elderly have saving compared to worker. Results of multiple regression model suggests that the significant determinants of one's saving rate are ethnic groups, level of education, income from business and level of incomes. Whereas, for probability of saving, the significant determinants are age, ethnic groups, level of education, working and insurances. Either descriptive statistics or the econometrics modeling, the saving behavior of working people and elderly are found to be different significant such that working people tend to save more than elderly. The policy implications and suggestions are discussed. For instance, policymakers should keep an eye on all of the significant variables of saving behaviours on formulating policies to encourage saving in Malaysia.


This paper is concerned with the convergence and the error analysis for the feedback particle filter (FPF) algorithm. The FPF is a controlled interacting particle system where the control law is designed to solve the nonlinear filtering problem. For the linear Gaussian case, certain simplifications arise whereby the linear FPF reduces to one form of the ensemble Kalman filter. For this and for the more general nonlinear non-Gaussian case, it has been an open problem to relate the convergence and error properties of the finite-$N$ algorithm to the mean-field limit (where the exactness results have been obtained). In this paper, the equations for empirical mean and covariance are derived for the finite-$N$ linear FPF. Remarkably, for a certain deterministic form of FPF, the equations for mean and variance are identical to the Kalman filter. This allows strong conclusions on convergence and error properties based on the classical filter stability theory for the Kalman filter. It is shown that the error converges to zero even with finite number of particles. The paper also presents propagation of chaos estimates for the finite-$N$ linear filter. The error estimates are illustrated with numerical experiments.


Scalable Video Coding (SVC) has been raised as a promising technique to enable flexible video transmission for mobile users with heterogeneous terminals and varying channel capacities. In this paper, we design an adaptive layer switching algorithm for on-demand scalable video service based on receiver's buffer underflow probability (BUP). Since the low quality of channel may lead to a low buffer fullness, the buffer fullness is an indicator for reflecting the channel condition and we define BUP for characterizing the mismatch between the video bitrate and the channel throughput. Accordingly, the adaptive SVC transmission problem is formulated as the adaptive adjustment of video layers based on BUP. This allows us to optimize the attainable video quality, while keeping BUP below a desired level. To estimate BUP, we derive an analytical model based on the large deviation principles. Then, an online layer switching algorithm is proposed using this estimation model, which is capable of accommodating different channel qualities without any prior knowledge of the channel variations and of the video characteristics. We further introduce a perturbation-based layer switching approach for reducing the quality fluctuating issue caused by frequent layer switches, thus improving the viewer's quality of experience. A system prototype is implemented to evaluate the success of the proposed method. We also conduct simulations in multiuser scenarios with real video traces and the results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is capable of improving the playback experience, while keeping a low playback interruption rate and quality variation.


In this work, an instrument of drop-on-demand electrohydrodynamic jet (DoD E-Jet) printing device equipped with a current measurement and control system was designed and developed for finely controlling the printing process. The relationships between the current and printing parameters of voltage, frequency, and flow rate were deeply investigated, and the examination data and conclusion were obtained under the condition of the needle size remaining unchanged. Especially, the equation relationship between the flow rate and current was established, which can be used for the modification of the DoD E-Jet printing process. The map describing the stable printing range, droplet size, and current was also recognized, which can help us to select parameters for stable printing. Based on the current measurement and control system and the established relationship, the optimized current and printing parameters were chosen to print uniform graphene microstructures. This instrument provides an effective method for monitoring, adjusting, and controlling the DoD E-Jet printing process and further improving the quality of the printed structures for micro/nanoelectromechanical system (M/NEMS) devices.


Fifteen nursing home facilities were classified into two temperature groups (warm and cold) and two humidity groups (moist and dry) according to measured room temperature and relative humidity, respectively. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to assess the effect of indoor thermal environment on the condition of residents, characterised by the need for care. Two questions were evaluated: "Did the needed care level deteriorate (i.e., intensify)?" and "If so, how long did it take for care level to deteriorate?" The results showed that the cold group and the dry group had higher risks of deterioration of care level. Furthermore, residents in facilities that were both warm and moist had the lowest risk. This result suggests that both temperature and humidity are important in preventing the need for care.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate the association between exposure to physical and sexual violence, and suicidal ideation in Brazilian Schoolchildren, accounting for confounding variables of religious practice, and problems with alcohol and other drugs. Methods: This study consists of a cross-sectional analytical approach of a larger school-based study conducted in 2012 in two medium-sized municipalities in south of Brazil. Participants were 3,547 students aging 12 to 17 years old who answered an assembled questionnaire. Descriptive and Logistic Regression analyses were conducted with suicide ideation outcome testing prediction models stratified by sex. Results: Suicide ideation prevalence in the sample was of 21.7%, and regression analysis indicated that girls and boys exposed to physical or sexual violence had 3.42 and 3.14 times more probability of referring suicidal ideation in the past 30 days. Adjusted analyses showed little interference of religious practice, while problems with alcohol and other drugs seemed to also explain suicidal ideation in the sample. Conclusion: We highlight the importance of future longitudinal studies to investigate the mechanisms through which exposure to physical or sexual abuse influence suicidal ideation among boys and girls, as well as mediation studies that could enlighten the role of drug and alcohol use in this relationship.


I examine strategic behavior among dealers in the NASDAQ market and document that there is a lead quote-setting dealer in each security and that the quotes posted by this leader are informative. Other dealers free-ride this information by following the lead quote-setting dealer. The lead dealer can be identified by two information signals: (1) percentage of time spent on the inside market (i.e., posting inside quotes), and (2) trade volume transacted. Dealers that free-ride the leader's quotes quickly update their posted quotes in the same direction as the leader's quote change. My findings suggest that directing trade to the lead dealer may be more advantageous than randomly routing trade. 2007 The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.


Disparities along racial and ethnic lines persist across domains. Distinguishing among the possible sources of such disparities matters. This article introduces an absolute test for identifying prejudice in the presence of statistical discrimination. In the context of police officers deciding whether to conduct vehicle searches, the key intuition of the test is that each officer's search decisions and search outcomes generate a point on a concave "return possibility frontier," (RPF) whose slope equals the officer's search cost, or personal standard of evidence for conducting a search. Variation along a RPF provides information about search costs, and a discrepancy in these costs across drivers of different races constitutes prejudice. The model and test generalize and unify the existing literature, and the test can be partially extended to the setting where officers vary in the quality of their information, or discernment. Higher discernment generates an expansion of the frontier, and a version of the test remains valid for more discerning officers. Empirically, the test finds suggestive evidence of prejudice against Hispanic drivers and of varying discernment among officers of different races and ethnicities. These results are robust to (and not well explained by) officer experience. (JEL C26, K42, J15)


A popular way to study the tail of a distribution is to consider its extreme quantiles. While this is a standard procedure for univariate distributions, it is harder for multivariate ones, primarily because there is no universally accepted definition of what a multivariate quantile should be. In this paper, we focus on extreme geometric quantiles. Their asymptotics are established, both in direction and magnitude, under suitable moment conditions, when the norm of the associated index vector tends to one. In particular, it appears that if a random vector has a finite covariance matrix, then the magnitude of its extreme geometric quantiles grows at a fixed rate. We take advantage of these results to define an estimator of extreme geometric quantiles of such a random vector. The consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimator are established and our results are illustrated on some numerical examples.


Integrative, single-cell analyses may provide unprecedented insights into cellular and spatial diversity of the tumor microenvironment. The sparsity, noise, and high dimensionality of these data present unique challenges. Whilst approaches for integrating single-cell data are emerging and are far from being standardized, most data integration, cell clustering, cell trajectory, and analysis pipelines employ a dimension reduction step, frequently principal component analysis (PCA), a matrix factorization method that is relatively fast, and can easily scale to large datasets when used with sparse-matrix representations. In this review, we provide a guide to PCA and related methods. We describe the relationship between PCA and singular value decomposition, the difference between PCA of a correlation and covariance matrix, the impact of scaling, log-transforming, and standardization, and how to recognize a horseshoe or arch effect in a PCA. We describe canonical correlation analysis (CCA), a popular matrix factorization approach for the integration of single-cell data from different platforms or studies. We discuss alternatives to CCA and why additional preprocessing or weighting datasets within the joint decomposition should be considered.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

The aim of this study was to improve detection of primary and metastatic lesions of human pancreatic cancer in mouse models with fluorescence laparoscopy by enhancing the fluorescence signal of tumor with different combinations of fluorophores without compromising background illumination. Human pancreatic cancer models were established with combinations of FG-RFP, MiaPaca2-GFP, BxPC-3-RFP, or BxPC-3 cancer cells implanted in 6-week-old female athymic mice. Two weeks post-implantation, diagnostic laparoscopy was performed with a Stryker L9000 LED light source 24 hours after tail vein injection of CEA antibodies conjugated with Alexa 488- and/or Alexa 555. Cancer lesions were detected and localized under the fluorescence light mode. Intravital images were obtained with the Maestro CRI Small Animal Imaging System, serving as a positive control. Tumors were collected for histologic review. Fluorescence laparoscopy with a 495-nm emission filter and an LED light source enabled real-time visualization of differently fluorescence-labeled tumors in the peritoneal cavity simultaneously. The combination of BxPC-3 RFP labeled with anti-CEA-Alexa 488 afforded the brightest signal of all established mouse models. We were able to reproduce this enhanced fluorescence signaling by doubly labeling non-color BxPC-3 tumor with anti-CEA-Alexa 488 and anti-CEA-Alexa 555. The doubly labeled tumor provided a greater signal intensity profile compared to tumors labeled with either anti-CEA-Alexa 488 or -Alexa 555 alone. This enhanced fluorescence signal permitted improved detection of sub-millimeter lesions without compromising background illumination. The ability to visualize tumor deposits expressing fluorescent proteins of different wavelengths simultaneously with an LED light source enabled us to establish the optimal combination of fluorophores that enhanced the signal intensity of fluorescence. With this optimal fluorophore combination, we improved the detection of sub-millimeter tumor lesions without impairing the visualization of surrounding structures necessary for surgical navigation.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 369. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-369


AIM
To evaluate the effectiveness in primary care of a stepped smoking cessation intervention based on the transtheoretical model of change.

DESIGN
Cluster randomized trial; unit of randomization: basic care unit (family physician and nurse who care for the same group of patients); and intention-to-treat analysis.

SETTING
All interested basic care units (n = 176) that worked in 82 primary care centres belonging to the Spanish Preventive Services and Health Promotion Research Network in 13 regions of Spain.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 2,827 smokers (aged 14-85 years) who consulted a primary care centre for any reason, provided written informed consent and had valid interviews.

MEASUREMENTS
The outcome variable was the 1-year continuous abstinence rate at the 2-year follow-up. The main variable was the study group (intervention/control). Intervention involved 6-month implementation of recommendations from a Clinical Practice Guideline which included brief motivational interviews for smokers at the precontemplation-contemplation stage, brief intervention for smokers in preparation-action who do not want help, intensive intervention with pharmacotherapy for smokers in preparation-action who want help and reinforcing intervention in the maintenance stage. Control group involved usual care. Among others, characteristics of tobacco use and motivation to quit variables were also collected.

FINDINGS
The 1-year continuous abstinence rate at the 2-year follow-up was 8.1% in the intervention group and 5.8% in the control group (P = 0.014). In the multivariate logistic regression, the odds of quitting of the intervention versus control group was 1.50 (95% confidence interval = 1.05-2.14).

CONCLUSIONS
A stepped smoking cessation intervention based on the transtheoretical model significantly increased smoking abstinence at a 2-year follow-up among smokers visiting primary care centres.


The block-matching motion estimation is the most popular technique for motion compensated coding of image sequence. Due to the intensive computational requirement to perform motion estimation (ME) in real-time, application specific VLSI implementation of the ME is indispensable. We present a novel block-matching criterion for motion estimation called reduced bits mean absolute difference (RBMAD). By comparison with conventional schemes, our scheme reduces hardware requirement and increases the speed of computation in VLSI chip with acceptable video performance. We describe in detail the video performances of proposed criterion and conventional ones. We also show our VLSI implementation using the proposed scheme to compare the hardware requirement and operating speed with conventional ones. It is found that RBMAD using 4 bits has reasonable video performance with 57% less VLSI area and 34% faster, thus it is suitable for low cost applications of video coding.


Biomass has emerged as a potential alternative feedstock to dwindling fossil fuel reserves. Starting in the 1990s, extensive research has been directed towards the synthesis of useful platform chemicals from cellulosic biomass. Chemical conversion processes of biomass have evolved as a parallel approach to thermochemical and enzymatic synthetic routes. In this review, we summarize the recent developments in liquid phase chemical conversions of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. The reaction processes explored are hydrolysis, oxidation, reduction, hydrogenation, hydrogenolysis, esterification, etherification, glycosylation, dehydration, as well as the functionalization of the polysaccharide backbone. Our review follows a "process-driven" approach where the existing carbohydrate conversion pathways are classified according to the types of chemical processes involved.


From the histochemical study of DPN and TPN diaphorase on the striated muscles of the cats, the following results were obtained. 1. M. gastrocnemius, which belongs to the white muscle by naked eye, consists of three types of muscle fibers distinguished by the DPN diaphorase staining: namely, the small muscle fibers, i. e., the red
muscle fibers show a moderate activity, being stained pink, while the large muscle fibers, i. e., the white muscle fibers show a low activity, being stained faint pink. The. third type of muscle fibers: namely, the medium fibers are stained pale pink and show the enzymatic activity intermediate between the red and white muscle fibers. 2. M. soleus, belonging to the red muscle by naked eye, consists of three types of fibers distinguished by the DPN-diaphorase staining, i. e., the red muscle fibers are stained pink, medium fibers pale pink, and a few white muscle fibers faint pink. The diameters of these three types of muscle fibers in M. soleus are almost the same. 3. From the staining pattern of TPN-diaphorase in M. gastrocnemius and M. soleus, the three types of muscle fibers can be distinguished by TPN-diaphorase activity, namely, the red muscle fibers show a high TPN-diaphorase activity, being stained purple, while, the white muscle fibers a low activity, being stained pale pink. The medium fibers are stained pink and show a moderate enzymatic activity intermediate between the red and white muscle fibers. 4. The TPN-diaphorase activity is higher than the DPN-diaphorase activity in the striated muscle, but it is less active than the TPN-diapborase activity in the kidney. However, the activity of DPN-diaphorase in the striated muscle is quite lower than that of the kidney.


Trajectories brings together cultural theorists not only from countries with a known historical critical tradition such as America, Canada and Australia but from the East-Asia locations of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, India and Thailand. It constitutes a critical confrontation between the imperial and colonial co-ordinates of north and south, east and west. Without rejecting the Anglo-American practices of cultural studies, the contributors present critical cultural studies as an internationalist and decolonized project. Trajectories links critical energies together and charts future directions of the discipline. The contributors discuss subjects such as Japanese colonial discourse, cultural studies out of Europe, Chinese nationalism in the context of global capitalism, white panic, stories from East Timor, queer life in Taiwan and new social movements in Korea. The book ends with an interview with Stuart Hall.


In recent decades, religious conservatives and secular liberals have battled over the 'appropriate' role of women in society. In this absorbing exploration of Women's Aglow Fellowship, the largest women's evangelical organization in the world, R. Marie Griffith challenges the simple generalizations often made about charismatic or 'spirit-filled' Christian women and uncovers important connections between Aglow members and the feminists to whom they so often seem opposed. Women's Aglow is an international, interdenominational group of 'spirit-filled' women who meet outside the formal church structure for healing prayer, worship, and testimony. Aglow represents a wider evangelical culture that has gained recent media attention as women inspired by the Christian men's group, Promise Keepers, have initiated parallel groups such as Praise Keepers and Promise Reapers. These groups are generally newcomers to an institutional landscape that Aglow has occupied for thirty years, but their beliefs and commitments are very similar to Aglow's. While historians have examined earlier women's prayer groups, they've tended to ignore these modern-day evangelical groups because of their assumed connection to the 'religious right'. "God's Daughters" reveals a devotional world in which oral and written testimonies recount the afflictions of human life and the means for seeking relief and divine assistance. A relationship with God, envisioned as father, husband or lover, and friend, is a way to come to terms with pain, dysfunctional family relationships, and a desire for intimacy. Griffith's book is also valuable in showing the complex role that women play within Pentecostalism, a movement that has become one of the most important in twentieth-century world religions.


Psychoanalysts and psychotherapists who work with psychotic patients often encounter unusual clinical phenomena. In this article, a certain kind of phenomena is described, wherein the patient refers to a body part of the therapist as being owned by the patient. This "body part borrowing" or "merger" can be explained by the classical and object relations schools in terms of part and transitional object concepts. These diagnostic formulations will then guide therapeutic intervention. Newer concepts, from the psychoanalytic school of self psychology, particularly that of the twinship selfobject experience, provide for a more effective intervention in these complex clinical situations. Certain psychotic responses, in these cases, delusional misperceptions, can be viewed as the patient's attempt to stave off empathic rupture and fragmentation. "Body-part borrowing" in the treatment setting thus serves as a twinship selfobject compensation; it attenuates the unbearable affects generated by empathic failure. In this article, we offered clinical vignettes to illustrate these processes in two patients with psychosis and one with neurosis. We then offered various suggestions for clinical intervention based on a selfobject understanding of these phenomena.


Entrepreneurship has been globally adopted as a strategic approach in facilitating economic participation among youth. On an individual level, entrepreneurship affords young people their independence and autonomy to pursue their dreams. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that motivate youth entrepreneurial intention amongst students in a South African university. Using a cross-sectional design with a quantitative structured questionnaire, a sample of 247 students was interviewed and the collected data was analysed with Principal component analysis. The results showed four major factors that influence students' entrepreneurial intentions. These factors include the quest to create sustainable employment, the need for independence and self-development, the quest to use one's knowledge and search for financial security and finally to take risks and challenge oneself.


Present investigation deals with the synthesis and density functional theory study (DFT) of a Biginelli adduct; 6-methyl-2-oxo-4-phenyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate (MOPTHPC). The synthesis of a MOPTHPC has been carried out by the reaction of benzaldehyde, ethyl acetoacetate and urea in ethanol 70-80 ℃ under stirring condition in presence of catalytic amount of sulfamic acid. The structure of a synthesized chalcone is affirmed on the basis of 1H NMR and 13C NMR. The geometry of a MOPTHPC is optimized by using the density functional theory method at the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) basis set. The optimized geometrical parameters like bond length and bond angles have been computed. Quantum chemical parameters have been determined and examined. Molecular electrostatic surface potential (MESP) surface plot analysis has been carried out at the same level of theory. Mulliken atomic charge study is also discussed in the present study.


Blastocystis sp., a parasitic eukaryote, widely colonizes the intestines of humans and a large number of animals, including rodents and lagomorphs. More than 30 million bamboo rats (Rhizomys sinensis) are farmed in China as a source of meat for human consumption. However, there have been no published articles on Blastocystis infection in Chinese bamboo rats prior to the present study. Herein, 480 fresh faecal samples were collected from R. sinensis on six farms located in four cities (Wugang, Chenzhou, Huaihua and Jishou) in Hunan Province, south-central China, and were examined for Blastocystis infection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene. The total prevalence of Blastocystis in R. sinensis was 4.58% (22/480), and significant differences in prevalence were detected among four age groups (<6 months, 6–12 months, 12–24 months and >24 months), with the highest prevalence (7.81%) in rats aged 6–12 months but with no positive samples in rats over 24 months. All farms, except for one in Jishou, were positive for Blastocystis infection, with the prevalence ranging from 1.80% to 7.27%. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses revealed two potentially zoonotic subtypes (namely ST4 and ST5) in these rodents, with ST4 predominant in all except one farm in Huaihua. Seven and five sequence types were identified within ST4 and ST5, respectively. This is the first report of Blastocystis infection in Chinese bamboo rats and the findings suggest the potential of R. sinensis to transmit Blastocystis to humans.


Yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP) co-doped with CI3' and Nd3+ is of interest in laser applications because the chromium-neodymium energy transfer is more efficient in YAP than in YAG. Investigation of the energy transfer from the chromium R lines and pair states in the wavelength range 720-740 nm to the Nd3+ upper laser level shows that neither individual C? ions nor C?+-C? pairs are important energy donors in YAP. The results are consistent with a model of nonuniform distribution of donors. Single crystals of YAlO,, also known as yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP), or yttrium orthoaluminate, are of interest as a laser host for specialized applications. The orthorhombic symmetry of YAP' causes anisotropy in the optical properties of substitutional, optically-active ions, and this anisotropy can be exploited in device desigm2 For applications in which the lasing ion is a rare earth and the pump source is broad-band, it is desirable to co-dope the crystal to improve the spectral overlap between the pump emission and the activator ion. One common combination of rare earth activator ion and co-doped sensitizer is Nd3+ and Cr3+. Recent detailed spectroscopic investigations of a similar material, Y3Al,0,, (yttrium aluminum garnet, or YAG)?B~ have shown that in this simpler cubic system both C? and Nd9 occupy several inequivalent sites. This work has also demonstrated that in YAG the main C?+ site does not transfer energy to the main Nd3+ site, thus limiting the usefulness of co-doping in increasing the efficiency of Nd:YAG lasers. It is thus important to investigate similar materials to search for one in which energy transfers by a more efficient connection between the main sites of activator and sensitizer ions. Previous studies5" have indicated that in YAP the energy transfer between Cr3+ and Nd3+ ions is more efficient than in YAG, and that the fluorescence dynamics of Nd3+ both alone and with Cr3+ may be unusually complex. In particular, multiple C? sites have been found in this host, and the Cr3+ fluorescence decay of co-doped Nd,Cr:YAP crystals cannot be explained by a model which assumes uniformly-distributed donors? Thus YAP is an interesting candidate material for more efficient Nd3+ lasers. Since the distance between adjacent Cr3+ sites is relatively small in YAP (3.8 A as compared to 5.2 A in YAG)," one possible source of the additional complexity of the fluorescence dynamics in co-doped Nd,Cr:YAP crystals is the existence of strong interactions between Nd3+ ions and Cx3+Cr3+ pairs. Thus, we have investigated the relationship between the lowest-lying C3' single-ion and cr3'-Cr3' pair states and emission from the Nd3+ 4F3, level, which is the usual upper level in Article published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jp4:1991798


In this paper, I present two ethnographic examples of young Japanese who as members of the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai in Japan support the political party Komeito. I highlight that concord about interpretations of meaning between the anthropologist and the interlocutors makes for different understanding of motivation and subsequently for different representations. While the anthropologist's work in most cases remains an ethnographic account written by the researcher, fieldwork and personal interaction with people who are regarded as interlocutors rather than subjects of study help to make the subject community, not the observer, the people who set the criteria for representation. This does not exclude a critical approach to the social phenomenon researched, but a closer understanding of the paradigmatic position of the people whom one writes about can, with careful reflection, help to overcome the particular biases of structural objectivism. While this position may have its own biases, the starting point is the participation of the anthropologist in inter-cultural discourse with the people studied, rather than an authority who has the last say on the matter. This is looking at social phenomena from the level of meaning, aiming to understand social tendencies to action rather than from a position that asks questions about facticity from a deductive approach about an abstract empirical reality.


Reduction of disk drive power consumption is a challenging task, particularly since the most prevalent way of achieving it, powering down idle disks, has many undesirable side-effects. Some hard disk drives support acoustic modes, meaning they can be configured to reduce the acceleration and velocity of the disk head. This reduces instantaneous power consumption but sacrifices performance. As a result, input/output (I/O) operations run longer at reduced power. This is useful for power capping since it causes significant reduction in peak power consumption of the disks. We conducted experiments on several disk drives that support acoustic management. Most of these disk drives support only two modes — quiet and normal. We ran different I/O workloads, including SPC-1 to simulate a real-world online transaction processing workload. We found that the reduction in peak power can reach up to 23% when using quiet mode. We show that for some workloads this translates into a reduction of 12.5% in overall energy consumption. In other workloads we encountered the opposite phenomenon-an increase of more than 6% in the overall energy consumption.


The paraconductivity of a number of c-axis-oriented YBa2Cu3Ox thin films, with a range of c-axis lattice parameters and Tc-values, has been determined as a function of temperature and analysed in terms of the paraconductivity due to direct and indirect fluctuation contributions. We present results on the c-axis coherence length and the phase-relaxation time at 100 K obtained from the fit to the paraconductivity data. The paraconductivity results for optimally doped films were: c-axis coherence length: ξc(0) = 1.25 A; pair-breaking parameter: δ = 0.05; phase-relaxation time at 100 K: τ = 0.066 ps; and two-three-dimensional crossover temperature: T+ = 96.6 K. These values are in good agreement with those from other published work. There was considerable scatter in the coherence length and phase-relaxation time for films with different critical temperatures and oxygen contents. These results were process dependent but appear to be related to the 60 K phase transition in the Tc-x phase diagram.


Long term air and snowfall chemistry measurements have been performed at the three coastal Antarctic stations Dumont d'Urville (66°40′S, 140°1′E), Neumayer (70°39′S, 8°15′W), and Halley (75°35′S, 26°19′W). The results have to be interpreted and compared with respect to the regional meteorological conditions. In this study the 3-hourly synoptic surface observations taken at the three stations between 1991 and 1995, as well as the daily upper air soundings from 1993, are analyzed to describe the aspects of station climatologies relevant for the air and snowfall chemistry measurements discussed in the papers of this special section. Although the three stations are comparable, being situated close to the coastline of Antarctica, the meteorological conditions differ. While at Dumont d'Urville katabatic winds cause predominant strong and relatively dry surface winds from the interior of Antarctica, Neumayer and Halley are frequently influenced by easterly winds associated mostly with eastward moving cyclones. From April through October the wind field above 5 km is governed by a circumpolar vortex with westerly winds increasing in intensity with height. Dumont d'Urville represents a station at the edge of this vortex with extreme stratospheric wind velocities up to above 50 m s−1. Neumayer and Halley are mostly situated within the vortex and isolated from air masses advecting from lower latitudes into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere during the Austral winter.


is confounded by state-dependent passivity, as might be expected in the depressed state. In other words, if the animal remains passive in a passive avoidance task, we do not know whether the prolonged latency to response is due to depression-associated passivity or to better recall of a noxious stimulus. Thus, in passive avoidance tasks, passivity of the animal on account of depression related behaviour can falsely inflate task performance scores, and hence be misinterpreted as better recall. It is currently considered that in research involving learning and memory, such potential biases should be identified and eliminated at the level of the study design itself (Andrade et al., 2000). I.therefore suggest that authors' point might have been more validly made had they used an active avoidance task to demonstrate that inescapable shocks improve the recall of noxious stimuli. Finally : a healthy rat in a controlled environment is far removed from a dysfunctional human in a complex psychosocial milieu; therefore, generalization from laboratory to clinic should be made with caution, and only after artefactual influences have been eliminated through appropriate experimental designs (Andrade, 1995, Andrade et al.,2000).


Senescent cells accumulate in the organs of aged animals and exacerbate organ dysfunction, resulting in age-related diseases. Oxidative stress accelerates cellular senescence. Placental extract, used in the alleviation of menopausal symptoms and promotion of wound healing and liver regeneration, reportedly protects against oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated the effects of human placental extract (HPE) on cellular senescence in normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) under oxidative stress conditions. We demonstrated that HPE delays the onset of cellular senescence. Next-generation sequencing analysis revealed that under oxidative stress conditions, HPE treatment enhanced the expression of the antioxidant genes CYGB, APOE, NQO1, and PTGS1. Further, HPE treatment under oxidative stress conditions increased the protein level of nuclear factor-erythroid factor 2-related factor 2 (NRF2)—a vital molecule in the antioxidant pathway—via post-transcriptional and/or post-translational regulations. These findings indicate that HPE treatment in NHDFs, under chronic oxidative stress, delays cellular senescence by mitigating oxidative stress via upregulation of the NRF2-mediated antioxidant pathway, and HPE treatment could potentially ameliorate skin-aging-associated damage, in vivo.


Deviations from traditional notations seem counterintuitive-- as the norm works well. The reason why such a system holds an important place is because centuries of work, over many cultures and languages, did go into establishing it, a grammar was both induced and deduced upon agreement in collaboration with different professions: composers, theorists, the musicians themselves, had to come up with a method verified by consensus. Once such a system has reached a point of stability, further developments seem regressive: a perfect world would be one where the entirety of those involved agreeing upon a halt of development, upon the absence of any further trials and errors onwards. Such a thing never seems to happen in any sort of system: "graphic" notations were developed onwards from the traditional system-- defying and reconstructing the rules that were held in place by consensus, perhaps as genuine development, possibly as regression, or even the destruction of that which was in place.


Reserpine is an important indole alkaloid that is used to treat hypertension and various psychiatric diseases by acting as a tranquilizing agent. In pharmaceutical industries, reserpine is in great demand. Chemical synthesis of reserpine is costlier than extracting it from natural resources. So enhancing this alkaloid in the already available system is a beneficial approach. Tryptophan is the starting material in the biosynthesis of reserpine. Callus was induced from leaf explants of Rauvolfia tetraphylla L. on MS medium supplemented with the combination of 9 μM 2,4-D and 25, 50, 75 and 100 mg/l tryptophan. An increase in the reserpine content was observed at 50 mg/l tryptophan than in other concentrations. Key words: Callus, MS medium, Rauvolfia tetraphylla L., reserpine, tryptophan.


The paper presents the dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) and multi wavelet transforms for content based retinal image retrieval (CBRIR). The multi wavelet transform is more retrieval accuracy compare to DT-CWT. It is less complexity and less retrieval time. In this work, the proposed method follows two steps. The firstly, apply the wavelet transform (either DT-CWT or multi wavelet) and energy is used for feature extraction. Energy function is the most suitable for texture characterization of the image. Secondly, calculate the similarity measures between query and database image feature vectors using Euclidian distance. The experimental data base diabetic retinopathy database (DRD) contains 1261 images. The experimental results shows that the retrieval efficiency and retrieval time of multi wavelet is less compare to DT-CWT. KeywordsDual-tree complex wavelet (DT-CWT) and multi wavelet transform, Diabetic retinopathy, content based retinal image retrieval (CBRIR),


After being shifted to a new diet, time related alterations in digestibility, faecal waste production and faeces recovery in Nile tilapia were assessed in relation with dietary ingredient composition. Four experimental diets were formulated according to a 2 by 2 factorial design: two starch inclusion levels (20 or 40%) and two maize starch types (native versus gelatinized). After introduction to the experimental diets, faeces were collected weekly from Week 2 till 6 using settling tanks. Digestibility of ash, organic matter and dry matter increased with time (P <0.001). For organic and dry matter the time related alteration in digestibility were different between both starch types (P <0.05). All faecal waste characteristics altered with time (P <0.01). The incline in faeces recovery with time was affected by starch type (P <0.01); being the largest at the 40% gelatinized maize diet. In conclusion, the minimal length of the adaptation period in digestibility studies for obtaining unbiased digestibility estimates is dependent on diet composition, in this study with Nile tilapia 4 weeks for diets with gelatinized starch and 6 weeks with native starch.


The New Politics of the welfare state suggests that periods of welfare retrenchment present policymakers with a qualitatively different set of challenges and electoral incentives compared to periods of welfare expansion. An unresolved puzzle for this literature is the relative electoral success of retrenching governments in recent decades, as evidenced by various studies on fiscal consolidations. This article points to the importance of partisan biases as the main explanatory factor. I argue that partisan biases in the electorate create incentives for incumbent governments to depart from their representative function and push the burden of retrenchment on the very constituencies to which they owe their electoral mandate ('Nixon-goes-to-China'). After offering a simple model on the logic of partisan biases, the article proceeds by testing the unexpected partisan hypotheses that the model generates. My findings from a cross-section time-series analysis in a set of 23 OECD countries provide corroborative evidence on this Nixon-goes-to-China logic of welfare retrenchment: governments systematically inflict pain on their core constituencies. These effects are especially pronounced in periods of severe budgetary pressure.


Objective: Vulnerability indices use quantitative indicators and geospatial data to examine the level of vulnerability to morbidity in a community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses 3 indices for the COVID-19 response: the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (CDC-SVI), the US COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index (CCVI), and the Pandemic Vulnerability Index (PVI). The objective of this review was to describe these tools and explain the similarities and differences between them. Methods: We described the 3 indices, outlined the underlying data sources and metrics for each, and discussed their use by CDC for the COVID-19 response. We compared the percentile score for each county for each index by calculating Spearman correlation coefficients (Spearman ρ). Results: These indices have some, but not all, component metrics in common. The CDC-SVI is a validated metric that estimates social vulnerability, which comprises the underlying population-level characteristics that influence differences in health risk among communities. To address risk specific to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CCVI and PVI build on the CDC-SVI and include additional variables. The 3 indices were highly correlated. Spearman ρ for comparisons between the CDC-SVI score and the CCVI and between the CCVI and the PVI score was 0.83. Spearman ρ for the comparison between the CDC-SVI score and PVI score was 0.73. Conclusion: The indices can empower local and state public health officials with additional information to focus resources and interventions on disproportionately affected populations to combat the ongoing pandemic and plan for future pandemics.


We report on a family with transmission of a ring chromosome 14 from an affected mother to her 2 sons. The mother was mosaic, 46,XX,r(14)/45,XX,t(14q21q). Both of her sons, affected by seizures and mental retardation, have the karyotype 46,XY,r(14). In considering the association of translocation 14:21 in the mother with ring 14, we postulate that either the ring chromosome was formed first and then opened with translocation of the partially deleted chromosome 14 to chromosome 21, or the 14:21 translocation was present first, then the chromosomes 14 and 21 broke apart, and the partially deleted 14 formed the ring. The published literature of cases of ring 14 is reviewed.


Prurigo nodularis (PN), characterized by inevitable chronicity and severe pruritus, is most frequently associated with atopy compared with other origins. However, the skin transcriptomic profiling of PN arising from atopic dermatitis (AD), so‐called atopic PN (APN), remains unclear. We sought to explore the cutaneous transcriptome of APN with severe pruritus and compare it with classic AD. RNA sequencing was performed on the lesional skin from 13 APN to 11 AD patients with severe pruritus (itch numerical rating scale score ≥ 7) and normal skin from 11 healthy subjects. Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction and immunochemistry were used for validation. We detected 1085 and 1984 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in lesional APN skin and lesional AD skin versus normal skin, respectively. In total, 142 itch/inflammation‐related DEGs were identified. Itch/inflammation‐related DEGs, such as IL‐6, IL‐10, IL‐13, oncostatin M, and IL‐4 receptor, had elevated gene transcript levels in both diseases. The itch/inflammation‐related DEGs that increased only in APN were mainly neuroactive molecules, while many inflammatory mediators such as T helper 22‐related genes were found to be increased only in AD. Both disorders showed mixed Th1/Th2/Th17 polarisation and impaired skin barrier. In contrast to AD, M1/M2 macrophage activation, tumor necrosis factor production, fibrosis, revascularization and neural dysregulation are unique features of APN. The study findings broaden our understanding of the pathogenesis underlying APN, which provides insights into novel pathogenesis with potential therapeutic implications.


From the founding of Rome to the informal establishment of the Roman Empire, leadership played a crucial role in the way history unfolded. More compelling than the leaders themselves, however, is the way history repeated itself in two of Rome's most vital periods of (re)formation. The purpose of this essay is to examine the parallels between one of Rome's most popular origin myths, the story of Remus and Romulus, with two of the most important figures, Marcus Antonius and Gaius Octavianus, at the turn of the Roman Republic as it transformed into the beginnings of the Roman Empire. More specifically, the leadership capacities of these four Roman figures are analyzed and related to more contemporaryexamples of leadership.


This study specifically examines the psychological status of women whose husbands travel abroad for greener pastures. Human migration from one geo-political region to another is part of man; and searching for land that flows with milk and honey appears the salient reason among others. Nigeria witnessed the nuptial exit of its virile and young minds to the foreign land for better living between the 80s and 90s and it has remained constant. This migration has affected every facet of national building in Nigeria - politics, economy, social, agriculture, and science and technology; among others. This paper therefore, examines the psychological effects of husband's exit for greener pastures on the wife and the children left back at home; and the effects also on the development of the society at large. It suggests ways government, work place and organizations could help couples on the job; and strategies to put in place should one of the spouses decides to embark on a foreign mission for better living. Key words: scrambling, greener pastures, migration, family disintegration, couples, and Nigeria.


Abstract Objective: To determine neonatal outcome of single fetal death in twin pregnancy. Methods: Retrospective study was performed on 30 cases of single fetal death in twin pregnancy during the period from August 1971 to December 1997 at Kitasato university hospital. Results: The incidence of single fetal death in twin pregnancy was 6.2% among total number of 481 twins. Prognosis of surviving infants was satisfactory except in one case, with malformation in 10 cases of dichorionic twins (total 242 sets). In contrast, neonatal death occurred in 6 cases of 20 monochorionic twins (total 239 sets), 4 of which were among 7 cases of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). Cerebral palsy occurred in 2 infants of monochorionic twins. One case was diagnosed as periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) within one week after birth, and this was the case of delivery 1 day after one twin fetal death. Conclusion: Single fetal death itself occurs more often in monochorionic twins. There seems to be a benign outcome for the surviving dichorionic twins. On the other hand, there may be a grave outcome, though infrequent, for monochorionic twins when concomitant TTTS has existed. It is very important to identify the chorionicity by ultrasound examination in early pregnancy.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Persistence of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) in chronic hepatitis B has been associated with increased risk for development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Five hepatitis B virus genotypes were identified in Alaska Native persons; we analyzed clearance of HBeAg by age and genotype.

METHODS
In this prospective cohort study, 1158 Alaska Native persons throughout Alaska were tested serially for HBeAg for a median of 20.5 years and were genotyped. Initial and final HBeAg-positive specimens, time to clearance, age at clearance, and subsequent HBeAg results were analyzed for persons initially HBeAg-positive. Subsequent HBeAg results were analyzed for persons initially negative.

RESULTS
Genotypes A, B, C, D, and F were identified. Genotype C persons initially HBeAg-positive were more likely than those with other genotypes to be positive on initial and final specimens (P < .001 for each) and time to HBeAg clearance was longer (P < .001). Age at which 50% of persons cleared HBeAg was <20 years for those infected with genotypes A, B, D, and F and 47.8 years in genotype C (P < .001). After losing HBeAg, those with genotypes C and F were more likely to revert to the HBeAg-positive state (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Genotype may have a strong effect on mode of transmission and outcome. Genotype C may have been responsible for most perinatal transmission, given that seroconversion from HBeAg occurs decades later than in other genotypes.


Venous malformations are a subset of low-flow vascular malformations. These are usually present at birth and grow commensurate with the child. The treatment of low-flow vascular malformations has been studied extensively. Many interventions have been devised to benefit this patient population in regard to the pain, ulcerations, infections, cosmetic concerns, and overall bulk associated with these malformations. Treatment can begin with compression garments. Another treatment is sclerotherapy. This can be done as a stand-alone treatment or as an adjunct to surgical excision. Percutaneous sclerosis of venous malformations has an efficacy of between 74 and 90% in relieving symptoms. We present a case of percutaneous sclerotherapy with Sotradecol and ethanol into an extensive lower extremity venous malformation in the setting of orthopedic megaprosthesis. We feel that this led to extensive soft tissue necrosis and infection of the limb and created a precipitous situation.


The proliferation and differentiation potential of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) decline with aging. Moreover, Alzheimer's disease is associated with progressive decline in cholinergic neurons. The purpose of this study is to enhance the proliferation potential of aged rat ADSCs and their differentiation into cholinergic neurons. The ADSCs were collected from aged male rats cultured and treated with different concentrations of sodium selenite for 3 days or glutathione mono ethyl ester (GSH-MEE) for 1 day. Incubating the ADSCs with 27 nM sodium selenite for 3 days significantly increased the relative cell proliferation, compared with the control, without any change in the telomerase activity, the related telomerase gene expression, and the telomere length, but it does improve differentiation of the aged ADSCs to cholinergic neuron-like cells. GSH-MEE at a concentration of 2 mM for 1 day resulted in increased relative cell proliferation, but it did not change the telomerase activity, the related telomerase gene expression, the telomere length, and differentiation potential. Sodium selenite is more effective than GSH-MEE in improving the aged ADSCs' properties. However, both did not have any effect on telomerase activity.


The two rp-reactions 34S(p,γ)35Cl and 34 g,m Cl(p,γ)35Ar were studied via a shell-model approach. At energies in the resonance region near the proton-emission threshold many negative-parity states appear. We present results of calculations in a full (0+1)ℏω model space which addresses this problem. Energies, spectroscopic factors and proton-decay widths are calculated for input into the reaction rates. Comparisons are also made with a recent experimental determination of the reaction rate for the 34S(3He,d)35Cl reaction. The thermonuclear 34 g,m Cl(p,γ)35Ar reaction rates are unknown because of a lack of experimental data. The rates for transitions from the ground state of 34Cl as well as from the isomeric first excited state of 34Cl are explicitly calculated taking into account the relative populations of the two states.


An electroluminescent device contains first (610) and second (650) electrodes, at least one of which is transparent to radiation; a hole conducting layer (630) containing first nanoparticles wherein the hole conducting layer (630) is in contact with said first electrode (610); an electron conducting layer (640) containing second nanoparticles where the electron conducting layer (640) is in contact with the hole conducting layer (630) and the second electrode (650); and optionally a voltage source capable of providing positive and negative voltage, where the positive pole of the voltage source is connected to the first electrode and the negative pole is connected to the second electrode. In some embodiments, the electroluminescent device also includes an electron-hole combination layer between the hole and electron conducting layers.


A Plackett-Burman design was used to pre-optimize the medium composition for biobutanol production using a unique isolate of solvent-producing Clostridium YM1. Various nutrient factors affecting biobutanol production were screened using the Plackett-Burman design. These factors included: glucose, tryptone, yeast extract, peptone, ammonium acetate, KH2PO4, K2HPO4, MgSO4, FeSO4, Na2CO3, and NaCl. The results were analyzed by an analysis of variance (ANOVA), which showed that glucose, tryptone, yeast extract, peptone, K2HPO4, Na2CO3, and MgSO4 had significant effects on biobutanol production. However, ammonium acetate, KH2PO4, and FeSO4 had insignificant effects. The established model from the ANOVA analysis had a significant value of Pmodel>F = 0.0245 and an R2 value of 0.999. The estimated maximum biobutanol production was 9.01 g/L, whereas the optimized medium produced 10.93 g/L of biobutanol.


InP-based heterostructure barrier varactor (HBV) devices employing air-bridge technology have been fabricated on a quartz host substrate following a transfer-substrate technique. Electrical characterization demonstrates highly symmetrical I(V) and C(V) characteristics due to the preservation of the high quality MBE epitaxial layers during the transfer process. Small signal RF measurements have been performed up to 110 GHz and display a marked reduction in the values of parasitic resistance and capacitance, thus confirming the ability of the devices to operate in the upper-part of the MM-wave spectrum.


The article aims to pinpoint the relationship between age and manifestations of aggressive behaviour in elderly people. In the opening part, the authors highlight the legal aspects of aggression in senior groups. They stress the need for research to determine the relationship between acts of aggression and delinquency in this age group (which is attributable to the limited number of similar analyses and the steady growth of the population of seniors). The second part of the paper casts light on the psychological aspects of aggressive behaviour in the elderly. In this context, the authors discuss the results of research involving 948 respondents and employing a tool known as the Psychological Inventory of Aggression Syndrome (IPSA) designed by Zbigniew Gaś. The results demonstrate a growing risk of emergence of three symptoms of aggression syndrome in seniors (60+): 1) aggression control disorders, 2) self-hostility, 3) hostility towards the environment. The closing part of the article offers some conclusions regarding the criminal policy. The authors recommend preventive measures that are likely to curb the manifestations of aggression among the elderly.


The present article focuses on the choices teachers make when teaching Islamic religious education (IRE) in the town of Kisumu, Kenya. The data were collected through interviews with IRE teachers and participant observations in schools that offered IRE during several fieldwork sessions in the period 2003–2006. The fieldwork revealed that the choices teachers made were related to social and religious contexts both inside and outside the school setting and also the more immediate contexts of the teaching–learning situation. Most clearly, the choices were influenced by the fact that IRE is an examinable subject in a larger educational system. This article claims that an alternation between a confessional education into Islam and a more fact‐oriented education about Islam was a strategy used by some teachers balancing between competing demands posed by the educational system, students, parents and the surrounding local society.


In the fractalization route for the formation of strange nonchaotic attractors (SNA's) in quasiperiodically driven nonlinear dynamical systems, a smooth torus gradually becomes a fractal as the forcing amplitude is increased, while the Lyapunov exponent remains nonpositive. Using techniques introduced by Kim et al. to identify unstable sets in SNA's, we study torus fractalization in a sequence of approximations wherein the quasiperiodic drive is replaced by periodic forcing of increasing period. This allows us to identify an unstable set embedded in the attractor. In the periodically forced system, we show that there is a cascade of attractor merging crises, and argue that the quasiperiodic analogue of such crises causes fractalization of tori to create SNA's.


The colony of green peach aphid, Myzus persicae(Sulzer), which was initiated with 3 pathogen-free apterae and another 3 ones inoculated with the conidia of the entomophthoraceous fungus, Zoophthora anhuiensis(Li) Humber, was maintained on detached cabbage leaves at the regimes of 10-25 degrees C and 90-100% of relative humidity(RH), and allowed for free reproduction and fungal infection. Based on 26 day observations, it was showed that the development of Z. anhuiensis in the colony was rapid at 15 or 10 degrees C, regardless of the humidity range concerned. The cumulative mortality of the aphids attributed to Z. anhuiensis infection was 72.9-98.2% at 10 degrees C on day 26, and 78.7-94.4% at 15 degrees C on day 24, indicating the occurrence of epizootic in the colony. At 20 degrees C, a high-level epizootic occurred only at 100% RH, with a cumulative mortality of 71.6% on day 24, contrasting to a much lower mortality (5.1-12.8%) at the other three humidity regimes. However, the maximal mortality at 25 degrees C on day 20 was only 27.2% even at 100% RH. Obviously, Z. anhuiensis caused aphid epizootic more easily at lower temperature, and to less degree was affected by the humidity. The disease prevalence (represented by the cumulative mortality) was correlated well to temperature, its interaction with relative humidity, and the days from initiation (r2 = 0.82, alpha < 0.01).


Fingerprint representations can be broadly divided into three categories: image level, texture features and minutiae features. Both image based and texture based representations require accurate alignment before comparison. This presents a problem since accurate registration of fingerprints is challenging. On the other hand, minutiae based matchers are invariant to changes in orientation and position, but completely ignore the rich visual content in the image. In this paper, we present a localized texture based representation scheme that relies solely on visual content for identification and at the same time does not require absolute alignment. We outline techniques to efficiently compute these features and also propose an algorithm to perform identification based on these features. Our experimental evaluations over database of several sizes show that the proposed features are both accurate and scalable


Early Childhood Education (PAUD) is essentially education that is held with the aim of facilitating the growth and development of children as a whole or emphasizing the development of all aspects of the child's personality. Therefore PAUD provides an opportunity for children to develop their personality and potential to the fullest. Children have a very high curiosity. This curiosity needs to be facilitated by adults, including parents/tutors/teachers who function as children's teachers. Children can learn anything from an early age, including learning science. Learning science from an early age begins by introducing nature and the environment. This will enrich the child's experience. Children learn to experiment, explore, and investigate their surroundings. This Community Service Activity (PkM) aims to improve children's skills in honing the ability to think about simple science events and provide education to children about simple experiments. This activity is carried out in the form of simulations and direct practical assistance to TK- KBIT Salman Al-Farisi 2 Yogyakarta. The first experiment was blowing up a balloon with a bottle. The second experiment is to make rainbow colors in a bottle and the third is a lava lamp. The result of this activity is that participants can carry out simple science experiments and gain scientific knowledge from the experiments carried out

Keywords: experiments, childhood, science


G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) represent the single most important drug targets for medical therapy, and information from genome sequencing and genomic data bases has substantially accelerated their discovery. The lack of a systematic approach either to identify the function of a new GPCR or to associate it with a cognate ligand has added to the growing number of orphan receptors. In this work we provide a novel approach to this problem using a β-arrestin2/green fluorescent protein conjugate (βarr2-GFP). It provides a real-time and single cell based assay to monitor GPCR activation and GPCR-G protein-coupled receptor kinase or GPCR-arrestin interactions. Confocal microscopy demonstrates the translocation of βarr2-GFP to more than 15 different ligand-activated GPCRs. These data clearly support the common hypothesis that the β-arrestin binding of an activated receptor is a convergent step of GPCR signaling, increase by 5-fold the number of GPCRs known to interact with β-arrestins, demonstrate that the cytosol is the predominant reservoir of biologically active β-arrestins, and provide the first direct demonstration of the critical importance of G protein-coupled receptor kinase phosphorylation to the biological regulation of β-arrestin activity and GPCR signal transduction in living cells. The use of βarr2-GFP as a biosensor to recognize the activation of pharmacologically distinct GPCRs should accelerate the identification of orphan receptors and permit the optical study of their signal transduction biology intractable to ordinary biochemical methods.


Abstract The palaeomagnetic method is established as an important complement to more traditional methods for reorienting cores drilled in hydrocarbon exploration and production programmes. The method is based on the isolation of one or more components of remanent magnetization within the core. These provide records of the direction of magnetic north, either for recent times (carried by magnetic overprints in the recent geomagnetic field at the drill site) or at the time of formation of the sediment (carried by the primary magnetization). Provided that any spurious components of magnetization associated with drilling are removed by appropriate analysis in the palaeomagnetism laboratory, then the magnetic components of interest can be separately isolated. The mean direction of stable remanent magnetization, averaged over several tens of centimetres of core, defines the direction of geographical north in that core section. For a recent component, the direction of north is specified directly, whereas for an ancient component this is given by reference to the direction predicted from published apparent polar wander curves for that plate or geographical region. An important attribute of the palaeomagnetic core reorientation method is that the measurements are made on samples from the cores themselves, rather than by downhole instruments such as multishot orientation tools, dipmeters or imaging tools. This makes the technique particularly cost-effective and frees it from reliance on the proper performance of downhole tools or the correlation of planar features observed in the cores with those in the well. Consequently, there is no requirement for the well to be deviated or for there to be a significant natural dip to the formation (although this does help in fitting adjacent core pieces together to allow extrapolation of the reorientation data to longer intervals of core). Furthermore, as the determinations are made directly on the cores, the precision of palaeomagnetic reorientation is inherently greater than for methods based on measurements made in the well. It is possible to apply the method to cores for which the need for orientation was not apparent at the time of drilling, but for which this need arises as a result of later developments. The technique can be applied equally well to recently drilled cores or cores which have been stored for many years. An account is given of the palaeomagnetic reorientation method and its applications to (1) defining fracture orientations and (2) establishing sediment transport directions in a channel sand body. The transport directions are inferred from magnetic fabric measurements and the principles of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility technique are briefly reviewed.


: Five new species are described as follows: M. haematopterus from gills, fins and skin of Cyprinus carpio haematopterus; M. gibelio from connective tissue of gill filaments, fin rays and kidneys of Carassius auratus gibelio; Myxobolus waleckii from gills of Leuciscus waleckii; Myxobolus junchisi from gills, muscles, kidneys and spleen of Cyprinus carpio haematopterus; M. alacaudatus of Cyprinus and Carassius Myxobolus divergens carassii from gills, muscles, fins, and cartilaginous tissue of operculim of Carassius auratus gibelio and Cyprinus carpio haematopterus.


For a spherical four-bar linkage, the maximum number of the spherical RR dyad (R: revolute joint) of five-orientation motion generation can be at most 6. However, complete real solution of this problem has seldom been studied. In order to obtain six real RR dyads, based on Strum's theorem, the relationships between the design parameters are derived from a 6th-degree univariate polynomial equation that is deduced from the constraint equations of the spherical RR dyad by using Dixon resultant method. Moreover, the Grashof condition and the circuit defect condition are taken into account. Given the relationships between the design parameters and the aforementioned two conditions, two objective functions are constructed and optimized by the adaptive genetic algorithm(AGA). Two examples with six real spherical RR dyads are obtained by optimization, and the results verify the feasibility of the proposed method. The paper provides a method to synthesize the complete real solution of the five-orientation motion generation, which is also applicable to the problem that deduces to a univariate polynomial equation and requires the generation of as many as real roots.


The three-phase, three-wire, five-level cascaded Inverter is used as a medium-voltage shunt active power filter. The capacitor voltage-control technique used as a harmonic current extraction method for the two-level inverter is extended to the five-level shunt active power filter, with a technique proposed for balancing capacitor voltages. Predictive current control based on the supply current (not the active filter current) is employed. Two different space vector modulation (SVM) techniques viz., phase-shifted SVM and hybrid SVM, are used for multilevel inverter pulsewidth-modulation generation. The proposed five-level shunt active power filter is validated by simulation and practically for both modulation techniques. The proposed technique results in the same software and hardware requirements for any m-level inverter.


The 2016 Faraday Discussion on the topic "Designing New Heterogeneous Catalysts" brought together a group of scientists and engineers to address forefront topics in catalysis and the challenge of catalyst design-which is daunting because of the intrinsic non-uniformity of the surfaces of catalytic materials. "Catalyst design" has taken on a pragmatic meaning which implies the discovery of new and better catalysts on the basis of fundamental understanding of the catalyst structure and performance. The presentations and discussion at the meeting illustrate the rapid progress in this understanding linked with improvements in spectroscopy, microscopy, theory, and catalyst performance testing. The following text includes a statement of recurrent themes in the discussion and examples of forefront science that evidences progress toward catalyst design.


Pathologic results of 543 lymph nodes removed during 164 radical surgery for lung cancer is compared with the expected findings based on preoperative MRI imaging. Specificity of T2 weighted MRI images were 95.5% for individual lymph nodes and 88.1% for TNM staging, respectively. Sensitivity was found to be 89.4% for lymph nodes and 94.6% for TNM staging of the patient. The accuracy of the MRI imaging was 84.7%. Properly chose MRI imaging and interpretation sounds to be no inferior to more invasive methods as collar mediastinoscopy, Chamberlain procedure or VATS exploration.


Jordan state is very rich in renewable resources especially in solar energy, which indicates the potential for installing grid connected Photovoltaic system, but the initial costs of the photovoltaic systems are still very high. This paper present a simulation of a residential household powered by a 2 kW grid connected PV system with a 2 kW inverter situated in Amman the production cost is $ 0.228/ kWh, which is high, the system is then compared with an identical system but with the European renewable energy incentives, the Italian incentives are applied to the system, which resulted in a very competitive and feasible system with a payback period of less than ten years.


This study focused on the educator's sense of efficacy in three Malaysian private higher institutions. This study examined whether there is any difference in the educator's sense of efficacy in teaching international and Malaysian students. It also investigates the teacher sense of efficacy in relation to age, years of teaching experience and level of education. The study was conducted by using the teacher sense of efficacy scale by Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001). The sample consisted of 59 lecturers from Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication. The results showed that there are significant positive correlations in teacher's sense of efficacy in relation to age (r=.277, p 0.05). There are significant differences in teaching Malaysian students and International students in relation to efficacy for instructional strategies (t=-2.963, p<0.05), efficacy for classroom management (t=2.531,p<0.05) and efficacy for student engagement (t= -2.825, <0.05). The implication of the teachers' sense of efficacy was discussed.


Direct losses of ions trapped in the toroidal field ripple of Tore Supra were studied, using two techniques. The first (DRIPPLE I) correlates the ion loss current measured by an electric probe with the ion loss power measured by a calorimeter. As the calorimeter integrates over all particle energies and time, it yields only the averaged lost ion energy. The second technique (DRIPPLE II), still under development, uses a Faraday cup positioned and filtered so as to select ions by their Larmor radius. Preliminary results are useful but the currents measured are small (1-100 nA), aid improvements in instrumentation are needed to take full advantage of the data. During ICRH (hydrogen minority regime, resonance on-axis), a direct correlation between the lost ion mean energy and the density of hydrogen (nH) is observed. The energy increases when the hydrogen minority density decreases. Moreover, the line integrated density and the lower hybrid (LH) heating also affect the fast ion losses


OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze the implicit curriculum of a general pediatrics inpatient setting and to understand how it maps onto competency-based goals and objectives in the explicit curriculum. METHODS: We conducted a case study on a general pediatrics floor, which entailed 143 hours of direct observation during 8 months and 39 in-depth interviews with pediatric residents and General Pediatric attendings who were observed on multiple occasions as they worked on the floor. Data were derived from field notes and interview transcripts. We inductively coded the data, clustered it according to competency domains, and systematically inspected it to derive themes about the convergence of the implicit and explicit curricula. RESULTS: The implicit curriculum, shaped by ordinary events, activities, and conversations, taught residents "how things work." The implicit curriculum aligned well with the competency-based goals and objectives in the explicit curriculum; residents had frequent opportunities to meet >90% (29 of 32) of the written objectives. Nonetheless, no one referred to the explicit curriculum or to the competency domains throughout the study. In contrast to the neat list of goals and objectives in the explicit curriculum, the implicit curriculum was extraordinarily messy and dominated by 1 competency domain: patient care. Moreover, the implicit curriculum was not formally recognized as integral to a competency-based model of education. CONCLUSIONS: Representing the competency domains in ways that better reflect how learning opportunities in the implicit curriculum align with the goals and objectives in the explicit curriculum may increase awareness of the full range of residents' learning experiences.


Objective: To investigate that curcumin can decreasing proliferation
index and increasing apoptosis index.
Method: This is an experimental non-blinded study with post test
control group design, at Cell/Tissue Culture Laboratory at Medical
Faculty of Brawijaya University. This study using CHM trophoblastic
cell culture from CHM curettage patient, exposed by several doses of
curcumin, 0, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 μM, then examined by the
method of MTT proliferation index and apoptosis index by the
method of labeling DNA fragmentation TUNEL system. Data analyzed
by one-way ANOVA.
Result: In this study, the mean values obtained decrease in proliferation
index with increasing doses of curcumin. Giving a dose of
200 μM curcumin, 400 μM and 800 μM proved highly significant
(p = 0.001) reduced proliferation index compared with the control
and curcumin dose of 50 μM and 100 μM. From this research shows
that there are significant differences in the increase of apoptosis index
(p = 0.001) between the control group with curcumin dose
group 200 μM, 400 μM and 800 μM. But there was no significant
difference in the mean of apoptosis index among the three dose
groups.
Conclusion: Giving curcumin dose of 200 μM can decreasing the
proliferation index and increasing the apoptosis index increases in
CHM trophoblastic cell culture.
[Indones J Obstet Gynecol 2016; 1: 37-41]
Keywords: apoptosis index, curcumin, proliferation index


Modern states, democratic ones in particular, have grown to prefer the use of more subtle, or at least less visible, police surveillance to open confrontation in a courtroom, where the state itself may be scrutinised in public. Well-equipped national security agencies enable the state to respond to potential security threats before they mature. Hong Kong's political police unit, the Special Branch, was indispensable to Hong Kong's colonial political order. Although it was disbanded before the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, political policing and monitoring probably continue under the new legal order. This article examines the historical origin of political policing in Hong Kong, including the establishment of the Special Branch and its initial focus on communist activity in Hong Kong. It then traces the demise of the Special Branch prior to the handover, examines the role played by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and explores the relevance of political policing to contemporary society.


Featured Application The developed new method will allow use for more detailed analysis and characterization of defects that cannot be detected with A0 or S0 modes. Abstract Contemporary technologies are employing composite plate materials developed by using various innovative materials (nanostructures, mica structures, etc.). Application of higher-order modes could allow better detection and characterization of defects characteristic of planar plastic and composite structures, mainly due to shorter wavelength. However, excitation of higher-order modes meets many problems, especially in the case of the air-coupled technique, and is not sufficiently investigated. This is relevant in the cases of paper, high-density polyethylene (HDPE), membranes, GFRP, GLARE, CFRP and other composite structures. The objective of the paper was investigation of the excitation and reception of higher-order guided Lamb wave modes in plastic and composite plates. Therefore, it is appropriate to develop new non-contact ultrasonic measurement methods based on the excitation and reception of guided waves for the study of such objects. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the possibility to excite and receive efficiently different higher-order guided Lamb wave modes with very different phase velocities. The presented comparison of the experimental results with the simulation results showed a good agreement. The combination of air-coupled excitation and non-contact reception enables a non-destructive evaluation and characterization of moving plastic objects and composite structures.


A series of tests on suspension insulators For power transmission lines is described this paper, and results are given which should be of interest to design engineers. The tests made included long-time Fatigue tests, the distribution of voltage over the insulator string, and the flashover voltage when some of the units are electrically defective.


BACKGROUND
Although classical human T-cell lymphocyte virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis syndrome is the most frequent HTLV-1-associated neurological disorder, some "minor" neurological disorders can be seen in "asymptomatic" carriers. These disorders, including cognitive alterations already described in clinical cases and studies, may constitute an intermediate syndrome (IMS) between the asymptomatic state and myelopathy. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of cognitive deficits in patients with HTLV-1 virus, who usually are diagnosed as asymptomatic.

METHODS
A total of 54 HTLV-1-infected patients were evaluated, 35 asymptomatic and 19 with minor neurological alterations (evaluated by a neurologist); 25 HTLV-1-seronegative individuals served as controls. The instruments used were: Beck's Depression Inventory, Lawton's Daily Life Activity Scale, and a complete neuropsychological battery. The application of these evaluation instruments was performed blindly, with the evaluator neuropsychologist not knowing the clinical condition of the patient.

RESULTS
Most of the participants in this cohort, including seronegative controls, were female (n = 57, 72.21%), their mean age was 52.34 years (SD = 14.29) and their average schooling was 9.70 years (SD = 4.11).

DISCUSSION
Participants classified with IMS had lower gross scores when compared with both the patients classified as asymptomatic and with the control group, and when tested for auditory episodic memory of immediate (p < 0.01), and late (p = 0.01), recall.

CONCLUSION
Patients with IMS presented with memory impairment when compared with asymptomatic patients and seronegative individuals; this is one of the symptoms that aids in the classification of the syndrome.


Two novel cholesteryl ether derivatives were synthesized and radioiodinated: (1) [125I]cholesteryl m-iodobenzyl ether (125I-CIBE) and (2) [125I]cholesteryl 12-(m-iodophenyl)dodecyl ether (125I-CIDE). These radioiodinated ethers were incorporated into low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by incubating the compounds (solubilized in saline with Tween-20) with isolated LDL or with whole plasma. Such LDL preparations were taken up by cultured fibroblasts in a receptor-dependent manner similar to that of radioiodinated LDL. Upon injection into guinea pigs, 125I-CIBE-labeled guinea pig LDL cleared from the plasma similarly to radioiodinated guinea pig LDL. The primary sites of 125I-CIBE uptake were the adrenal and the liver, and the compound was stable to both hydrolysis and deiodination over 24 h. In summary, 125I-CIBE and 125I-CIDE, like previously described tritiated cholesteryl ethers, appear to be potentially useful tracers of cholesteryl ester uptake. Moreover, these radioiodinated probes have the advantage of being more easily quantitated in tissue samples as well as being detectable by noninvasive scintigraphic imaging.


This paper discusses the problems and prospects of incorporating traditional vocational education into the Nigeria educational system. It looks at the traditional education with functionalism as its main guiding principle before the introduction of western education which was purely theoretical because its aim was religious. It examines how functionalism cave-in, in the face of new education that provides white-collar jobs thereby eroding the economic value of the traditional vocations. The paper also looks at the relevance of the 1969 Curriculum Conference, which was convened to overhaul the education system and make it more relevant to the need of the society. The outcome of the conference was the 6-3-3-4 system of education which incidentally included some traditional vocations and raised peoples' hope that children will become self-reliant. However, its implementation failed because there was no partnership that works between the school and the community. But in the face of dwindling white-collar jobs and the rising unemployment, the writer is suggesting ways by which these traditional vocations could be incorporated into the educational system. The paper recommended among others that; master craftsmen/women should be brought to school to teach the students some of these vocations to impart the skills that will make them to become self-reliant.


In this study, we present methods of coupling a commercial code, ANSYS CFX, and the user Fortran codes for solving an unsteady electro-osmotic flow around a pair of electrodes, receiving DC, attached to the top and the bottom walls of a two-dimensional cavity. We developed a module of Fortran programs for solving the ion-transport equations as well as the Poisson equations for the potential to be used in coupling with the CFX. We present how the developed codes are applied to solving the transient DC electro-osmotic flow problem within a simple cavity. We also address various problems encountered during the development process and explain why such problems are raised.


We describe a 5-month-old female who presented with clinical features of 5p deletion syndrome, including high-pitched cry, microcephaly, micrognathia, bilateral preauricular tags, bifid uvula, abnormal palmar creases, bilateral hypoplastic nipples, feeding difficulties, and developmental delay. In addition, the patient also had a cardiac defect, proximal esophageal atresia, and distal tracheoesophageal fistula. aCGH of the patient revealed a 22.9-Mb deletion of chromosome 5p15.33p14.3 and an 8.28-Mb duplication of chromosome 5q12.1q13.2. Parental chromosome analysis indicated that these alterations are de novo. Chromosome and FISH analysis demonstrated that the 5q12.1q13.2 duplicated segment was attached to the 5p14.3 region with the band 5q12.1 more distal to the centromere than the band 5q13.2. Based on the bioinformatic analysis, we postulate a mechanism for the formation of this complex rearrangement of chromosome 5 by 2-step-wise events mediate by nonallelic homologous recombination between low copy repeats. To the best of our knowledge this rearrangement found in our patient has not been reported in the literature. This report demonstrates the value of chromosome analysis in conjunction with FISH and aCGH for identification of complex rearrangements which cannot be revealed by array analysis alone.


This project aims to optimize the process parameters for fabricating Poly (L-Lactide-co-ε-Caprolactone) (PLCL) electrospun scaffolds to achieve fiber diameters within the ranges of ~500nm, 500nm~1µm and 1~3µm. Electronspun PLCL solutions of different concentrations (4wt% - 12wt%) were prepared using chloroform and dimethylformamide as solvents. The driving voltage and flow rate were varied from 10kV-30kV and 1ml/hr12ml/hr respectively while the gap distance was kept constant at 15cm. The effects of polymer concentration and process parameters on the properties of the scaffolds fabricated such as Youngs modulus, degree of crystallization and porosity were studied. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to check the structural integrity (absence of beading and uniform diameter) of the fibers. An increase in polymer concentration resulted in an increase in fiber diameter. Flow rate also showed a positive correlation with fiber diameter. Results showed that Youngs modulus decreased with increasing fiber diameter. Porosity of 76% to 94% was achieved. The potential application of PLCL electrospun scaffolds in the tissue engineering of soft tissues was discussed.


Indices, despite their popularity, are not trading instruments. Index futures and options have addressed this deficiency, and the exchange-traded fund has taken process one step further. Delivered futures on ETFs eliminate many of the problems associated with index trading and their versatility opens new trading opportunities.


The analysis of radicalism attitudes among students is triggered by the lack of supervision of information and communication technology usage. This study aims to find the attitude of radicalism among senior high school students based on gender. The research is designed with a quantitative approach. The data were collected using a questionnaire. This study involved 229 students selected by random sampling, with a total of 107 male and 122 female students. The data were collected using a questionnaire and essay. The data were further analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results of this study showed that in Part A, 34% male and 19% female students often sent and shared religious content and conflicts on social media. In Part B, 13% male and 14% female students agreed on courtship, marriages with different religion, polygamy, and divorce. In Part C, 2% male and female students are anti-ideological and uphold Islamic law. Furthermore, in Part D, 67% male and 46% female students declare non-Muslims as infidel, and war is a part of jihad.


Based on the study of judicial and expert practice, the article identifies typical expert errors when conducting non-identification ballistics research: of a procedural nature (expert going beyond the scope of competence; errors caused by improperly formulated questions to the expert; independent collection of objects and examination materials, etc.); epistemological (incorrect application of logical methods and operations, violation of the logic of substantiation of intermediate and final conclusions; imperfect knowledge of the subject of research); operational (use of outdated methods; violations in the sequence of expert procedures; incorrect use of technical means of research or use of unsuitable means, equipment, etc.; obtaining and using low-quality comparative material).
It was concluded that proper operational control of the entire technological chain, starting from the appointment of an expert and the sending of an examination from an expert institution, will also contribute to the reduction of the described shortcomings when conducting non-identification ballistics research. It is emphasized that under such conditions, the departmental control of the head of the expert institution becomes especially important, a thorough check of the validity, reliability and scientific validity of the relevant research will contribute to the reduction of identified and potential errors of subordinate ballistic experts.
It was established that the process of evaluating the conclusion of forensic ballistics examinations, in which diagnostic and situational tasks are solved, includes the analysis of its legal and factual aspects. The assessment of such studies from a legal point of view requires the analysis of the procedural order of preparation, appointment and examination. The evaluation of the factual side of the conclusion consists in establishing the reliability and scientific validity of the factual data discovered by the expert, their relationship and attitude to the event under investigation.


The growing electric propulsion systems market directly affects electric motors' current density. This leads to higher power density electric motors that limit utilizing only conventional thermal management systems. As a result, it is essential to integrate this conventional thermal management system with an advanced cooling system. Oil spray cooling is an advanced thermal management system that provides enormous heat transfer; however, it faces some drawbacks occur by oil as the high viscosity coolant. This paper uses an experimental approach to consider the challenges of the high viscosity of coolant on temperature uniformity and nozzle performance.


Rapid and accurate histopathological diagnosis during surgery is critical for clinical decision-making. The prevalent method of intraoperative consultation pathology is time, labour and cost intensive and requires the expertise of trained pathologists. Here, we present an alternative technique for the rapid, label-free analysis of biopsy samples by sequentially assessing the physical phenotype of singularized, suspended cells in high-throughput. This new diagnostic pipeline combines enzyme-free, mechanical dissociation of tissues with real-time deformability cytometry at measurement rates of 100 - 1,000 cells/sec, and machine learning-based analysis. We show that physical phenotype parameters extracted from brightfield images of single cells can be used to distinguish subpopulations of cells in various tissues, without prior knowledge or the need for molecular markers. Further, we demonstrate the potential of our method for inflammatory bowel disease diagnostics. Using unsupervised dimensionality reduction and logistic regression, we accurately differentiate between healthy and tumorous tissue in both mouse and human biopsy samples. The method delivers results within 30 minutes, laying the groundwork for a fast and marker-free diagnostic pipeline to detect pathological changes in solid biopsies.


The study describes an experimental study into the relationship among incorporation of Glass Fiber on the fresh and hardened properties of concrete. The effect of fiber fractions on the slump, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) were investigated for volume fraction (VF) of 0%, 1%, 2% and 4%. In order to serve the purpose, concrete cylindrical and prism specimens were made with various rates of fiber-glass polymer. The cylinder specimens were tested at 7 and 28 days for compressive strength and at 28 days for splitting tensile strength, whereas the prism specimens were tested at 28 days for flexural strength. The experimental test results show that the additions of glass fiber polymer to concrete decrease slump, but increase compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and flexural strength. In addition, an analytical model has been proposed to predict slump of fresh concrete.


The article proposes a comparative analysis of three different contexts and management of hospitality for asylum seekers on the Italian-Slovenian border since the reopening in 2015 of the so-called "Balkan route" as an overland door to Europe. Through interviews and participant observation, we highlight the differences among a CARA in Gradisca, confined in a large militarized barrack on the margins of social life, a SPRAR system in the Villaggio del Pescatore, founded by a former WW2 refugee's community, and the efficient model of widespread hospitality in Trieste that distributes migrants in apartments with coordinated self-management. However, the scenario of Trieste also includes an illegal settlement in another historical place of previous forced migrations, where migrants try to escape the dichotomous logic of assistance vs. rejection in order to strategically position themselves in a gray area within the liminal space between the authoritarian and humanitarian regime. The interpretation of micro-contexts clearly highlights the outcome of divergent choices, both in terms of the organization and management of hospitality (large militarized and confined center vs. widespread hospitality and SPRAR), and in terms of the different media and political representations, with an impact on the daily lives of migrants, citizens and workers involved.


This paper examined the role of airpower in counterinsurgency with particular focus on analyzing the Nigerian Air Force's response to the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east. The paper adopted the documentary method and sourced data from mainly secondary sources. The Nigeria Air Force 's operations against the insurgent group commenced in 2010, as part of the armed forces operations within the purview of the Joint Task Force. It was found out that in spite of the significant contribution made by the Nigeria Air Force , there still are challenges to Nigeria Air Force 's counterinsurgency efforts. Firstly, Nigeria Air Force faces logistical problems such as a dearth of spare parts, shortage of precision-guided ammunition, and inadequate trained personnel that can operate and maintain sophisticated war weapons. Secondly, there is a paucity of systems to initiate and maintain a systematic kill-chain that will encompass searching for the adversary, maintaining intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance presence over them, and subduing them and obtaining data for purposes of analysis. It was recommended, among others that for the Nigeria Air Force to be more effective in the northeast operations, there should be increased spending on purchasing more modern platforms and weaponry that are pliable in contemporary air power considerations.