During typical composites manufacturing processes, fibers are deformed in ways that alter their processing characteristics (e.g., permeability, stresses and resin pressure, etc.) and their resulting microstructure (fiber volume fraction, void fraction, etc.). In this paper, we review all available data for the deformation behavior of lubricated carbon fiber bundles and compared it to a recently developed 3-D theory [15]. Most of the data, which is for transverse compression, exhibits very large scatter, but can be collapsed by shifting along the fiber volume fraction axis. It is hypothesized that the shifts represent different "states" for the fiber bundle, which can be represented in the model by a single variable, the available fiber volume fraction Va. It is then shown that all available aligned carbon fiber bundle data, including bulk compression, axial extension, and coupling be havior can be fit to the modified model by only adjusting Va. In one case (the coupling be havior), the available fiber volume fraction was directly measured. Observations on how the "state" of the fiber bundle can be modified by the processing conditions are included. On the basis of this analysis, a simple, practical test to determine Va is proposed.


Conducting structures residing partially within air and partially within a lossy half-space are investigated experimentally. The conducting structures are modeled by monopole antennas, and the lossy half-space is modeled by the water within a nonmetallic tank. A sleeve monopole antenna is oriented normal to the water surface with driving point near the bottom of the tank and source gap (aperture) in air. Gap height above the water surface, antenna radius and monopole length are varied. Electromagnetic properties of the water are changed by variation of its common salt (NaCl) content. Reflection coefficient at the driving point is measured for the 0.5-1.0 GHz octave by means of swept-frequency network analysis with automated data collection. Measured data are compared to results obtained from a numerical solution of an integral equation. Good agreement is obtained in all cases between the aperture admittance determined experimentally and that determined theoretically from knowledge of the current distribution on the structure. The water surface is shown to act as a good reflector with aperture admittance differing only slightly from that measured for the same antenna above an aluminum ground plane. The electromagnetic constitutive properties of the tank water are measured by guided wave techniques.


This paper highlights for an international audience, the major technical, socio-economic and political changes which the UK water industry has faced over the period 1974-2006. The author also provides a personal experience of the technical and environmental challenges met by Thames Water in this period. The formation of publicly owned Water Authorities to implement integrated river basin water management is discussed. Government drivers for privatisation and the formation of water industry regulators are reviewed. Privatisation has had impacts on improved water quality and customer service, higher capital investment and changes to pricing mechanisms. A wide range of public and private ownership and service delivery models are now used in the UK water industry.


This paper is focused on the influence of the appearance of the disturbance due to locomotive wheels slipping on a traction system with rotor flux-oriented control and hysteresis current controllers. This disturbance is one of the specific phenomena of railway traction associated with a sudden variation of the load torque that can lead to unfavorable effects on the traction system. The rotor flux-oriented control of the induction motor has proven its superior performance and applicability in electric traction. When the current control of the voltage source inverter is adopted, the control scheme is simpler and the performances in operation are outstanding. This structure of the control system is first presented synthetically in the paper. The specific Matlab-Simulink model conceived for the whole traction system is used to evaluate the performance of the control system in the presence of the disturbance given by the locomotive wheels slipping. The results show that the response of the system is very good, with superior performance both when wheels slipping occurs during acceleration and in steady-state operation.


This handbook is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1, Curb-Side Guidelines, presents guidelines for improving the accessibility to buses and bus mobility in the right of way. It is appropriate information for transit planners, for transit agency officials involved in shelter siting and advertising programs, and for transportation and civil engineers and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layouts and circulation in the right of way and on private property. Chapter 2, Streetside Guidelines, presents guidelines for improving the bus passenger experience at the street level including the configuration of bus stops and the coordination of bus stop elements like seating and shelter, way finding, safety and security, connections to pedestrian and bicycle circulation, landscaping, and the design of bus stops. It is appropriate information for transit planners, transportation and civil engineers and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layouts and circulation in the right of way and on private property. Chapter 3, Facility Prototypes, provides prototypical designs of bus passenger facilities in development contexts that are typical for Florida. The facilities considered include: on-line bus stops, primary stops, transit malls, transfer centers and park-and-rides. Each type of facility is accompanied by development guidelines for location, required site areas, pedestrian connections and connections to other modes of transportation and an inventory of the individual design elements that are combined to create that facility. This chapter also contains appropriate information for transit planners, transportation and civil engineers and architects who provide for bus passenger facility site layouts and circulation in the right of way and on private property. Chapter 4, Land Use Guidelines, describes methods for creating transit supportive development. Different examples are provided for typical types of development and development standards supportive of transit and a multi-modal transportation network are provided. This chapter is appropriate for elected officials, land use planners, growth management planners and transit planners as a reminder of key issues and relationship between different disciplines that will result in a stronger transit environment. Chapter 5, Safety, discusses safety of riders involving both crime prevention and traffic around the transit stop.


Author(s): Engene, Niclas | Abstract: During the last three decades, tropical marine cyanobacteria have emerged as an extraordinarily prolific source of promising biomedical natural products (NPs). Creative endeavors have been used to explore this novel chemical diversity, but lagging behind is the recognition and description of the biological diversity responsible for these NPs. Instead of being recognized as unique taxa, tropical marine NP-producing groups have been identified, with few exceptions, based on classification systems tied to morphospecies of terrestrial and freshwater specimens from temperate regions. This lack of proper classification systems is primarily due to the fact that tropical marine cyanobacteria have only recently been explored. As a result, our current perspective of the taxonomic origin and distribution of NPs in marine cyanobacteria is extraordinarily incomplete. A major aspect of this thesis research has focused on providing a better understanding of how NPs are distributed among different cyanobacterial groups so as to improve the efficiency of future investigations. The initial perception was that bioactive secondary metabolites are unequally distributed among different taxonomic groups with a few groups being responsible for the majority of the isolated NPs. However, based on polyphasic characterization of globally distributed populations, many of the most chemically prolific groups were found to constitute polyphyletic groups. Moreover, a large proportion of the secondary metabolites attributed to these groups are in fact produced by morphologically similar but evolutionarily distant cyanobacteria. I argue that this morphological resemblance of different cyanobacterial lineages is a major reason why some cyanobacterial groups have such an apparent richness of secondary metabolites. In my efforts to provide taxonomic clarity as well as to better guide future natural product drug discovery investigations, I have proposed a revision of the NP-rich genus Lyngbya on the basis of phylogenetic, genomic, secondary metabolism and ultrastructural comparisons with the genus reference strain PCC 7419T. In conclusion, this proposed revision of "tropical marine Lyngbya"as a new genus (Moorea gen. nov.) highlights the underestimated biodiversity of tropical marine cyanobacteria


This project presents a strategic analysis of a linerboard and sackkraft mill. The industry analysis of the two different industries shows that both industries are facing substitution pressures and some growth that is largely occurring in non-traditional regions. Competitors are closing high cost facilities and new capacity being built represents low cost production. The cumulative effect of changes is a reduction in unit costs throughout each industry. The internal analysis of the company identifies the fundamental issues the company faces are low productivity and higher manning and energy costs. While the company has good reputation for quality, it has not been able to achieve cost parity with its competitors and remains unprofitable. The broad strategic direction recommended is to lower costs to achieve cost parity with key rivals, while maintaining a reputation for slightly better quality.


The following document is an evaluation to assess the impact of Wezesha Project at alleviating poverty in the lives of its beneficiaries. Wezesha Project is a poverty focused microcredit program operating in the conflict/post-conflict setting of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 2011, in the provinces of North and South Kivu, DRC, Wezesha Project has been providing loans to groups of women, as business investments in order to generate more income and better support their families. The evaluation outline the context of eastern DRC, provides an overview of the Wezesha Project model, and conducts a literature review examining key material by practitioners and researchers in the field of microfinance. Using data collected from 1346 standardized surveys from a geographically stratified random sample of Wezesha Project beneficiaries between 2012 and 2015 to evaluate project impact. Standardized survey findings are combined with beneficiary focus group discussions to provide the foundation for the evaluation. The overall results make a convincing case that Wezesha Project is indeed alleviating poverty in key areas of income, savings, education, food spending and gender norms. Finally, topics from the literature review are combined with actual project results to provide recommendations on how Wezesha Project can improve on poverty alleviation in the lives of its beneficiaries. WEZESHA PROJECT EVALUATION 3 Table of


B.Q., a right-handed woman who had suffered a stroke affecting the right parietal region, showed visuospatial neglect and problems in recognizing seen objects and faces. Investigation of her visual recognition problems revealed a striking inability to identify the left sides of chimaeric objects and faces. Often, B.Q. would deny that the stimulus was chimaeric at all, and she was remarkably poor (though above chance) at discriminating chimaeric from normal faces. Even when left-sided details had been accurately traced or described, they were often either ignored in reporting the identities of the constituent parts of a chimaeric or assimilated in some way to the information from the right side. Neglect of the left side was more pronounced for chimaerics which approximated an individual face or object. It occurred regardless of the chimaeric's position in B.Q.'s field of vision, and was found with brief (200 ms) presentations of stimuli confined to her (perimetrically intact) right visual field. When chimaeric faces were inverted, B.Q. continued to neglect the side of the chimaeric falling to her left, which implies that the neglect did not operate in entirely object-centered coordinates. However, left-sided information could be used if it was critical in determining the identity of an object or a face. We suggest that this could explain B.Q.'s lack of neglect of individual words, for which left-sided (initial) letters are often crucial to successful recognition. An account of her deficit is proposed, involving an interaction between moderately defective pick-up of left-sided information in an object-based coding system and preserved access to stored representations of familiar visual stimuli.


Estimating the efforts, costs, and schedules of software projects is a frequent challenge to software development projects. A bad estimation will result in bad management of a project. Various models of estimation have been defined to complete this estimate. The Constructive Cost Model II (COCOMO II) is one of the most famous models as a model for estimating efforts, costs, and schedules. To estimate the effort, cost, and schedule in project of software, the COCOMO II uses inputs: Effort Multiplier (EM), Scale Factor (SF), and Source Line of Code (SLOC). Evidently, this model is still lack in terms of accuracy rates in both efforts estimated and time of development. In this paper, we introduced to use Gaussian Membership Function (GMF) of Fuzzy Logic and Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) method to calibrate and optimize the parameters of COCOMO II. It is to achieve a new level of accuracy better on COCOMO II. The Nasa93 dataset is used to implement the method proposed. The experimental results of the method proposed have reduced the error downto 11.89% and 8.08% compared to the original COCOMO II. This method proposed has achieved better results than previous studies.


The Government of Tanzania (GoT) has proposed the construction of feeder roads, market centers and storage facilities to improve farmers' access to markets and increase share of value added of smalland medium-scale producers which will ultimately enhance food security and improve the socio-economic welfare of the farmers and smalland mediumscale producers through increase in household income. This will in turn contribute to the Government's efforts in reducing poverty and in accelerating economic growth on a sustainable basis in Tanzania. The Programme – Marketing Infrastructure, Value Addition and Rural Finance Programme (MIVARF) is a follow-up to the Bank and IFAD financed Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme (AMSDP) which successfully achieved its development objectives in increasing the percentage of all-year passable rural roads and decrease in the number of households located more than 10kms from passable roads; increased volume of goods moved within and out of the focal areas and access of farmers' produce to markets; and increased price of farmers produce and districts' revenue collection.


A system is provided for transmitting/receiving alerting information in a wireless communication system. A calling mobile terminal (MT) encodes a session initiate protocol (SIP) invite message comprising multimedia alerting information and transmitting the encoded SIP invite message. An Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) server receives the SIP invite message from the calling MT, and transmits the SIP invite message to the called MT according to service profile of the calling MT and the called MT. The called MT decodes encoded multimedia alerting information in the received SIP invite message and message and plays back the multimedia alerting information.


Recent population projections identify that ageing trends are expected to continue. By 2026 it is estimated that there will be over 1.3 million people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups aged 65 or older in the UK, many of whom may experience life limiting illnesses that could benefit from care. Latest figures from Wolverhampton City Council (2017) suggest a population of 259,926 (5,000 increase since the 2011 census) with 35.5 per cent of residents being from a BAME community, and yet service uptake from such communities has been considerably low. Funded by the Big Lottery Community Fund, this project aimed to address the inequalities which exist around support for the South Asian Community in Wolverhampton. Through a series of community engagement activities and focus groups, we captured the views, thoughts and experiences of the South Asian community in Wolverhampton when living with or caring for someone with a complex, advanced or incurable condition. This poster highlights the main findings from this project with recommendations for policy and practice in palliative care services across the UK.


Background and objective To investigate the ability of lidocaine to inhibit reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species generation by either human leukocytes or cell-free systems via luminol- and lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence. Methods Venous blood was obtained from healthy volunteers and leukocytes were isolated, from which chemiluminescence was generated. Also, chemiluminescence, induced by H2O2, HOCl, peroxynitrite or ferrous iron, was generated in cell-free systems. Results Lidocaine produced a concentration-dependent inhibition in chemiluminescence generated by leukocytes (92 ± 1%, 1 mM). In cell-free experiments, lidocaine (1 mM) markedly inhibited chemiluminescence of xanthine-xanthine oxidase (24 ± 3%), while it slightly suppressed hypochlorous acid-induced chemiluminescence (9 ± 2%). Peroxynitrite-induced luminol- and lucigenin-enhanced chemiluminescence were also inhibited by lidocaine at 1 mM (19 ± 3% and 48 ± 8%, respectively). Lidocaine did not affect chemiluminescence generated by FeSO4. However, lidocaine produced a biphasic effect on H2O2-induced chemiluminescence (37 ± 5% inhibition at 0.01 mM and 61 ± 17% activation at 1 mM). Conclusions Lidocaine can elicit direct scavenging activity at high concentrations that might be important at or near the site of injection in local anaesthetic use.


Brexit is already posing many major challenges for those concerned with health and social care. This article explores one area, that of the regulation of medical devices which has been fundamentally underpinned by EU law and asks what Brexit means for future regulation in the United Kingdom. This article begins by outlining the importance of ensuring standards of quality and safety for medical devices and the consequences if things go wrong. The second section of the article outlines the current EU regulation of medical devices. It explores questions such as the role of the notified bodies, the problems of lack of central regulation and the role of vigilance processes. The third section explores the options for medical device regulation post Brexit in the light of the ongoing reform of the law in this area and the implementation of new EU Regulations. It considers the prospects for reciprocity and for alignment in the future. The article concludes by arguing that, while the new system for regulation of medical devices in the EU is not perfect, it nonetheless provides an important opportunity for restructuring device regulation and providing greater opportunities for facilitating safety. It is important to ensure that, as far as possible, we do not lose such an opportunity at domestic level post Brexit.


From the Department of Venereal Diseases, St. Thomas' Hospital Gumma ofthe heart was first reported in 1845 by Ricord. The process may be diffuse or localized, and occurs in both congenital and acquired syphilis. Diffuse gummatous myocarditis is rare, and Symmers (1916) could find records of only 4 cases of this type in 4880 autopsies over a period of 10 years at Bellevue Hospital, New York. Sohval (1935) found records of only 7 cases of diffuse gummatous myocarditis without localized gummata reported between 1845 and 1935. It would appear that the most frequent site for gumma of the heart is in the myocardium of the left ventricle and particularly at the base of the interventricular septum, where it interferes with the conduction system. Reifenstein (1936) reported a case of acute gummatous myocarditis simulating myocardial infarction, and this patient also developed a cutaneous rash seven weeks prior to death: two similar cases were quoted from the records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Cassio et al. (1937) reported a case of ventricular tachycardia caused by a sclero-gummatous lesion of the ventricular septum which had produced a septal infarct. A further case ofgumma of the ventricular septum, this time associated with ventricular fibrillation as well as tachycardia, was reported by Coehlo and d'Oliveira (1939). Von Haam and Ogden (1938) published three cases, one of isolated gummatous pericarditis, a second of multiple localized gummata of the myocardium, and a third of diffuse myocarditis and endocarditis. A further three cases were reported by Spain and Johannsen (1942) in all of which electrocardiographic changes had been recorded during life. In the first, the gumma impinged on both tricuspid and pulmonary valves, producing functional impairment; in the second, there was a gumma of the posterior leaf of the mitral valve producing stenosis; and in the third, there was massive gummatous involvement of the right ventricular myocardium and also gummatous pulmonary arteritis. O'Daley (1943) in a series of autopsies found that localized gumma of the myocardium was three times as common as diffuse gummatous myocarditis. More recently Massias (1947) reported a case of a myocardial gumma involving the left ventricle and Mullins et al. (1948) reported a gumma of the aortic ring and left ventricle. The latest reports were from India, where Kothare (1949) found three cases of gumma of the heart.


Lead halide perovskite quantum dots (QDs) are controversial due to their high lead content. Tin, a low-toxic element with an outer electronic structure similar to that of Pb, becomes a strong candidate for preparing lead-free perovskite QDs. However, tin-based perovskite QDs, especially CsSnCl3 QDs, exhibit poor environmental stability. Herein, we proposed an strategy for highly stable CsSnCl3 QDs using an ionic liquid as a solvent and antioxidant and gelatin as a multidentate ligand and coating material through an in situ method ([AMIM]Cl/gelatin-QDs). The results showed that the abundant active groups of gelatin served as the nucleation growth center for QDs and further passivated QDs. At the same time, the long molecular chain of gelatin can coat the QDs to isolate the environment and fully protect QDs, and the size of QDs grown in gelatin was 5-10 nm. In addition, the oxidation resistance of ionic liquids and the halogen-rich environment formed also played an important role. Even if [AMIM]Cl/gelatin-QDs were treated with water and ultraviolet light simultaneously, its remaining fluorescence intensity was still above 60% within 72 h. Meaningfully, QDs endowed the composite system mildew resistance, which can resist the erosion of gelatin by molds, thereby realizing the system's long-term protection toward CsSnCl3 QDs.


This paper considers vṛddhi as an inherited feature in Modern Standard Hindi. As a phenomenon, vṛddhi is most commonly discussed in reference to Old Indo‐Aryan (OIA), particularly with a focus on inflectional patterns in Sanskrit. However, the inherited pattern in New Indo‐Aryan (NIA) languages presents specific analytical challenges and its status as a morpho‐phonological feature in the present‐day languages is not straightforward to establish. In this paper, the focus is given to the operation of vṛddhi in denominal derivations in both OIA and present‐day Hindi. This leads to a discussion of the evolution of vowel systems in the history of Indo‐Aryan. Regarding the question of how synchronic vṛddhi‐alternations can be accounted for theoretically, I present two possibilities: (i) that vṛddhi constitutes a phonologically active process of vowel lowering/tensing in Hindi; and (ii), that vṛddhi is a suppletive phenomenon synchronically, and thus, not derived by phonological rule.


Introduction: Osteoarthritis knee associated with periarticular fractures (femur, tibia, or patella) in geriatric patients is a treatment challenge for orthopedic surgeon. In geriatric patient, early mobilization is key for a better outcome and to prevent immobilization related complications. Hence, this case report is important for all orthopedic surgeons. Case Report: We had a 65-year-old male patient who came for the treatment ofhis patella fracture and deformity ofboth knees. Conclusion: Elderly patients who sustained a patella fracture can be treated with single stage primary total knee replacement and fixation of patella fracture. There is no need for two stage surgery. Rehabilitation and pain relief along with mobilization is better with single stage surgery.


This study is about the development of syntax of a three and a half year old child. The writer of this thesis focused her study on the utterances produced by the child's utterances in his daily conversations with his mother, his sister or the writer. The investigation of the clause pattern in the child's utterances was used to find out the development of syntax. In collecting the data, the writer used both a tape recorder and a note. The writer transcribed all data and analyzed it by separating the child's utterances in the three types of the sentences, they are statement sentences, question sentences and command sentences. As the next step of analysis, the writer identified the clause patterns of each utterance. The result of the findings shows that the child has acquired to use the complex sentences in his utterances especially in the statement sentences and its development can be seen in the second week to the fifth week. While the question and command sentences, the development can be seen in the fifth week. The child also constructed the passive forms in his utterances especially in his command sentences.


India has witnessed
tremendous industrialization in the last five decades. This has led to
migration of masses from rural areas towards cities for jobs and businesses.
With increase in the population, the demand for residences has also increased
which has escalated growth of slum areas and haphazard planning in suburbs.
City of Ahmedabad is one such urban metropolis in the state of Gujarat, India.
Being the financial capital of Gujarat, population of the city has increased
many folds since 1980s. Congested and unsustainable planning and increasing in
the emissions from industries and vehicles in certain areas of the city have
given birth to many climatic issues. One of these major problems is the Urban
Heat Island (UHI) phenomena. This has increased the temperature by four to five
degrees and has also severely affected air quality. Satellite based Remote
sensing data can provide temperature information of various land use classes.
Remote Sensing data along with in-situ surface measurements can help to
identify urban heat island intensities and hotspots in the cities. A study on
heat island characterization and isotherm mapping was taken up in Ahmedabad
City. In the present study, Surface Heat Island (SHI) effect is studied using
satellite data along with field measurements. Thermal infrared data from
Landsat ETM band-6 have been effectively used for monitoring temperature
differences of various land use classes in urban areas. The study aims to
identify and study the urban hot spots using the data from LANDSAT-5 and field
data collected using IR Gun in various zones of Ahmedabad City. The results of
this study indicated that the surface temperature near industrial areas and
dense urban areas was higher as compared to other suburban areas in the
Ahmedabad City.


Have you ever wondered why some of your students" eyes seem to glaze over after a few minutes of talking to them about library resources? Or why a teaching strategy that worked brilliantly in one classroom falls flat in another? Is it true that multitasking is really impossible to do successfully? According to Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina, all of these questions can be answered by understanding how human brains are wired.


This study investigated the relationship between O2 consumption (VO2) and energy status in isolated rat cardiomyocytes using a system in which O2 supply (PO2) was maintained constant. For this purpose, VO2, phosphocreatine, ATP, intracellular pH, and adenosine of quiescent and stimulated cardiomyocytes were measured while the ambient PO2 was clamped between 0.1 and 120 mmHg. In quiescent cardiomyocytes (VO2: 7.9 +/- 1.2 nmol.min-1.mg protein-1), the threshold below which respiration decreased (critical PO2) was 1.4 mmHg. Above this value, energy status remained constant; below 1 mmHg, both free ADP and adenosine increased. Stimulation increased VO2 threefold and shifted the critical PO2 to 10 mmHg. Above this value, free ADP and adenosine remained unchanged; between 10 and 5 mmHg. VO2 was reduced but this did not change free ADP or adenosine. These findings demonstrate that 1) under well-oxygenated conditions (PO2 > 10 mmHg), VO2 is not controlled by ADP; 2) similarly, the adenosine formation is independent of VO2; a PO2 < 5 mmHg is a prerequisite for enhanced adenosine formation; and 3) when O2 supply becomes limiting, ATP consumption is downregulated without measurable changes in energy status (hibernation).


Aquaporins constitute a group of water channel proteins located in numerous cell types. These are pore-forming transmembrane proteins, which mediate the specific passage of water molecules through membranes. It is well-known that water homeostasis plays a crucial role in different reproductive processes, e.g., oocyte transport, hormonal secretion, completion of successful fertilization, blastocyst formation, pregnancy, and birth. Further, aquaporins are involved in the process of spermatogenesis, and they have been reported to be involved during the storage of spermatozoa. It is noteworthy that aquaporins are relevant for the physiological function of specific parts in the female reproductive system, which will be presented in detail in the first section of this review. Moreover, they are relevant in different pathologies in the female reproductive system. The contribution of aquaporins in selected reproductive disorders and aging will be summarized in the second section of this review, followed by a section dedicated to aquaporin-related proteins. Since the relevance of aquaporins for the male reproductive system has been reviewed several times in the recent past, this review aims to provide an update on the distribution and impact of aquaporins only in the female reproductive system. Therefore, this paper seeks to determine the physiological and patho-physiological relevance of aquaporins on female reproduction, and female reproductive aging.


Abstract Objective: Washington State established a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and operational plan in 2012 to coordinate pharmacy infrastructure and workforce during a public health emergency. The objectives of this study were to adapt the MOU operational plan to the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and assess community pharmacies' organizational readiness to implement COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Methods: This mixed methods study was conducted June-August 2020. Three facilitated discussions were conducted with community pharmacists and local health jurisdiction (LHJ) representatives to test the MOU operational plan. Facilitated discussions were thematically analyzed to inform adaptations to the operational plan. Pharmacists were surveyed to assess their organization's readiness for COVID-19 testing and vaccination before and after the facilitated discussions using the Organizational Readiness for Implementing Change (ORIC) measure. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Six pharmacists from 5 community pharmacy organizations and 4 representatives from 2 LHJs participated in at least 1 facilitated discussion. Facilitated discussions resulted in 3 themes and 16 adaptations to the operational plan. Five of 6 community pharmacists (83% response rate) completed both surveys. Mean organizational readiness decreased from baseline to follow-up for COVID-19 testing and vaccination. Conclusions: Operational plan adaptations highlight opportunities to strengthen MOUs between local and state health departments and community pharmacies to support future emergency preparedness and readiness efforts.


We propose a two-step quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) protocol with hyperentanglement in both the spatial-mode and the polarization degrees of freedom of photon pairs which can in principle be produced with a beta barium borate crystal. The secret message can be encoded on the photon pairs with unitary operations in these two degrees of freedom independently. This QSDC protocol has a higher capacity than the original two-step QSDC protocol as each photon pair can carry 4 bits of information. Compared with the QSDC protocol based on hyperdense coding, this QSDC protocol has the immunity to Trojan horse attack strategies with the process for determining the number of the photons in each quantum signal as it is a one-way quantum communication protocol.


A NY attempt to specify authoritatively the most important >-\ military decisions of the Second World War would require JL JLtoo much by way of preliminary definition to be possible in reasonably short compass. Yet to join together, however sketchily, some of the events which to one individual marked the general pattern of the war may induce other more serious efforts and possibly provoke a reappraisal of some events heretofore overlooked or taken for granted. In spite of the extraordinary press coverage of World War II, so many facts remain undisclosed or obscure that even the large generalities of strategy have to be stated with caution. The neces sity for such a warning is rather spectacularly borne out by the disclosures resulting from the statements of former German and Japanese officials who have been interrogated since the close of hostilities, and by the documents which were made available at the war criminal trials and thereafter. For example, there is no need to debate further the once lively issue of whether Hitler was bluffing when Chamberlain and Daladier surrendered Czech oslovakia to him without a fight. The Nuremberg documents show incontestably that Hitler was prepared to invade Czecho slovakia immediately and to take on a general European war then and there. Although some obscurities still cling to the Soviet-German alliance of 1939, there seems to be little room for doubt that the Soviet Union then agreed with Germany to carve up Poland and other parts of Europe, and that Mr. Molotov even appeared willing to join the Axis as late as the spring of 1941 if the Soviet Union were made a full partner. Again, the disclosures contained in the minutes of the Hitler Matsuoka conversations in early 1941 in Berlin, dealing with the impending Japanese attack on the United States and Hitler's "blank check" commitment to Japan, make inconsequential the American decisions respecting Japan in the summer and fall of 1941, which appeared important at the time. The German campaigns in Norway, the Low Countries and France, following the "phony war" or 1939, involved many bril


A series of community‐led, large‐scale laboratory experiments, termed "StreamLab", were performed by the National Center for Earth‐surface Dynamics (NCED) with the purpose of advancing multidisciplinary research, education, and knowledge transfer at the interface of physical/chemical/biological processes in streams, science‐based stream restoration practice, and environmental sensing technologies. Two series of experiments, StreamLab06 and StreamLab08, were conducted in the Main Channel of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, a flume 84 m long and 2.75 m wide with water fed by the Mississippi River at a rate of up to 8.5 m3/s. The purpose of this paper is to share with the broader community the data collected with the hope of stimulating further analysis and future experimental campaigns toward advancing our predictive understanding of the physical, chemical, and biological processes in streams. Toward this end, a brief summary of the results to date is included and some ideas for further research are provided.


Composites based on epoxy/graphene oxide (GO) and epoxy/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were investigated for thermal-mechanical performance focusing on the effects of the chemical groups present on nanoadditive-enhanced surfaces. GO and rGO obtained in the present study have been characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) demonstrating that materials with different oxidation degrees have been obtained. Thereafter, GO/epoxy and rGO/epoxy nanocomposites were successfully prepared and thoroughly characterized by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A significant increase in the glass transition temperature was found in comparison with the neat epoxy. The presence of functional groups on the graphene surface leads to chemical interactions between these functional groups on GO and rGO surfaces with the epoxy, contributing to the possible formation of covalent bonds between GO and rGO with the matrix. The presence of oxidation groups on GO also contributes to an improved exfoliation, intercalation, and distribution of the GO sheets in the composites with respect to the rGO based composites.


The salmonid fish Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus shows pronounced individual variation in skin colouration and density of carotenoid-based spots. It has earlier been shown that spot density is a heritable trait, and may be used as an indicator of stress coping style in Arctic charr. Individuals with few spots tend to be more aggressive and less responsive to stress (proactive) than those with many spots (reactive). Here, we evaluate the potential of grading individuals into proactive and reactive individuals by the density of light-coloured spots. This non-invasive method would be useful for selective breeding and to reduce within-treatment variation in biological research. Our aim was to investigate stability of spot density over time and to compare methods to estimate spottiness on Arctic charr, using photographs as well as live fish. The consistency of spot density was significant over a period of 8 months, but with stronger correlations between September and December than between May and September. Also, repeatability of spot number was higher between the two last months than when including May. The spots were more stable on the left than the right side, thus, it is more reliable to estimate spottiness on the left side. There was a significant relationship between the ratio of spotted area (rsa) from automated image analysis and number of spots from visual counts. Both methods fitted well into a visual grading into three categories (few, medium and many spots). In another test, a large number of live fish were visually categorized according to spot density. The previous validation process, in combination with a significant family effect showed that large numbers of fish can be effectively graded.


Abstract An electronic cigarette is a rechargeable device that produces an inhaled aerosol containing varying levels of nicotine, and inorganic and organic toxicants and carcinogenic compounds. The aerosol is generated by heating a solution of propylene glycol and glycerin with nicotine and flavoring ingredients at a high temperature. The e-cigarette was developed and marketed as a safer alternative to the regular cigarette which is known to be injurious to human health. However, published studies suggest that the aerosol of e-cigarette can also have adverse health effects. The main objective of this review is to briefly describe some consequences of e-cigarette smoking, and to present data showing that the resulting increased oxidative stress and inflammation are likely to be involved in effecting to lung damage. Other organs are also likely to be affected. The aerosol contains varying amounts of organic and inorganic toxicants as well as carcinogens, which might serve as the source of such deleterious events. In addition, the aerosol also contains nicotine, which is known to be addictive. E-cigarette smoking releases these toxicants into the air leading to inhalation by nonsmokers in residential or work place areas. Unlike regular tobacco smoke, the long-term consequences of direct and secondhand exposure to e-cigarette aerosol have not been extensively studied but based on available data, e-cigarette aerosol should be considered harmful to human health.


Rural Extension, as a mechanism to tend to rural development in Argentina, has been the tool par excellence used by the states to achieve institutional objectives related to dominant politics. The present article aims at analizing the institutionality related to Rural Extension and Technical Welfare in the horticultural sector from La Plata after the crisis in 2001, as a supporting instrument to the rural development. Thus, it identifies the actors in the public sector and civil society linked to the process of technologic innovation participating in the construction of a new institutionality and the emergent paradigmatic approaches present in the regional domestic agriculture. It is concluded that institutional changes are being operated, as a result of a new vision of the institutionality which is being constructed, giving place to original intervening strategies for the region, increasing the frequency of favouring actions for domestic agriculture


We measured the size- and shape-dependent compressibility of the TiO2 anatase nanoparticles using monochromatic synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction and high-pressure diamond-anvil cell techniques. Compared to the bulk anatase sample, the rice-shaped (3.8 × 5.0 nm) and the rod-shaped (3.5 × 21.0 nm) anatase nanoparticles exhibit reduced and enhanced bulk modulus, respectively, ranging between 204(8) and 319(20) GPa. The Williamson−Hall plot analysis of the measured diffraction data from the bulk sample shows that the pressure-dependent increase of the microscopic strain is isotropic, whereas the Strokes−Wilson profile analyses on the two resolved Bragg peaks from the anatase nanoparticles reveal anisotropic distribution and evolution of the relative strain. This might be attributed to the higher c-axial compressibility and also to the higher population contrast of the hard TiO6 and soft O6 octahedra in the nanoparticle samples compared to the bulk sample.


The Boeing Infrared Sensor (BIRS) Calibration Facility represents a major capital investment by The Boeing Company in optical and infrared technology. The facility was designed and built for calibrating and testing new generation large aperture long wave infrared (LWIR) sensors, seekers, and related technologies. The capability exists to perform both radiometric and goniometric calibrations of large infrared sensors under simulated environmental operating conditions. The system is presently configured for endoatmospheric calibrations with a uniform background field that can be set to simulate the expected mission background levels. During calibration, the sensor under test is also exposed to expected mission temperatures and pressures within the test chamber. The facility could be converted for exoatmospheric testing.The first major test runs in the facility were completed during 1989 with very satisfactory results. This paper will describe system configuration and hardware elements, and will address the ...


A perturbation method based on the variational nodal method for solving the neutron transport equation is developed for multidimensional geometries. The method utilizes the solution of the corresponding adjoint transport equation to calculate changes in the critical eigenvalue due to cross-section changes. Both first-order and exact perturbation theory expressions are derived. The adjoint solution algorithm has been formulated and incorporated into the variational nodal option of the Argonne National Laboratory DIF3D production code. To demonstrate the efficacy of the methods, perturbation calculations are performed on the three-dimensional Takeda benchmark problems in both Cartesian and hexagonal geometries. The resulting changes in eigenvalue are also obtained by direct calculation with the variational nodal method and compared with the change approximated by the first-order and exact theory expressions from the perturbation method. Exact perturbation results are in excellent agreement with the actual eigenvalue differences calculated in VARIANT. First-order theory holds well for sufficiently small perturbations. The times required for the perturbation calculations are small compared with those expended for the base-forward and adjoint calculations.


Talinum paniculatum (Portulacaceae) is popularly kn own in the region of Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, as "Maria Gorda" or "Bencao-de-Deus" and in traditional medicine it is used to treat inflammatory processes in general. After dried and fragmented, the plant was sequentially submitted to exhaustive percolation with hexane, ethyl acetate a nd methanol. The crude extracts were investigated f or their anti-edematogenic and anti-nociceptive activi ties through formalin-induced paw edema model. In comparison with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory d rug (NSAID) indomethacin, the hexane and ethyl acetate extracts showed higher anti-edematogenic an d anti-nociceptive activity. In addition, through phytochemical studies, from these extracts were iso lated and identified potassium nitrate ( 1 ), the mixture of long chain hiodrocarbons hentriacontane ( 2 ), dotriacontane ( 3 ), tritriacontane ( 4 ) and pentatriacontane ( 5 ). heneicosanoic acid ( 6 ), the ester nonacosyl nonacosanoate ( 7 ), urea ( 8 ), 3-O- β -D- glucosyl- β -sitosterol ( 9 ); the mixture of β -sitosterol ( 10 ) and stigmasterol ( 11 ), and a pentaciclyc triterpene 3-O-acethyl-aleuritolic acid ( 12 ). X-Ray difratometry was used for the characteriza tion of inorganic constituent. TLC, HR-CG and spectrometric methods (IR. 1 H and 13 C NMR) were used to identify the structures of organic compounds. To th e best of our knowledge, it is the first time that compound 1 to 8 and 12 are cited as constituents of T. paniculatum.


Introduction Suicide is a spectrum of behavior including suicide ideation and suicidal attempt and is undoubtedly the outcome of the interaction of several factors. The role of two main constructs of human nature, aggression and impulsivity, has been discussed broadly in relation to suicide, as endophenotypes or traits of personality, in research and in clinical practice across diagnoses. The objective of our study was to assess impulsive and aggressive behaviors among primitive people of the Idu Mishmi tribe, who are known for high suicide completer and attempter rates. Methods The study group was comprised of 177 unrelated Idu Mishmi participants divided into two sets: 39 suicide attempters and 138 non-attempters. Data on demographic factors and details of suicide attempts were collected. Participants completed a set of instruments for assessment of aggression and impulsivity traits. Results In the Idu Mishimi population we screened (n = 177), 22.03% of the individuals had attempted suicide, a high percentage. The suicide attempters also showed a significant sex difference: 35.9% were male and 64.10% were female (p = .002*). The suicide attempters (A) scored significantly higher than non-attempters (NA) on aggression (A = 23.93,NA = 18.46) and impulsivity (A = 75.53,NA = 71.59, with p value = 0.05). The trait impulsiveness showed a significantly higher difference (F (1, 117) = 7.274) in comparison to aggression (F (1, 117) = 2.647), suggesting a profound role of impulsiveness in suicide attempts in the Idu Mishmi population. Analysis of sub-traits of aggression and impulsivity revealed significant correlations between them. Using different models, multivariate logistic regression implied roles of gender (OR = 1.079 (0.05)) and impulsiveness (OR = 3.355 (0.013)) in suicide attempts. Conclusion Results demonstrate that gender and impulsivity are strong risk factors for suicide attempts in the Idu Mishmi population.


Objective: Blepharitis is one of the most commonly encountered conditions in ophthalmic practice and is a frequent cause of eye irritation and discomfort. Being a difficult to treat disease, the authors sought to better understand the epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentations, treatment and evolution of their patients, aiming at greater therapeutic success. Methods: The medical records of 124 patients of Centro de Oftalmologia Tadeu Cvintal who had blepharitis were retrospectively and cross-sectionally evaluated and underwent severity classification and collection of eyelid secretions for bacterial culture and antibiogram. Results: The mean age of the patients was 67.4 years, females accounted for 70 (56.4%) cases and males for 54 (43.5%). Regarding the severity of the disease, there were 71 cases of mild blepharitis (56.8%), 52 (41.6%) with moderate intensity and 2 (1.6%) severe cases. Evaluating the follow-up of treatment of the disease, it was observed that 103 (82.4%) patients did not return to evaluate the treatment outcome and only 22 (17.6%) returned. In respect of the cultures performed, 82 (66.1%) did not show microbial growth. Among the 42 (33.8%) positive samples, coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most prevalent, especially Staphylococcus epidermidis, responsible for 35 (83.3%) of them. As for antibiotic sensitivity, the agents in our sample showed greater resistance to Penicillin, Erythromycin and Ciprofloxacin and 100% sensitivity to Linezolid, Vancomycin and Daptomycin. Conclusion: By better understanding the epidemiological characteristics of blepharitis and the antimicrobial sensitivity of the bacteria involved, it is possible to offer more effective treatments.


Abstract This paper refers to habitation in the Byzantine Empire from the 7th to the 11th centuries and attempts a reappraisal of the patterns used to describe, evaluate and interpret the distribution of archaeological remains. Based on the study of a region in western Greek mainland, several contradictions between the historical and the archaeological evidence on settlement are being discussed; those reveal the prevalence of dispersed rather than nuclear patterns of habitation in the area. These patterns are further discussed within the context of medieval settlement around the Mediterranean. The physical form of Middle Byzantine Episcopal sees is sought for while the term 'κάστρον' is examined against the "archaeological imaginary" of 6th–11th c. Byzantine fortified settlements. It is concluded that the contextualization of archaeological and historical evidence for Middle Byzantine settlements in Southern Epiros demonstrates instead a rather flexible organization of habitation; episcopal sees do not seem to have corresponded to any clear distinct type of settlement. It is therefore suggested that during periods of rapid social change expressed through a transformation of habitation, specific forms or sizes of settlements cannot be correlated to specific functions or other political or socioeconomic activities. There should rather be more of "hybrid" settlement formations of changing nature and mixed qualities. Given the dynamic development pattern of Byzantine habitats, there is room for such "open" analytical categories in the archaeology of settlements, in order to facilitate descriptions of find distributions which do not conform to the available theoretical patterns. These new categories could further lead to an emergence of new interpretation schemes bringing out the spatial differentiation and uniqueness which seems to have been very much the case in the evolution of Byzantine provincial settlement patterns.


Fluid substitution is used to predict potential changes in seismic data due to production in oil reservoirs. The fluid changes in clastic rocks are often predicted by the Gassmann equation. However, the applicability of Gassmann's equation in carbonates is not well understood. Apparently, part of this failure is due to the violation of the assumption of a constant shear modulus for different fluids (Baechle et al., 2005; Adam et al., 2006), but it is not clear yet.


In this paper we describe the RTTS system for enterprise-level real time speech recognition and translation. RTTS follows a Web Service-based approach which allows the encapsulation of ASR and MT Technology components thus hiding the configuration and tuning complexities and details from the client applications while exposing a uniform interface. In this way, RTTS is capable of easily supporting a wide variety of client applications. The clients we have implemented include a VoIP-based real time speech-to-speech translation system, a chat and Instant Messaging translation System, a Transcription Server, among others.


Excited Jπ=0+ states in 188Pb populated in the α-decay of 192Po have been identified through α-particle—conversion electron coincidences. The level scheme has been interpreted using a configuration mixing calculation, providing estimates of the mixing matrix elements, mixing amplitudes and the energies of unperturbed and unobserved levels.


The main cause of premature aging of the skin is the presence of free radicals which are created by UV rays. The use of antioxidants is a promising option for overcoming these problems. Duwet (Syzygium cumini) is a natural source of antioxidants. A peel-off mask is a cosmetic product which forms an easy to peel-off layer on the skin's surface. This study aimed to determine the physicochemical characteristics, antioxidant activity, irritation effect, and stability of duwet leaf extract peel-off mask preparations. Duwet leaf extract was macerated by a methanol solvent and formulated into the peel-off masks with a concentration of 1%, 3%, and 5%. The results showed that the preparation produced good characteristics with a drying time of fewer than 30 minutes and showed significant antioxidant activity with the highest inhibition in the preparation with 3% duwet leaf extract. This preparation also had no irritating effect on CAM and was stable during storage using freeze-thaw and real-time methods. It can be concluded that duwet leaf extract can be used as an active agent for anti-aging peel-off masks.
Keywords: duwet leaf extract, peel-off mask, physicochemical characteristics, stability test, antioxidant activity, irritation effect


Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of persistence and non-persistence in leisure time physical activity on coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. Methods and results In the Copenhagen City Heart Study, we prospectively followed 12,314 healthy subjects for 33 years of maximum follow-up with at least two repeated measures of physical activity. The association between persistence and non-persistence in leisure time physical activity, coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality were assessed by multivariable Cox regression analyses. Coronary heart disease mortality for persistent physical activity in leisure compared to persistent sedentary activity were: light hazard ratio (HR) 0.76; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63–0.92, moderate HR 0.52; 95% CI 0.41–0.67, and high physical activity HR 0.51; 95% CI, 0.30–0.88. The differences in longevity were 2.8 years for light, 4.5 years for moderate and 5.5 years for high physical activity. A substantial increase in physical activity was associated with lower coronary heart disease mortality (HR 0.75; 95% CI 0.52–1.08) corresponding to 2.4 years longer life, whereas a substantial decrease in physical activity was associated with higher coronary heart disease mortality (HR 1.61; 95% CI 1.11–2.33) corresponding to 4.2 years shorter life than the unchanged group. A similar pattern was observed for all-cause mortality. Conclusion We found inverse dose–response relationships between persistent leisure time physical activity and both coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality. A substantial increase in physical activity was associated with a significant gain in longevity, whereas a decrease in physical activity was associated with even greater loss of longevity.


Controlling rheological properties offers the opportunity to gain insight into the physical characteristics, structure, stability and drug release rate of formulations. To better understand the physical properties of hydrogels, not only rotational but also oscillatory experiments should be performed. Viscoelastic properties, including elastic and viscous properties, are measured using oscillatory rheology. The gel strength and elasticity of hydrogels are of great importance for pharmaceutical development as the application of viscoelastic preparations has considerably expanded in recent decades. Viscosupplementation, ophthalmic surgery and tissue engineering are just a few examples from the wide range of possible applications of viscoelastic hydrogels. Hyaluronic acid, alginate, gellan gum, pectin and chitosan are remarkable representatives of gelling agents that attract great attention applied in biomedical fields. This review provides a brief summary of rheological properties, highlighting the viscoelasticity of hydrogels with great potential in biomedicine.


Water - sorption and dynamic properties of bread crust have been studied in gravimetric sorption experiments. Water uptake and loss were measured while relative humidity (RH) was stepwise increased or decreased (isotherm experiment) or varied between two adjusted values (oscillatory experiment). Experimental results were compared with the Fickian diffusion model and empirical models like the exponential and power - law model. The sorption curves that resulted from the isotherm experiments were best described by the Fickian diffusion model for low RH and by the exponential model for high RH. Transport rates depended on moisture content and showed a maximum around RH = 70%. Adsorption and desorption curves from oscillatory experiments were best described by the exponential model. From comparison of the experimental sorption curves and the power - law model for short times it followed for all bread crust that the diffusion coeffi cient n is close to 1. Normally, this is associated with so - called case II diffusion and water transport that are limited by relaxation of the solid material. However, additional observations suggest that this may not be a valid explanation and that a gradual, instead of stepwise change in RH and/or a kinetic barrier for water transfer to the solid matrix may explain the observed exponential behavior. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing.


The purpose of this study was to develop a strategy to assess two facets of the supervisory responsibilities of Cooperating Teachers (CTs): (a) what CTs choose to observe during a lesson when preparing to offer comments to a student teacher and (b) what CTs choose to bring to the attention of student teachers after observing a lesson. The purpose also was to determine the usefulness of the strategy in discriminating among CTs that may have different preparation backgrounds for supervisory duties. Eighteen elementary level CTs participated by individually watching a videotaped lesson, preparing a written critique, and responding to interviews regarding the supervision of a student teacher. Results support the strategy used as a viable means for identifying selected supervisory abilities of CTs, facilitating the identification of discernible similarities and differences among CTs, and discriminating between two groups of CTs with different backgrounds.


Knowledge of the time at which an HIV-infected individual seroconverts, when the immune system starts responding to HIV infection, plays a vital role in the design and implementation of interventions to reduce the impact of the HIV epidemic. A number of biomarkers have been developed to distinguish between recent and long-term HIV infection, based on the antibody response to HIV. To quantify the recency of infection at an individual level, we propose characterising the growth of such biomarkers from observations from a panel of individuals with known seroconversion time, using Bayesian mixed effect models. We combine this knowledge of the growth patterns with observations from a newly diagnosed individual, to estimate the probability seroconversion occurred in the X months prior to diagnosis. We explore, through a simulation study, the characteristics of different biomarkers that affect our ability to estimate recency, such as the growth rate. In particular, we find that predictive ability is improved by using joint models of two biomarkers, accounting for their correlation, rather than univariate models of single biomarkers.


: Objective: Trauma is a disease of modern societies and is one of the causes of death at any age in these societies. It is estimated that around 8.5 million people worldwide die each year as a result of trauma each year. Road accidents are more common among the types of injuries in the world. We conducted this study to compare the types of injuries at different times of the year in patients admitted to the emergency department of Mayo Hospital Lahore. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all trauma patients admitted to the Emergency Department of Mayo Hospital Lahore were enrolled in the study. This study does not highlight the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, as a source we use epidemiological data related to history and physical examination. Identifying statistics such as frequency, percentage, average, and standard deviation are used to analyze data. All data was analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Results: Out of 23,876 patients, 18,044 (75.6%) were male and 5832 (24.4%) were women. In most cases of injury, the incidence was 11.2% (2671) and was observed in September. Road accidents were the most common cause of injury in patients with an incidence of 33.9% (8095). He had a head injury of 38.6%. There was no correlation between age, gender, type of lesions in the patient and the sick limb. Conclusion: The results showed that trauma is more common in men and young people. Therefore, adequate planning and strict traffic regulations can reduce the number of accidents.


A mass spectrometric method for extensive detection and semi-quantitative determination of flavonoid glycosides in stem and leaves of young Triticum durum plants is presented. About 100 g of sample were lyophilized and ground, and the compounds of interest were then extracted, cleaned-up, and fractionated using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Tandem mass spectrometry analyses were performed using a quadrupole-linear ion trap instrument with an information-dependent data acquisition (IDA) protocol that looped two experiments, enhanced MS scan and enhanced product ion scan. Various glycoconjugates, which are all derivatives of only four flavones, apigenin, luteolin, chrysoeriol and tricin, were identified and belong to the following categories: 7 monoglycosides, 31 diglycosides, 15 triglycosides and 1 tetraglycoside. Among these some acylated glycosides were found. Tricin derivatives are present exclusively as O-glycosides, while apigenin and luteolin are present always as C-glycosides. Semi-quantitative estimation was performed by using the monoglycoside and diglycoside of quercetin as internal standards.


In recent two decades, research of underwater microrobots developed at a high speed. They can be widely applied in the field of underwater monitoring operations including pollution detection, video mapping, and exploration of unstructured underwater environments. Based on the underwater monitoring, this kind of microrobot is of great interest for cleaning the micro pipeline in the radiate area, getting samples from the seabed for archeology or mining, and so on (Kim et al., 2005; Behkam & Sitti, 2006; McGovern et al., 2008). For example, some underwater robots with screw propellers have been developed. However, the electromagnetic structure of traditional motors is difficult to shrink. So, motors are rarely found in this sort of application (Zhang et al., 2006a; Wang et al., 2008), and special actuator materials are used instead. As a result, many kinds of smart materials, such as ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC), piezoelectric elements, pneumatic actuator, shape memory alloy, which can be used as artificial muscles, have been reported (Heo, 2007; Park et al., 2007). Although problems such as electrical leakage, water safety, physical bulk, and high stiffness persist in real applications, these smart materials have been widely used as actuators to develop new type of microrobot. Ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is an innovative material made of an ionic polymer membrane chemically plated with gold electrodes on both sides. Its actuation characteristics, such as suitable response time, high bending deformation and long life, have significant potential for the propulsion of underwater microrobots. Flexible IPMC propulsion blades operating at low driving voltages provide many new possibilities for underwater locomotion applications (Lee & Kim, 2006; Nakadoi & Yamakita, 2006; Dogruer et al., 2007; Punning et al., 2007; Liu et al., 2008). They have been widely used on soft robotic actuators such as artificial muscles, as well as on dynamic sensors (Guo et al., 2008b; Ye et al., 2008). Now, many kinds of underwater microrobots have been developed using IPMC actuators as artificial muscles to propel the robots back and forth. They are widely used in swimming microrobots as oscillating or undulating fins where fast response is required (Jung et al., 2003; Guo et al., 2004; Kamamichi, 2006; Guo et al., 2007; Brunetto et al., 2008). IPMC actuators are also used for underwater bipedal walking microrobots (Kamamichi et al., 2003; Guo et al., 2006; Yim et al., 2007), and a kind of ion-conducting polymer gel film microleg


OBJECTIVES
We sought to determine whether unhealthy behaviors play a stress-buffering role in observed racial disparities in physical and mental health.

METHODS
We conducted logistic regressions by race on data from the first 2 waves of the Americans' Changing Lives Survey to determine whether unhealthy behaviors had buffering effects on the relationship between major stressors and chronic health conditions, and on the relationship between major stressors and meeting the criteria for major depression.

RESULTS
Among Whites, unhealthy behaviors strengthened the relationship between stressors and meeting major-depression criteria. Among Blacks, however, the relationship between stressors and meeting major-depression criteria was stronger among those who had not engaged in unhealthy behaviors than among those who had. Among both race groups there was a positive association between stressors and chronic health conditions. Among Blacks there was an additional positive association between number of unhealthy behaviors and number of chronic conditions.

CONCLUSIONS
Those who live in chronically stressful environments often cope with stressors by engaging in unhealthy behaviors that may have protective mental-health effects. However, such unhealthy behaviors can combine with negative environmental conditions to eventually contribute to morbidity and mortality disparities among social groups.


Source direction of arrival (DOA) estimation is one of the challenging problems in many applications. Such applications can be seen in wireless communications, radar, radio astronomy, sonar and navigation. The resolution of a source direction of arrival estimation can be enhanced by an array antenna system with innovative signal processing. Super resolution techniques take the advantage of array antenna structures to better process the incoming waves. These techniques also have the capability to identify the direction of multiple targets. This paper investigates performance of the DOA estimation algorithms namely; MUSIC and ESPRIT on the uniform linear array (ULA) in the presence of white noise. The performance of these DOA algorithms for a set of input parameters such as number of snapshots, number of array elements, signal-to-noise ratio are investigated. The simulation results showed that the resolution of the DOA techniques MUSIC and ESPRIT improves as number of snapshots, number of array elements, signal-to-noise ratio and separation angle between the two sources are increased.


Over the past few years, the world's population has continued on its remarkable transition path from a state of high birth and death rates to one characterized by low birth and death rates. At the heart of that transition has been the growth in the number and proportion of older persons. Older persons as consumer face many challenges. One of the challenges relates to income, a resource that is crucial in maintaining quality of life. Herein lies the main objective of the research is to examine the financial planning behavior of urban Malaysians. The specific objectives are to examine the savings and investment behavior of Malaysians and what are the factors that influence the decision for financial planning for old age. Secondly is to determine the types of financial products adopted in planning for old age and compared the behavior of Malaysians with regards to financial planning behavior using selected demographic variables. The third objective is to identify reasons for the lack of financial planning among older people and finally is to suggest strategies for public policy makers in terms of policy formulation and implementation as well as to marketers interested in targeting individuals for portfolio investments and savings. This study uses the convenience sampling method and data was collected using a structured questionnaire that covers variables about financial planning. Data was collected from respondents in the Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya areas. There were 426 respondents of which about 60% were Malays, 20% Chinese and Indians, respectively. The mean age was 51.9 years. About half (49.6% or N=210) had financial planning for retirement while an almost equal number of respondents (50.4% or N=213) did not have any financial planning. For those who had financial planning, the financial services products used for retirement planning were savings, followed by insurance, property insurance and unit trusts, and fixed deposits. This shows that Malaysians are still largely depending on the traditional financial products to protect their money. No significant differences were found with respect to financial planning behaviour between gender and age as well as among the three ethnic groups. Implications of the study and ecommendations for marketers as well as directions for future research are discussed.


The protein "SF−50", isolated from crude extract of spermatheca gland of a marine Gastropoda mollusc, Telescopium telescopium, has been found to prevent entry of human spermatozoa at the dose of 6 and 5 mg/ml. No implantation site was observed in rats when 10 mg of "SF−50" was administered in the uterus and the sites were significantly less (P< 0.001) in the group treated with 5 mg than those in BSA control. Continuous diestrous phase up to 23 to 50 days were observed in the actively immunized female rats with "SF−50". There was no degenerative change or any significant variation in the number of corpus luteum, implantation sites or litter size in actively immunized rats as compared to the controls. The anti "SF−50" rat serum showed homogeneity and identity with the corresponding antigen. No toxic effect of "SF−50" was observed in ocular irritation test in rabbits. Present findings indicated a plausible topical vaginal contraceptive from marine bio-active substances.


ABSTRACT Members of the genus Bifidobacterium are gram-positive bacteria that commonly are found in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of mammals, including humans. Because of their perceived probiotic properties, they frequently are incorporated as functional ingredients in food products. From probiotic production to storage and GIT delivery, bifidobacteria encounter a plethora of stresses. To cope with these environmental challenges, they need to protect themselves through stress-induced adaptive responses. We have determined the response of B. breve UCC2003 to various stresses (heat, osmotic, and solvent) using transcriptome analysis, DNA-protein interactions, and GusA reporter fusions, and we combined these with results from an in silico analysis. The integration of these results allowed the formulation of a model for an interacting regulatory network for stress response in B. breve UCC2003 where HspR controls the SOS response and the ClgR regulon, which in turn regulates and is regulated by HrcA. This model of an interacting regulatory network is believed to represent the paradigm for stress adaptation in bifidobacteria.


Abstract. Gaseous sulfuric acid is known as one of the key precursors for atmospheric new particle formation processes, but its measurement remains a major challenge. A proxy method that is able to derive gaseous sulfuric acid concentrations from parameters that can be measured relatively easily and accurately is therefore highly desirable among the atmospheric chemistry community. Although such methods are available for clean atmospheric environments, a proxy that works well in a polluted atmosphere, such as those in Chinese megacities, is yet to be developed. In this study, the gaseous sulfuric acid concentration was measured in February–March, 2018, in urban Beijing by a nitrate based – Long Time-of-Flight Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (LToF-CIMS). A number of atmospheric parameters were recorded concurrently including the ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) intensity, concentrations of O3, NOx, SO2 and HONO, and aerosol particle number size distributions. A proxy for atmospheric daytime gaseous sulfuric acid concentration was derived using a statistical analysis method by using the UVB intensity, [SO2], condensation sink (CS), [O3], and [HONO] (or [NOx]) as the predictor variables. In this proxy method, we considered the formation of gaseous sulfuric acid from reactions of SO2 and OH radicals during the daytime, and loss of gaseous sulfuric acid due to its condensation onto the pre-existing particles. In addition, we explored formation of OH radicals from the conventional gas-phase photochemistry using ozone as a proxy and from the photolysis of heterogeneously-formed HONO using HONO (and subsequently NOx) as a proxy. Our results showed that the UVB intensity and [SO2] are dominant factors for the production of gaseous sulfuric acid, and that the simplest proxy could be constructed with the UVB intensity and [SO2] alone, resulting in up to 29 % relative deviations when sulfuric acid concentrations were larger than 2.0 × 106 molecules cm−3. When the OH radical production from both homogenously- and heterogeneously-formed precursors were considered, the relative deviations were lower than 24 %.


This essay is based on a keynote address given at the twentieth anniversary of the Feminist Theory and Music conference (FTM II). The keynote address was based on my forthcoming book Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda (University of Minnesota Press, 2012). Retuning Lydia Mendoza and Selena represent the musical bookends of Mexican American women singers during the twentieth century. Both Mendoza and Selena have become not only the Chicana icons of borderlands music bur, for the most part, the Chicanas who have garnered the most sustained attention by scholars and curators of public cultural exhibits. While well deserved, such vast attention devoted to so few Chicana musical figures also has been vulnerable to reproducing what I refer to as a gendered politics of exceptional exemptions in music, the reproduced narratives and names of the few women greats considered exceptional enough in talent and skill to be exemptions to the heteromasculinist rule of canonical music histories. As feminist music scholarship has taught us, the idea that other Chicana singers must be as exceptional of a guitarist as Mendoza or as dynamic of a singer as Selena in order to be worthy of historicization and musical analysis enacts a willful oversight of the rich potential for analyzing issues of classed femininity, racism, and the production of nonheteronormative sexualities among countless other Chicanas who made music throughout the decades. When I began my research for what would eventually become my book, Dissonant Divas in Chicana Music: The Limits of La Onda, it became clear quite quickly that assembling an archive for analysis would lead to an ongoing questioning of the very notion of a legible Chicana archive. My task of analyzing Chicana music performers therefore required that I develop alternative modes for listening to and for past artists as well as a commitment to taking risks to trust their alternative meanings for what music making represents, including desires to leave home, broken marriages, and commitments to self-cultivated style. My research agenda has thus taken me to numerous places, metaphorically and geographically, that I did not expect. Thus, as a way of leading in to my focus of Eva Garza in this essay, I want to briefly introduce some of the artists who represent a significant call for a feminist "retuning" of Chicano canonical musicology, that is, singers who require critical engagements with alternative borderlands social identities, gender performance, and class aesthetics. In the 1940s and 1950s, for example, Chicana singer Rita Vidaurri traveled from Mexico City to Bogota, Colombia, singing her rancheras, often characterized as love songs contextualized in rural settings, which gained enormous popularity during the 1950s. Once nicknamed "la Jorge Negreta"--the female version of the popular charro figure and actor Jorge Negrete--Vidaurri and Lucha Reyes were also among the first mexicanas to wear charro pants while performing rancheras, thereby bucking the gendered norms of Mexican female performance and disrupting gendered national iconography. (1) The 1950s represent a highly underexplored and yet significant context for the exploration of Chicana singers in an emergent post-World War II Mexican American cultural production era. (2) Vicki Ruiz reminds us that during the first hall of the twentieth century, Mexican American women consistently negotiated the gendered expectations of parents and church while being drawn to American consumer culture through radio and advertisements. (3) While musicologists have contributed important insight into the ways in which labor, post-World War II nationalism, and Mexican American experiences are reflected in music, less attention has been devoted to thinking critically about music consumed and produced by Mexican American women during this era and how musical production transformed varied classed femininities, citizenship and cross-racial/ethnic relations, and gender and family constructions. …


The downy mildew pathogen, Pseudoperonospora humuli , forms oospores abundantly in diseased hop tissue. Diverse monosporangial isolates of P. humuli derived from samples collected in Japan, Germany and the USA readily formed oospores within hop leaves when inoculated singly, suggesting homothallism. Single zoospore isolates also readily formed oospores within hop leaves, further supporting the homothallic nature of this oomycete. The majority of oospores were deemed viable based on cytoplasm characteristics and plasmolysis assays. However, disease symptoms failed to develop when hop leaves were inoculated with newly formed oospores, even when oospore conditioning was attempted with treatment with potassium permanganate or b -glucuronidase/arylsulphatase, brief exposure to freezing temperature, or passage through an earthworm. Oospores derived from a monosporangial isolate of P. humuli that overwintered outdoors in infested leaves buried in soil also failed to cause downy mildew. Pseudoperonospora humuli is homothallic and oospores of the organism appear to require as yet unknown conditions to stimulate their germination and/or infection.


Introduction Enteral probiotics have been shown to reduce the incidence of severe necrotising enterocolitis (NEC) and mortality in premature infants under 1500g.1 A 2014 Cochrane review strongly suggested a change in practice and recommended comparative studies of preparations, timing and treatment length. Incidence of NEC was substantially reduced in a prospective cohort study in a North American NICU after introduction of probiotics [2]. We were interested to assess the impact on NEC, sepsis and death after probiotics had been introduced in several units in the southwest of England. Methods We administered a probiotic containing Bifidobactum and Lactobacillus, to all patients less than 32 weeks or under 1500g since July 2013. Using Badgernet (a database for all admitted babies in the United Kingdom) we looked at incidence of NEC, sepsis, death and length of stay, before the introduction of probiotics in 2011 and compared this with the incidence after the introduction in 2014. NEC was defined as any baby having confirmed or suspected NEC as a diagnosis on Badgernet and was applied only to inborn babies. We then compared the data of the 3 units that had introduced probiotics, with data from 3 similar units in the network, that hadn't. Results In the units using probiotics, suspected or confirmed cases of NEC were reduced from 25/169 admissions (15%) to 18/174 admissions (10%). Cases of NEC or death were reduced from 34/169 (20%) to 23/174 (13%). Average length of stay was unchanged at 38 days. In those units that hadn't started probiotics, suspected or confirmed NEC slightly increased in 2014. The odds ratio (odds of NEC on probiotics/ odds of NEC not on probiotics) = 0.64. This suggests a reduction in risk from using probiotics, however, the confidence limits are wide (95% CLs are 0.34, 1.16) and thus this is not statistically significant. Conclusion There would appear to be a trend towards reduction of NEC in units since the introduction of probiotics however this is not statistically significant. We recognise the results are limited by the data being input. As probiotics are introduced into more units, prospective data collection is needed in order to look for a significant reduction in individual units.


The local grammar approach was first used to discuss recursive phrases that are commonly found in specialist literature like biochemistry and then extended to extract time, date and address expressions from letters. It has recently been applied to extract person names from English, Chinese, French, Korean, Portuguese, and Turkish news texts. This paper shows that this approach can also be used to extract person names from Arabic counterparts.


Two experiments examined whether superior observational conditioning of fear occurs in observer rhesus monkeys that watch model monkeys exhibit an intense fear of fear-relevant, as compared with fear-irrelevant, stimuli. In both experiments, videotapes of model monkeys behaving fearfully were spliced so that it appeared that the models were reacting fearfully either to fear-relevant stimuli (toy snakes or a toy crocodile), or to fear-irrelevant stimuli (flowers or a toy rabbit). Observer groups watched one of four kinds of videotapes for 12 sessions. Results indicated that observers acquired a fear of fear-relevant stimuli (toy snakes and toy crocodile), but not of fear-irrelevant stimuli (flowers and toy rabbit). Implications of the present results for the preparedness theory of phobias are discussed.


Background : Zoledronic acid (ZOL) has been found to have a synergistic anti-proliferative effect when used in combination with antitumor drugs. We suggested that the addition of ZOL to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (CT) has potential anti-cancer benefit in postmenopausal patients with triple-negative breast cancer in JONIE-1 Trial (50% pCR rate in ZOL+CT: CTZ versus 0% in CT, p = 0.029). We analyzed the disease-free survival (DFS) as a secondary endpoint and baseline Ki67 levels between two groups. Methods : Women with Stage IIA-IIIB HER-2-negative breast cancer were randomly assigned 1:1 to CTZ group or CT group, CT was FEC100 q3w × 4 cycles followed by weekly paclitaxel for 12 cycles and ZOL 4mg was administered every 3-4 weeks. Among 188 patients recruited between March 2010 and April 2012 excluding 10 from the primary assessment, 178 patients were assessed. The aims of this study were to compare the relative efficacy or CTZ with the efficacy of CT in prolonging DFS in all patients and also to compare the pCR rates between baseline Ki67 high (20% and >20%) with Ki67 low ( Results : During a mean follow-up period of 34.4 months, breast cancer specific events (recurrence and death) occurred 17 participants, 7 in CTZ group and 10 in CT group. The 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year DFS rates were 97.7%, 88.4%, and 88.4% in CTZ versus 100%, 84.8%, and 81.1% in CT, respectively. In the ER positive cohort studied for Ki67 consist of 109 patients, 40 were in Ki67 low group and 69 were in Ki67 high group. Among Ki67 low group, number of pCR was none out of 18 in CTZ and 1 out of 22 in CT ( p = .550). Among Ki high group, that was 6 out of 38 in CTZ and 3 out of 31 ( p = .352). Conclusion : We could not find a modest improvement in disease-free survival compared the addition of ZOL to neoadjuvant CT with CT alone. Ki67 study for central analysis has been under investigation. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr PD3-7.


We report phonon densities of states (DOS) of iron measured by nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering to 153 gigapascals and calculated from ab initio theory. Qualitatively, they are in agreement, but the theory predicts density at higher energies. From the DOS, we derive elastic and thermodynamic parameters of iron, including shear modulus, compressional and shear velocities, heat capacity, entropy, kinetic energy, zero-point energy, and Debye temperature. In comparison to the compressional and shear velocities from the preliminary reference Earth model (PREM) seismic model, our results suggest that Earth's inner core has a mean atomic number equal to or higher than pure iron, which is consistent with an iron-nickel alloy.


SIGNIFICANCE
Reactive sulfur species (RSS) have been recently recognized as redox molecules no less important than reactive oxygen or nitrogen species. They possess regulatory and protective properties and are involved in various metabolic processes thereby contributing to the maintenance of human health. It has been documented that many disorders, including neurological, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes mellitus and cancer are related to the disruption of RSS homeostasis.

RECENT ADVANCES
There is still a growing interest in the role of RSS in human diseases. Since a decrease in H2S or other RSS has been reported in many disorders, safe and efficient RSS donors have been developed and tested under in vitro conditions or on animal models.

CRITICAL ISSUES
Cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus are currently the most common chronic diseases worldwide due to stressful and unhealthy lifestyles. In addition, because of high prevalence and aging of the population, neurological disorders including Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease as well as respiratory diseases are a formidable challenge for health care systems. From this point of view, the knowledge of the role of RSS in these disorders and RSS modulation options are important and could be useful in therapeutic strategies.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Improvement and standardization of analytical methods used for RSS estimation are crucial for the use RSS as diagnostic biomarkers. Finding good, safe RSS donors applicable for therapeutic purposes could be useful as primary or adjunctive therapy in many common diseases.


Image retrieval in realistic scenarios targets large dynamic datasets of unlabeled images. In these cases, training or fine-tuning a model every time new images are added to the database is neither efficient nor scalable. Convolutional neural networks trained for image classification over large datasets have been proven effective feature extractors for image retrieval. The most successful approaches are based on encoding the activations of convolutional layers, as they convey the image spatial information. In this paper, we go beyond this spatial information and propose a local-aware encoding of convolutional features based on semantic information predicted in the target image. To this end, we obtain the most discriminative regions of an image using Class Activation Maps (CAMs). CAMs are based on the knowledge contained in the network and therefore, our approach, has the additional advantage of not requiring external information. In addition, we use CAMs to generate object proposals during an unsupervised re-ranking stage after a first fast search. Our experiments on two public available datasets for instance retrieval, Oxford5k and Paris6k, demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach outperforming the current state-of-the-art when using off-the-shelf models trained on ImageNet. The source code and model used in this paper are publicly available at this http URL.


The synthesis and characterization of cofacial bisporphyrins juxtaposed by xanthene-bridged pillars are presented. The one-pot preparation of the xanthene dialdehyde avoids the lengthy bridge synthesis accompanying other cofacial porphyrin systems, thus allowing for the facile preparation of homobimetallic zinc (10), copper (11), and nickel (12) complexes. The cofacial orientation of the two porphyrin macrocycles was confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Structural data are provided for bisporphyrins 10-12: 10 (C79H82N8OZn2), triclinic, space group P1, a = 11.2671(2) A, b = 14.9809(2) A, c = 20.4852(2) A, alpha = 101.6680(10) degrees, beta = 100.8890(10) degrees, gamma = 101.8060(10) degrees, Z = 2; 11 (C79H82N8OCu2), triclinic, space group P1, a = 11.21410(10) A, b = 14.9539(5) A, c = 20.6915(7) A, alpha = 101.810(2) degrees, beta = 101.044(2) degrees, gamma = 101.722(2) degrees, Z = 2; 12 (C79H82N8ONi2), monoclinic, space group C2/c, a = 24.1671(4) A, b = 10.669 A, c = 50.5080(9) A, beta = 99.553(2) degrees, Z = 8. Exciton interactions between the porphyrin rings are apparent in electronic spectra, consistent with the cofacial superstructure. The combination of structural and spectroscopic data provides a basis for the design of additional metal derivatives for the activation of dioxygen and other small molecules.


Benign cystic mesothelioma (BCM) is a rare tumor arising from endothelial cells of the pelvic visceral or parietal peritoneum. It is a clinically and histopathologically benign disease. Etiology and pathogenesis of BCM remain unclear. Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an inherited disorder characterized by episodes of fever, and abdominal, chest and/or joint inflammation. Association between malignant mesothelioma and FMF has been reported previously; however, co-existence of FMF and BCM is rare. Here, we report a case of BCM in a 43-year-old male patient with FMF.


This article interrogates whether a crimmigration frame could be used to assess immigration control in Italy. It argues that even if crimmigration laws are similar across European countries, the outcomes of European border control depend on the local context. It looks at the interaction between police, judges, and migrants at the internal borders in Bologna, Italy. The article is based on quantitative data (analysis of case files on pre-removal detention in Bologna's detention centre) and qualitative data (one-to-one in-depth interviews with migrants and justices of the peace, and participant observation). The case study focuses on 'differential inclusion' of undocumented migrants informally allowed to remain in the Italian territory. Police manage illegality rather than enforcing removals, using selective non-enforcement of immigration laws as effectively as enforcement itself. The article's main hypothesis is that, at the local level, the production of borders works as a provisional admission policy to include undocumented migrants, though in a subordinated position.


The article studied and realized basic structure and the function frame of based on the GIS relevant technologys decision support system, because limitation and imperfection are characteristic of grass forest disruptive disaster system which the present manual work way deal with. Take grass forest fire of Inner Mongolia region for example, according to assistant decision-making demand of emergency handling in the aspect of grass forest disruptive disaster, using JS as development language and SuperMap iServer Java of SuperMap company as development kit, a set of scientific decision-making support plan can be formed promptly, accurately, effectively. The system, s GIS data provides reasonable basis for decision-maker and decision-making organ making scientific rescue response decision-making and rescue resource allocation decision-making on spot of emergency commanding work. Thus the design aims to make command staff to carry out emergency rescue work orderly, it not only voids randomness of emergency commanding but also improves efficiency of emergency commanding decision-making and cuts down rescue organization time.


This study aimed to establish phytochemical composition and determining the effect of Capsicum frutescens powder on body weight and carcass yield of Cobb500 broilers. Four hundred and fifty broilers at 35 days were randomly assigned to treatments defined by three dietary inclusion levels (1.1, 2.2, 4.4%) of C. frutescens powder for each of the three durations (13 days, 19 days, 24 days) prior to 59 days of age. A control group received only the basal finisher diet. Each treatment group had 15 birds replicated thrice. The phytochemicals detected in C. frutescens powder included flavonoids, phenols (588 mg GAE/100g), alkaloids (6.8%), and saponins (23.5%). Further, only diets formulated with 2.2% inclusion level and provided for 19 days  increased  body weight (1258g,  p=0.03), carcass weight (786g,  p=0.03)  by 14 and 15% respectively relative to the control. The results of this study highlight that C. frutescens has several beneficial phytochemicals  for improving broiler production  and that an inclusion level of 2.2% in finisher diets for 19 days is acceptable since it has capacity to improve  body weight and carcass yield of Cobb500 broilers.

 Key words: Alkaloids, chicken, body weight, phenols, carcass yield, internal organs.


Corporate IT as well as individuals show increasing interest in reliable outsourcing of storage infrastructure. Decentralized solutions with their resilience against partial outages are among the most attractive approaches. Irrespective of the form of the relationship, be it based on a contract or on the more flexible cooperative model, the problem of verifying whether someone promising to store one's data actually does so remains to be solved, especially in the presence of multiple replicas. We introduce a lightweight mechanism that allows the data originator or a dedicated verification agent to build up trust in the replica holder by means of protocols that do not require prior trust or key establishment. We show how naive versions of the protocol do not prevent cheating, and then strengthen it by adding means that make it economically attractive to be honest. This provides a foundation for further work in providing trustworthy distributed storage.


Recording of Gul Nasreen discussing"The Song of Barguun" in the Hunza dialect. This song was given to Gul Nasreen from her aunt, who got it from a foster father that was Ismaili. The song tells the story of a mother and baby Ibex.


ABSTRACT Although there is much written on the emotional labour of nursing, there is little research grounded in the experience of so-called 'unqualified' care assistants. This paper is drawn from an ethnographic study conducted with care assistants on three dementia care wards in one mental health trust within the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS). We describe the emotional labour carried out by care assistants in their attempts to provide personalised care for people whose cognitive degeneration renders conventional relationship-building very difficult, produces unpredictable 'challenging behaviour' and calls into question the notion of 'feeling rules'. This context requires the ability to strike a balance between emotional engagement and detachment, and it is the complexities of this relationship that are the focus of this paper, arguing that a degree of detachment is a prerequisite to engagement in this context. In conclusion, we argue that the contribution of care assistants in this context needs to be better acknowledged, supported and remunerated.