Heat carrier refining of a heat pipe employing the iron oxide-ferric oxide hybrid magnetic nanofluid and nickel ferrite mono-magnetic nanofluid as an operating medium in the process of various performing conditions was investigated experimentally. A thermosyphon-type heat pipe constructed of copper with 20-mm internal and 18-mm external diameters was used in this experimental work. The fulfillment of the heat pipe was examined by operating three separate operating fluids: distilled water, hybrid and mono-magnetic nanofluids. The fluid was injected into the system with a filling ratio equal to 1/3 of the total volume of the heat pipe for all individual experiments. Practical analysis was performed under three distinct input heats and two different nanofluid weight percent as an operating medium in the evaporator section and three different coolant mass flow rates in the condenser area of the system. Wall temperature fluctuations, index factor (efficiency), Nusselt number, and thermal resistance magnitudes were obtained for distilled water, iron oxide-ferric oxide hybrid magnetic nanofluid, and nickel ferrite mono-magnetic nanofluid for each experiment. The highest improvement rates in heat transfer ability, Nusselt number, and heat pipe thermal resistance magnitude were 30.55%, 26.9%, and 61.8%, respectively, when the iron oxide-ferric oxide hybrid magnetic nanofluid was employed as an operating fluid compared to distilled water. The thermal performance of the system increased significantly with increasing the weight percent of both hybrid and mono-magnetic nanofluids. Basically, the efficiency of the system was improved by 3.92% by increasing the weight percent of the hybrid magnetic nanofluid from 0.5 wt.% to 1 wt.%.


In biological invasion processes animal behavior moderates the success of invasive species, and the native fauna's ability to adapt. The importance of behavioral syndromes and flexibility of invading species for invasion success remains debated. We investigated behavior of rodents, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) currently invading Ireland, and the native wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) that declines with vole invasion, at replicated sites at pre-invasion, edge, and source of the invasion. We found that individual rodents varied consistently in risk-taking behaviors, and mice had not adapted to the presence of invasive voles. Voles at the invasion edge were more careful but also more flexible compared to voles the invasion source. The ability to develop timid and flexible phenotypes may contribute to the invasion success of rodents worldwide.


The author discusses VSAT (very-small-aperture terminal) two-way private networks. Several examples, including those of K-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, and Federal Express, are described. She then closely examines the TI-IN Network, which is dedicated to interactive math, science, and language education. The TI-IN Network has been innovative in its methods; in addition to the use of handheld automatic-dial telephones for interaction, TI-IN has developed other tools, such as a writing pad. Besides its coursework, TI-IN provides training for teachers. Some suggestions of future directions for VSAT networks are made.<<ETX>>


Software realization of a large-scale Distributed Computing System (DCS) is achieved through the Componentbased Software Development (CBSD) approach. A DCS consists of many autonomous components that interact with each other to coordinate each system activity. The need for such coordination, along with requirements such as heterogeneity, scalability, security, and availability, considerably increases the complexity of code in a distributed system. This chapter depicts a formal method to specify component interactions involving temporal constraints. Using the component interactions, various types of temporal interaction compatibility classes are defined. A simple case study is presented that indicates the benefits of the component interaction specifications discussed in this chapter.


We collected soil cores with a diameter of 5 cm to a depth of 15.2 cm from a Lexington silt loam. Simulated precipitation with adjusted pH values of 3.7, 4.7, and 5.7 was applied to the soil cores in increments of 500 ml d−1 until total applications approximating 10, 20, 40, and 80 yr of effective rainfall in Louisiana were reached. The exchangeable acidity, exchangeable AI, and KCI pH were measured from 2.5-cm sections of the soil cores after treatment. The leaching solution of pH 3.7 after 80 yr volume of application had the greatest effect on the soil pH, exchangeable acidity, and exchangeable AI. Leachate pH, electrical conductivity, and cumulative AI were measured after each 5 yr of volume of application. The leachate pH values caused by the 3.7 and 4.7 pH leaching solutions were higher than the initial leaching solution pH values. The leaching solution of pH 3.7, however, caused the lowest leachate pH and highest EC and cumulative AI. The volume of application caused no major trends in the data.


Radiation issues of high-luminosity 2 x 2 TeV and 250 x 250 GeV {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} colliders are considered. A series of dedicated simulations have been performed with the MARS code to understand formation of radiation fields in the complex and to assure that there are ways to meet the stringent regulation requirements. Considered in detail are the main collider arcs, the interaction region and absorption of spent muon beam. Prompt and residual radiation is analyzed. It is shown that for both operational and accidental beam loss radiation problems appear quite solvable.


Research on the status of chlorophyll-a in Lhok Seudu coastal, Aceh Province, Indonesia in May 2017 has been done. The aim of the study is to know trophic status in Lhok Seudu coastal. Determination at 3 stations using purposive sampling method and concentration of chlorophyll-a, total nitrate and total phosphate determinate using spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentration of chlorophyll-a ranged from 33 to 22 μmol/L-1, the concentration of total nitrate and total phosphate ranged from 1310 to 1150 μmol/L-1 and 86 to 73 μmol/L-1. A mean concentration of chlorophyll-a indicates that trophic status in Lhok Seudu coastal belongs to the eutrophic coastal.


1. In cats anaesthetized with I.P. pentobarbitone sodium and atropinized with intravenous atropine methyl nitrate, the effects on arterial blood pressure were examined of nicotine, physostigmine, carbachol, glycine and pentobarbitone sodium applied to the exposed ventral surface of the brain stem by means of paired Perspex rings placed across the medulla. The drugs were placed inside each ring in a volume of 10mul. 2. Nicotine (0‐5‐6mg/ml.) produced a fall in blood pressure when the upper limit of the areas covered by the rings was about 5‐6 mm caudal, but not when it was just caudal to the trapezoid bodies. The depressor effect was obtained both on bilateral and unilateral application. After application the nicotine sensitive area became for several minutes insensitive to its renewed application. 3. The depressor effect of nicotine was sensitive to hexamethonium (50 mg/ml.) but resistant to atropine (50 mg/ml.) similarly applied. 4. When the nicotine sensitive areas had become insensitive to nicotine, bilateral carotid occulusion produced its normal sustained pressor response. 5. By applying the nicotine through a single Perspex ring which could be moved stepwise along and across the medulla, the nicotine sensitive area was localized and the highest sensitivity was found in a region around and a little caudal to the rootlets of the XIIth cranial nerve. 6. Physostigmine (25 and 50 mg/ml.) and carbachol (6 mg/ml.) produced a fall in blood pressure when the uppermost limits of the areas covered by the paired rings were 5‐6 mm caudal to and also when they were just caudal to the trapezoid bodies. From both regions the effects were obtained on bilateral and unilateral application. Their depressor effects were sensitive to atropine but resistant to hexamethonium similarly applied. 7. Glycine (200 mg/ml.) and pentobarbitone sodium (100 mg/ml.) produced scarcely any blood pressure effects when applied bilaterally to the nicotine sensitive areas but produced strong depressor effects on more rostral application, i.e. when the uppermost limit of the areas covered by the rings were just caudal to the trapezoid bodies. 8. It is concluded that the ventral surface of the medulla contains at least two bilateral areas from which vasodepressor effects are obtained on topical application of drugs: a more caudally situated one which is sensitive to nicotine, but insensitive to glycine and pentobarbitone sodium; a more rostrally situated one which is insensitive to nicotine but sensitive to glycine and pentobarbitone sodium; and both areas are sensitive to carbachol and physostigmine.


It is no longer a fallacy that environmental objects are grossly  contaminated by pathogenic microbes. ATMs especially which is used on daily basis by thousands of people have been reported to be potential habitat for these microbes. The worst-case scenario is the presence and ease of spread of Muti-Drug Resistant (MDR) and Extended Spectrum Beta Lactamase (ESBL) producing pathogens via these machines as a result of their huge patronage. The prevalence and fast spread of these MDR and ESBL producing strains constitute an emerging public health concern. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of ESBL and MBL producing E. coli isolated on ATMs within Sokoto metropolis. A total of 194 isolates were obtained from the culture samples of 100 ATM swabs. The isolated E. coli were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests using the modified Kirby Baeur disc diffusion method on six (6) commercial antimicrobial discs (Oxoid, UK): Ceftazidime (CTZ, 30μg), Cefotaxime (CTX, 30μg), Gentamycin (CN, 10μg), Augumentin(AMC, 30μg), Ciprofloxacin(CIP, 5μg) and Imipenem(IPM, 10μg). The isolates were further screened for ESBL production and phenotypic confirmatory test. Confirmation of MBL production was also performed using antibiotic discs containing two Carbapenems (Imipenem IPM, 10μg and Meropenem MEM, 10μg). The result was interpreted using CLSI guideline 2015. Proteus spp (43%) were the most frequently isolated bacteria, followed by Shigella spp (31%) and E. coli 31(16%). Drug Resistant (MDR) ESBL producing E. coli of 93.3% and 4% MBL producer was recorded. It can be concluded that MDR and ESBL producing Escherichia coli (E. coli) are the most prevalent species isolated and that the species isolated are more sensitive to Gentamycin, Ciprofloxacin and Imipenem. Keywords : ESBL, MDR, ATM and Susceptibility


In anticipation of the Gaia astrometric mission, a sample of spectroscopic binaries is being observed since 2010 with the Spectrograph pour l'Observation des PHenomenes des Interieurs stellaires et des Exoplanetes (SOPHIE) spectrograph at the Haute-Provence Observatory. Our aim is to derive the orbital elements of double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s) with an accuracy sufficient to finally obtain the masses of the components with relative errors as small as 1 per cent when combined with Gaia astrometric measurements. In order to validate the masses derived from Gaia, interferometric observations are obtained for three SB2s in our sample with F-K components: HIP 14157, HIP 20601 and HIP 117186. The masses of the six stellar components are derived. Due to its edge-on orientation, HIP 14157 is probably an eclipsing binary. We note that almost all the derived masses are a few per cent larger than the expectations from the standard spectral type-mass calibration and mass-luminosity relation. Our calculation also leads to accurate parallaxes for the three binaries, and the Hipparcos parallaxes are confirmed.


Carotid-internal jugular venous fistula is one of the rarest presentations among victims of bomb blast injuries. Treatment of such fistula is open surgery with high mortality and morbidity. Endovascular treatment with covered stent seems to have an optimal result with low complications. We present a case report of a bomb blast victim having carotid-jugular venous fistula with hemodynamic compromise. The patient was successfully managed with endovascular graft stent. There was an optimal result with no immediate and long-term complications.


Since the weight and distance computations of LDPC codes is a NP problem, most presented evaluations of LDPC codes are based on the girth numbers of the codes, and the computation for the distance of the codes is also depended on the girth numbers. There has been no simple way to obtain the distance of LDPC codes because of the code length. Based on generation matrices, this paper develops an algorithm to estimate the upper bound of minimum weights and minimum distance of LDPC codes. The paper establishes the upper bounds of minimum weights and distances of LDPC codes by using the vectors of generation matrices, which is different from the presented probabilitistic search methods for the weights' and distances of LCPC codes. The proposed algorithm can greatly reduce the searching time of weights and distances. Applying the algorithm we find that some LDPC codes get good BER performance although they are only free girth 4 but of great distances. Simulations verify the algorithms to be valid.


Proposed in this paper is a multi-agent model that defines a set of global functioning rules for a flexible governance, adapted to parking management within a city. This is designed to aid drivers in finding a parking place, which satisfies a group of criteria, predefined in profiles, providing a better parking service to the public. The Multi-Agent model developed is integrated in the platform SensCity, which is dedicated to the development and deployment of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems. The city is divided into a number of parking areas that are equipped with sensors, which are responsible for transferring data from and to the parking places. Therefore, the agents can work to interpret and manipulate the governance principles modeled and implemented by the multi-agent model, independently from drivers and parking spaces. Moreover, this paper proposes an intelligent end-to-end management of parking system using the MOISE organization framework.


For at least 50 years observations have been made on the chloride content of women's milk. Some of the results suggest a relationship between the chloride content of the milk and either the adequacy of lactation or the milk yield, the chloride values below 50 mg. % being usually associated with adequate and those above 50 mg. % with inadequate lactation (Holt, Courtney, and Fales, 1915; Sisson and Denis, 1921; Widdows, Lowenfeld, Bond, Shiskin, and Taylor, 1935; Nozaki, 1934; Ishii, 1937). It has been shown in Part IL that there is not only a relationship between the chloride content of milk and adequacy of lactation, but also a relationship between the electrical conductivity of milk and adequacy of lactation, the average values for both being lower in women with adequate than in those with inadequate lactation. However, a proportion of the women with poor lactation had milk of low chloride content and low conductivity while some women with adequate lactation had milk of relatively high chloride content and conductivity. To decide whether the determination of either the chloride content or the electrical conductivity of women's milk was of practical value, a series of 538 specimens of milk from women in the second week to the fifth month of lactation inclusive were examined; 352 were taken from women with adequate lactation, and 186 from women with inadequate lactation. The mothers providing the samples of milk gave two specimens from the same breast, one before the 6 a.m. feed and the other before the mid-day feed (12 p.m. or 2 p.m.) on the same day. A second series of observations involving the chloride estimation and the electrical conductivity measurement of milk taken from both breasts of each woman was considered necessary, in view of a number of anomalous results obtained in the first series. One hundred and thirty-six specimens of milk taken during the third week to fifth month of lactation were examined; 72 were obtained from mothers with adequate lactation, and 64 from mothers with inadequate lactation. The mothers providing samples gave one from each breast before the 6 a.m. feed and one from each breast before the mid-day breast feed. All specimens obtained from each mother were collected in separate containers and tested separately. In both series of cases, each sample amounted to about 8 ml. and was expressed into a special container that had been thoroughly cleansed, rinsed in distilled water, and dried in an oven. All the mothers were apparently healthy and had given birth to a mature infant which fixed well at the breast and was fed at regular intervals five or six times a day. The infants were apparently normal at the time of the test. The choice of a mother with adequate lactation was made by noting that her infant was gaining weight while it was entirely breast fed. Women with inadequate lactation were selected by first finding a mother whose infant was healthy, but who was not gaining weight, or who required complementary feeds. Such infants were then test-fed for at least 24 hours. If the results showed that the babies did not receive 2 oz. milk per lb. body weight per day, they were considered to be under-fed. 4


Dear Editor, Apocrine hidradenoma is a rare benign adnexal tumor related to the more common poroma, as they both originate from sweat glands. Hidradenoma usually has an eccrine differentiation, but an apocrine differentiation is possible. Due to its rarity and non-specific clinical appearance it is difficult to differentiate it from other malignant cutaneous lesions. In this challenging task, dermatoscopy could be particularly helpful to better describe, recognize, and differentiate these lesions. Unfortunately, the literature offers only few dermatoscopic descriptions of this rare cutaneous neoplasm. A 70-year-old woman in fair general condition was referred to our Department for an asymptomatic 10×8 mm single nodule on her left scapula. This nodule was red, dome shaped, well circumscribed, firm, and mildly tender (Figure 1). The patient reported that it had been present since approximately 7 months. The lesion was neither painful nor itchy and there was no bleeding. A skin examination did not show any other lesions with the same features or other suspicious lesions. Dermatoscopy revealed milky-pinkish areas with dotted vessels, linear-irregular vessels, and hairpin vessels: some of these aspects can also be found in amelanotic melanoma (1). There were also homogeneous blue areas similar to lacunae, characteristic but not exclusive to vascular or sarcomatous neoplasms and basal cell carcinoma (1,2). Furthermore, small ulcerations covered by an amber crust were identified, which can usually be found in basal cell carcinoma. Regarding the background of the lesion, we noticed peculiar, translucent, pinkish, soft, large lobular areas (Figure 2). On the basis of this analysis, we suspected an atypical presentation of a basal cell carcinoma, an amelanotic melanoma, or a sarcomatous skin neoplasm. A metastasis of an unknown solid tumor was also taken into consideration. The histological examination revealed an adnexal neoplasm and specifically an apocrine hidradenoma. The neoplasm had variably sized nests and nodules of neoplastic epithelial cells, with a small ductular lumens confined within the upper dermis. The lesion was composed mainly of two cell types: polygonal and smaller, elongated, and darker cells. The cuboidal/polygonal cells were seen lining the duct-like spaces and slots and resembled those of poroma (Figure 3). The adnexal skin tumors group includes a complex variety of uncommon tumors that can be distinguished only histologically, and most of them are benign (3). Searching the literature for "hidradenoma dermoscopy" and "adnexal dermoscopy" yields multiple descriptions of poromas but few dermatoscopic descriptions of hidradenoma (4). There was only one report of the presence of "arborizing vessels"(5), and another described "reddish purple areas and some linear or hairpin-like vessels on the surface of the tumor" (6). In another paper we found: "irregular scar like whitish areas and a polymorphous vascular pattern including irregular reddish-purple areas mimicking lacunar appearance of hemangiomas with thick hairpin vessels at the periphery" (7). It is very difficult make use of such scant data especially in order to detect a leading pattern for a specific diagnosis. Moreover, the described structures lack in specificity, being also present in many other lesions. Analyzing our dermatoscopic image and comparing it to the other ones available in the literature, we identified a peculiar background. It consisted in the presence of multilobular translucent and pinkish soft areas, which fit the previously described dermatoscopic criteria. We hypothesize there is a correlation between this feature and the histopathological presentation with variably sized nests and nodules. Of course, further case reports of hidradenoma are needed to identify the soft lobular background as a distinctive dermatoscopic feature. Due to the lack of specific features both clinically than dermatoscopically, histopathological analysis remains the only gold standard for diagnosis of these benign mimicking lesions.


Laboratory strains of mice differ in their susceptibility to immune-mediated nephritis. Whereas NZW, DBA1 and 129/svJ strains of mice are highly susceptible to anti-GBM induced nephritis, most other laboratory strains, including C57BL/6 and BALB/c have significantly less disease. In order to uncover susceptibility genes for immune-mediated nephritis, a panel of 156 (129 x BALB/c)F2 mice were bred, challenged with anti-GBM antibodies and phenotyped for nephritis. About 40% of these F2 progeny had evidence of severe nephritis. Genotyping and linkage analysis revealed 2 strongly recessive 129/svJ loci for glomerulonephritis, one on chromosome 2 (linked to rs6295520, P=0.0008) and the second on chromosome 14 (linked to rs3701623, P=0.0004). Proteinuria was strongly linked to 3 recessive 129/svJ loci, including rs3677657 on chr. 7 (P=0.0026), rs3711424 on chr. 13 (P=0.0001), and the chromosome 14 locus for GN. Among these, the loci on Chr 7 and 14 were also strongly linked to glomerular crescent formation, operating additively.
 To summarize, recessive loci on chromosomes 2, 7, 13 and 14 account for the enhanced susceptibility to nephritis in 129/svJ mice. Congenic dissection studies and candidate gene testing are in progress.


This study documents glycosuria effects of xylazine and ketamine in eight captive and 19 free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from January to April 1985. Mean urinary glucose: creatinine ratios in two groups of deer fed high protein-high energy and low protein-low energy diets and in free-ranging deer were 1,000, 719, and 259, respectively. Glucose did not occur in urine of deer immobilized by physical restraint. Glucose: creatinine increased with the time interval between xylazine injection and urine collection in the two groups of captive deer.


Introduction/Background Epithelioid leiomyomas have been well studied in the gastrointestinal tract however, its presence in the female genital tract is extremely rare. Epithelioid leiomyomas include leiomyoblastoma, clear cell and plexiform leiomyoma. Consensus is lacking on their differentiating features and malignant potential. Methodology A 48-year-old P2 lady with BMI 50 presented to Emergency Department with 3-week history of vaginal bleeding and passing grape-like products vaginally. Clinical examination elicited a cystic lesion measuring 2 cm in diameter on the anterior vaginal wall that was also noted on pelvic TAS. Histology of the tissues passed vaginally suggested microscopic features of malignancy suggestive of Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. Her case was discussed at the regional Sarcoma MDT. MRI showed a 2.3 cm hypo-intense vaginal mass with no evidence of fat-stranding or lymphadenopathy and CT scan ruled out metastatic disease. Although the morphological features mimicked sarcoma with strong expression of muscle-related antigens however immunophenotyping did not support malignancy and confirmed a cellular epithelioid leiomyoma. Due to the diagnostic complexity, excisional biopsy and hysteroscopy was decided for. The entire tumour was excised through transvaginal route with hydro-dissection of its planes and enucleation of its capsule leaving clear margins around. Hysteroscopic finding was normal. Tumour biopsy showed lack of necrosis or mitotic activity thereby excluding neoplastic process and confirmed the diagnosis of an epithelioid vaginal wall leiomyoma. MDT recommended close post-operative surveillance. Results Wherever possible TVS is superior to TAS for vaginal lesions. MRI is excellent in tissue characterisation of the lesion and essential to evaluate relation / invasion to adjacent structures. Histological confirmation remains the gold standard for diagnosis. Tumour recurrence or rapid enlargement alongwith microscopic features of >5 mitoses/10 HPF with atypia suggests sarcomatous change and removal en-bloc is recommended. Conclusion Sarcomatous transformation and recurrence after 11 months and 10 years have been reported hence close surveillance is essential. Disclosure Nothing to disclose


Dendritic cells (DC) which are located at the interface of innate and adaptive immunity are targets of infection by many RNA and DNA viruses. Advances in the ex vivo generation of monocyte derived non proliferating dendritic cells have been used for clinical application like immunotherapy. IL-4 cytokine plays essential role in the maturation and generation of DCs. Bos indicus interleukin 4 (boIL-4) 408 bp was amplified from PBMC's and cloned in pBSIIKS+ vector. The sequence analysis showed N terminal 69 bp signal sequence and one N-glycosylation site. The phylogenetic tree analysis showed that Bos indicus IL-4 is closely related to the ruminant IL-4 and least sharing of genetic line of human and mouse IL-4. The recombinant bolL-4 protein was expressed in CHO cells which secreted a 16 kDa protein which was confirmed by SDS PAGE and western blotting. The rec-boIL-4 protein proliferated the bovine PBMC's, decreased production of nitric oxide in antigen stimulated macrophages, and phagocytosed the micro particles confirming its activity on dendritic cells.


Category: Ankle; Trauma Introduction/Purpose: Ankle fracture open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) is one of the most commonly performed orthopaedic surgeries, which can be performed at a variety of surgical locations. However, there is very little data exploring the cost and efficiency of ankle fracture ORIF in different operative settings. Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC) is a novel accounting method used to accurately assign costs for various procedures by creating a process map of all personnel interactions as a patient moves through a care event. Further, it has been shown to more accurately allocate costs, as compared to traditional accounting systems. Our purpose is to evaluate cost and efficiency differences in ankle fracture ORIF at an outpatient ambulatory surgery center (ASC) versus a hospital setting. Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed at a single academic medical center involving four orthopaedic surgeons. Patients were enrolled with uni-, bi-, or tri-malleolar displaced ankle fractures undergoing ORIF. According to TD-ABC methodology, a process map was created for each peri-operative platform and hand-timed data was collected at each location (ASC=5, hospital=5) by a single observer. In addition, retrospective cost data was obtained from 181 surgical cases using our institution's existing cost accounting system (ASC=34, hospital=147). Average event times and care costs were calculated for both locations, and a process map outlining the steps of care was created for each surgical site, according to TDABC methodology. Data were analyzed to investigate the effects of surgical site on labor cost, efficiency, and provider time. Results: Overall, total direct cost was similar between locations (ASC=$10,837.43, hospital=$9,377.80; p=.114), although there were significantly higher direct costs in the hospital: perioperative/anesthesia (ASC=$2,532.61, hospital=$4,594.20; p<.001), pharmacy (ASC=$112.18, hospital=$349.74; p<.001), radiology (ASC=$17.67, hospital=$227.98; p<.001), and therapy (ASC=$28.23, hospital=$130.91; p<.001). However, medical supply costs, including implant costs, were significantly higher at the ASC (ASC=$7,835.14, hospital=$2,459.60; p<.001). Preoperatively, nurse assessment of the patient was significantly quicker in the hospital (ASC=14.65 min, hospital=5.10 min; p=.030), while patient transport to the operating room was significantly quicker in the ASC (ASC=1.20 min, hospital=2.60 min; p=.014). Case duration was significantly longer in the ASC (ASC=138.60 min, hospital=56.60 min; p=.005), which may have been influenced by case complexity, as there were more tri-malleolar fractures (n=2) and concomitate ankle arthroscopies (n=3) in that cohort. Conclusion: Overall, direct costs appear to be lower at the ASC than the main hospital, although efficiency of care delivery seems similar. Generally, there were small differences in the care continuum between the main hospital and ASC, though areas where improvement could be obtained include preoperative nurse assessment of the patient and efficacy of regional nerve block administration. Going forward, larger studies will be needed to further investigate these results.


BACKGROUND: The rates of PPH in the US have steadily increased over the years up to almost 3% in 2006. In order to improve the safety of patient care and decrease the rates of morbidity from PPH, a QI project was designed. METHODS: The planning phase of our PDSA cycle assessed current deficits including lack of provider skill with procedures like Bakri balloon and B lynch suture placement and systems errors like a lack of a specific PPH reporting form. An intervention was designed including lectures, on site simulation drills and skills workshops to address these deficiencies. A severe maternal morbidity reporting form has been proposed. A mobile based app was developed as a quick reference tool for providers to aid in the management of PPH. The results of this intervention were studied using paired t tests for analysis of pre and posttest questionnaires judging knowledge and provider comfort with procedures. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference was noted between provider comfort in diagnosing PPH, calculating estimated blood loss, placing a Bakri balloon, placing a B-lynch suture and requesting blood products for management of PPH with P<.05. DISCUSSION: A simple, low-cost intervention including simulation drills, skills workshops and a free mobile app, can improve provider knowledge and comfort with management of PPH, impacting patient safety.


Reversible acetylation of nucleosomal histones and nonhistone proteins play pivotal roles in the regulation of all the DNA templated phenomenon. Dysfunction of the enzymes involved in the acetylation/deacetylation leads to several diseases. Therefore, these enzymes are the targets for new generation therapeutics. Here, we report the synthesis of trifluoromethyl phenyl benzamides and their effect on histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity of p300. One of these benzamides, CTPB (N-(4-chloro-3-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-2-ethoxy-6-pentadecyl-benzamide), was discovered as a potent activator of the p300 HAT activity. We have found that pentadecyl hydrocarbon chain of CTPB is required to activate the HAT only under certain context. Furthermore, our results show that the relative position of -CF3 and -Cl in CTB (N-(4-chloro-3-trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-2-ethoxy-benzamide) is also very critical for the activation. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of p300 and the HAT activator complexes evidently suggest that the activation of HAT activity is achieved by the alteration of p300 structure. Therefore, apart from elucidating the chemical basis for small molecule mediated activation of p300, this report also describes, for the first time, Raman spectroscopic analysis of the complexes of histone-modifying enzymes and their modulators, which may be highly useful for therapeutic applications.


CLL develops from a small fraction of dividing monoclonal CD5+ B cells. The size and rate of growth of this proliferative fraction (PF) correlates inversely with time-to-first-treatment and directly with poor outcome prognostic markers. Furthermore, since the dividing cells upregulate DNA mutators such as AID and APOBEC family members, the PF has a greater propensity for acquiring new DNA abnormalities that can lead to more lethal disease. Hence, cells of the PF are important targets for therapy for patients with worst outcome category. The PF (CXCR4 Dim CD5 Bright ) differs by more than 1000 genes from the resting fraction (RF, CXCR4 Bright CD5 Dim ); these genes relate to replication, migration, and regulation of gene expression. Some of these genes are also preferentially expressed in the PF of U-CLL cases. One such gene is Musashi 2 (MSI2). MSI2 regulates gene expression by binding consensus sequences of mRNA and blocking protein translation. High MSI2 expression is involved in proliferation of normal and malignant stem cells, tumorigenesis, and poor outcome. In CLL, high MSI2 mRNA expression has been identified in patients with worse prognosis. Nevertheless, nothing is known about the function of MSI2 in CLL cells. Therefore, we report studies of the biological role of MSI2 in B-CLL cells and its possible association with B-cell proliferation and CLL disease progression. First, we evaluated MSI2 protein levels by flow cytometry in CD19 + CD5 - and CD19 + CD5 + cells from healthy donors (HDs; n=25) and in CD19 + CD5 + from CLL patients (n=55). Higher MSI2 expression was observed in CLL than HD B cells, whereas no differences were found in CD19 + CD5 + and CD19 + CD5 - cells from HDs. Also, MSI2 protein levels were higher in U-CLL than M-CLL, and M-CLL B cells express more MSI2 than HDs. Finally, MSI2 protein levels correlated with CD38, a CLL poor prognosis marker, suggesting MSI2 associates with poor prognosis in CLL. Within the leukemic clone, we observed 25% more MSI2 in the PF than the Int (defined as CXCR4 int CD5 int ) and 15% more in the Int than the RF (PF>Int >RF). The PF contains 40% more MSI2 than the RF, suggesting the highest amounts of MSI2 protein are in dividing and recently-divided cells. Since CLL B cell proliferation occurs in the microenvironment of lymphoid organs, presumably delivered by external signals, we tested whether such signals could stimulate MSI2 expression. Results indicate that CD40L+IL4 and Toll-like 9 stimulation plus IL15 (TLR9+IL5) increase MSI2 synthesis in vitro 1.4 and 1.8 fold, respectively. The increases are associated with the appearance of phospho ERK and AKT. Also, inhibition of AKT signaling by a PI3K inhibitor decreases MSI2 levels, suggesting AKT is involved in MSI2 synthesis. In this regard, signals from the microenvironment inducing cell growth and proliferation promote MSI2 synthesis in B cells from CLL patients. In addition, cells entering the cell cycle (Ki-67 + cells, those incorporating the thymidine analogue EdU, and cells in S, G2 and M cell cycle phases) express higher MSI2 levels than quiescent cells. Furthermore, dividing cells contain higher MSI2 levels than non-dividing cells as determined by CFSE dilution. These results suggest that cells entering the cell cycle or recently dividing have greater MSI2 expression. Since high MSI2 levels associate with cell proliferation and its inhibition is said to promote apoptosis, we studied the effect of MSI2 downregulation in the CLL MEC1 cell line to determine if MSI2 is a potential therapeutic target for CLL. Our findings show that siRNAs decrease MSI2 mRNA (80%) and protein (40%) levels compared to negative controls. Downregulation of MSI2 in MEC1 led to cleaved caspase 3, TRAIL R1 and R2, FADD, TNFR1, P21, P27, phosho-p53, and decreased levels of inhibitors of apoptosis such as cIAP2 and survivin. Hence these data suggest downregulation of MSI2 in CLL cells could induce apoptosis. Thus, MSI2 levels are higher in B cells from poor outcome patients and also in the dividing/divided cells of the PF before and after stimulation. Also, MSI9s downregulation induces apoptosis of CLL cell line. Therefore, we propose that MSI2 is a valuable target for therapeutic intervention. Inhibiting its function and its role in cell proliferation will likely abort clonal evolution and disease progression, and make CLL an even more chronic and manageable condition. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Stability is an important aspect of a classification procedure because unstable predictions can potentially reduce users' trust in a classification system and also harm the reproducibility of scientific conclusions. The major goal of our work is to introduce a novel concept of classification instability, i.e., decision boundary instability (DBI), and incorporate it with the generalization error (GE) as a standard for selecting the most accurate and stable classifier. Specifically, we implement a two-stage algorithm: (i) initially select a subset of classifiers whose estimated GEs are not significantly different from the minimal estimated GE among all the candidate classifiers; (ii) the optimal classifier is chosen as the one achieving the minimal DBI among the subset selected in stage (i). This general selection principle applies to both linear and nonlinear classifiers. Large-margin classifiers are used as a prototypical example to illustrate the above idea. Our selection method is shown to be consistent in the sense that the optimal classifier simultaneously achieves the minimal GE and the minimal DBI. Various simulations and real examples further demonstrate the advantage of our method over several alternative approaches.


The ability of anticancer treatments to promote the activation of tumor-reactive adaptive immune responses is emerging as a critical requirement underlying their clinical effectiveness. We investigated the ability of Hemidesmus indicus, a promising anticancer botanical drug, to stimulate immunogenic cell death in a human colorectal cancer cell line (DLD1). Here we show that Hemidesmus treatment induces tumor cell cytotoxicity characterized by surface expression of calreticulin, increased HSP70 expression and release of ATP and HMGB1. Remarkably, the exposure to released ICD-inducer factors from Hemidesmus-treated DLD1 cells caused a modest induction of CD14-derived dendritic cells maturation, as demonstrated by the increased expression of CD83. Moreover, at sub-toxic concentrations, H.i. treatment of monocytes and dendritic cells induced their mild activation, suggesting its additional direct immunostimulatory activity. These data indicate that Hemidesmus indicus induces immunogenic cell death in human tumor cells and suggest its potential relevance in innovative cancer immunotherapy protocols.


Comments gathered in a national survey of community mental health center (CMHC) psychiatrists indicate that many suffer from burnout. Of the 96 respondents who provided comments, 46 expressed dissatisfaction with their work in CMHCs, 14 expressed satisfaction, and seven had mixed feelings. Factors contributing to the respondents' dissatisfaction included a lack of administrative support and validation, low pay, responsibility without authority, and pressure to sign documents related to patients unknown to them. Factors contributing to their satisfaction were having a variety of tasks, being valued for having uniquely comprehensive experience, being supported in the clinical oversight role, being in charge of CMHC operations, and working in a CMHC affiliated with an academic center or the medical community. The authors believe that CMHCs must redress the issues contributing to burnout among CMHC psychiatrists if they are to retain psychiatrists and provide quality patient care.


We analyze surveys of molecular cloud structures defined by tracers ranging from CO J = 1 → 0 through 13CO J = 1 → 0 to dust emission together with NH3 data. The mean value of the virial parameter and the fraction of mass in bound structures depends on the method used to identify structures. Generally, the virial parameter decreases and the fraction of mass in bound structures increases with the effective density of the tracer, the surface density and mass of the structures, and the distance from the center of a galaxy. For the most complete surveys of structures in the Galaxy defined by CO J = 1 → 0, the fraction of mass that is in bound structures is 0.19. For catalogs of other galaxies based on CO J = 2 → 1, the fraction is 0.35. These results offer substantial alleviation of the fundamental problem of slow star formation. If only clouds found to be bound are counted and they are assumed to collapse in a freefall time at their mean cloud density, the sum over all clouds in a complete survey of the Galaxy yields a predicted star formation rate of 46 M ⊙ yr−1, a factor of 6.5 less than if all clouds are bound.


This paper focuses on a new class of processing for the low-temperature deposition of relatively thick films. We propose a new process of sol-gel casting which involves the dispersion of fine crystalline particles in a sol-gel derived precursor solution followed by casting and annealing at relatively low temperatures. In this study, we describe the basic concepts for optimizing the process parameters. As a result, dense ferroelectric PZT(Pb(Zr0.53,Ti0.43)O3) films with thickness up to 9 µm were deposited by up to six coating operations (1.5 µm/one coating operation). The PZT thick film deposited under optimized process parameters exhibited relatively good ferroelectricity (remanent polarization of 12 µC/cm2 and coercive field of 12 kV/cm) and a good dielectric property (relative permittivity of about 1400).


Background Right heart dysfunction and pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) have been reported in almost every connective tissue disorder; 1 of 6 patients with systemic erythematous lupus (SLE) will develop it during their lifetime and sometimes it precedes the diagnostic of the disease. The presence of PAH is a consequence of endothelial dysfunction and smooth muscle proliferation, and damage of the pulmonary vasculature, mechanisms involving inflammation and autoimmunity, and is associated with an increased rate of morbidity and mortality1,2. Objectives The aim of this pictorial review is to illustrate the most common echocardiographic changes in patients with different activity indexes of the disease (SLEDAI) focusing on right ventricle changes evaluated either directly through tricuspid regurgitation or using indirect markers such as inferior vena cava inspiratory collapse and tricuspid annulus systolic excursion. Methods We present a pictorial review of the right heart echocardiographic findings of SLE patients treated in our Internal Medicine Department, which benefit from a thorough cardiac evaluation for each clinical visit, each of them undergoing echocardiography, including M-mode, 2-D conventional Doppler and TDI assessment. Results We selected patients with different SLEDAI for which we estimated the pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) using the transtricuspid gradient, RA area (RAA), inferior vena cava inspiratory collapse (IVC), and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE); The left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) was assessed using the modified biplane Simpson's equation in the apical 4- and 2-chamber views. The most common findings are mild-moderate PAH, right ventricular wall hypertrophy, diastolic impairment and valvular lesions with a high incidence of regurgitation – observations consistent with the published data3. Conclusions It has been stated that SLE disease activity is related to the characteristics of PAH4 and sometimes PAH may be diagnosed first, thus leading to a clinical dilemma: should we take into consideration for a cardiologist to further referral of a patient to rheumatologic consultation in an unexplained case of PAH?. References Xia YK, Tu SH, Hu YH et al. Pulmonary hypertension in systemic lupus erythematosus: a systematic review and analysis of 642 cases in Chinese population. Rheumatol Int 2013; 33:1211–1217 Yang X, Mardekian J, Sanders KN Prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with connective tissue diseases: a systematic review of the literature. Clin Rheumatol 2013; 32:1519–1531 Zuily S, Regnault V, Selton-Suty C Increased Risk for Heart Valve Disease Associated With Antiphospholipid Antibodies in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Meta-Analysis of Echocardiographic Studies. Circulation. 2011; 124:215-224 Tian Z, Liu Y, Xu D et al. Disease Activity Is Related to Acute Response to Vasodilator in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension Associated With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Circulation Journal 2014;78. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The objectives of this study were toinvestigate the inflammation and endothelial activation biomarkers in subjects with metabolic syndrome (MS)subgroups irrespective of status. Subjects (n=319) were categorized into MS subgroups [diabetes mellitus (MSDM), impaired fastig glucose (MSIFG) and normoglycemia (MSNG)] and normal controls (NC). Inflammatory biomarkers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and interleukin-6) and endothelial activation (soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and E-selectin) were measured and compared between the groups. MS subjects had significant increase in all biomarkers compared to NC subjects. Glycaemic status in MS subgroups did not show any association with the quartiles of all biomarkers, except for interleukin-6. This may partially explain their increased coronary risk. Keywords : metabolic syndrome; glycaemic status; inflammation; endothelial activation


Rotaviruses are one of the leading causes of severe dehydrating diarrhoea in infants and children under the age of five. Despite the introduction of vaccines, disease burden remains high in sub-Saharan Africa, with no known anti-viral treatments available. During early infection rotavirus attaches to several cellular receptors and enters the cells by either clathrin-dependent or -independent endocytosis. Prostaglandin E2, an abundant eicosanoid, is produced from arachidonic acid during rotavirus infection and inhibition of prostaglandin E2 formation have a deleterious effect on rotavirus infection. In this study, MA104 cells were supplemented with γ-linolenic acid (GLA), a precursor of arachidonic acid. Infection of supplemented cells with rotavirus SA11 led to a depletion in the relative percentages of GLA and arachidonic acid which coincided with an increased production of prostaglandin E2 as monitored by ELISA. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that prostaglandin E2 co-localises with the viroplasm-forming proteins, NSP5 and NSP2. Due to the known association of viroplasms with lipid droplets and the fact that lipid droplets are sites for prostaglandin E2 production, our results indicate a possible role for viroplasms in the production of rotavirus-induced prostaglandin E2. Replication kinetics showed that inhibitors, targeting the biosynthesis of prostaglandin E2, had negative effects on rotavirus yield, especially during the early stages of infection. Using flow cytometry and prostaglandin E2 addback experiments, we show that prostaglandin E2 enhances the attachment and internalisation of rotavirus in MA104 cells indicating a possible role for prostaglandin E2 during clathrin-mediated rotavirus entry. The production of prostaglandin E2 during rotavirus infection could serve as a possible target for anti-viral treatment.


Early diagnosis the torsion of wandering spleen and surgical intervention are necessary to preserve the spleen, because persistant torsion can lead to splenic infarction. We present two cases with torsion of wandering spleen and different disease process and result. Diagnosis was by ultrasonography and CT angiography found. The 7-year-old boy with recurrent abdominal pain was admitted early and operated with spleenpreserving splenopexy. The 8-year-old girl with acute torsion of a wandering spleen was sent of after an initial misdiagnosis too late. Patient was managed by urgent laparotomy and splenectomy, because of splenic vessels thrombosis and splenic infarction. No complications occurred during two year postoperative follow up period of both patients.


The line shape of Fabry-Perot resonance in Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillation in a mesoscopic ring is calculated as a function of magnetic phase shift at finite temperatures. The case of the maximum coupling between the ring and leads is considered. It is shown that the 2π periodic series of resonance peaks with height e2/h and width zero at temperature T=0 is broadened as a result of energy dispersion. The peak height is almost kept invariant below 10 K. This is because Fermi energy is far larger than thermal breadth at the step of the Fermi function in this temperature range. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to application to small-area-single-flux-quantum devices.


Corporate mobility and choice of law within the EU has dominated much of the academic writing in European company law over the last decades. What has not yet received much attention is the way in which national company law interacts with and depends on features of the national legal system outside of company law. In this article we explore this interaction and its relevance for coherent national regulatory systems. Using the regulatory framework for companies in the "vicinity of insolvency" as an example, we show how choice of company law can create both regulatory gaps and multiplication of legal requirements, as private international law rules are applied inconsistently across Europe. More importantly, however, we show that even consistent application of conflicts rules would fail to resolve these problems due to cross-doctrinal interdependence within any national legal system. We conclude that this is a design flaw in the way EU law deals with the increasingly international reach of corporations, and discuss possible paths for resolving or mitigating this issue.


The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is often portrayed as the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative. While much attention has been devoted to its geopolitical repercussions, its impacts on Pakistan's federal system and interprovincial relations have not yet been explored. Organized around interviews conducted in 2015, 2018, and 2019, this article demonstrates that the construction of the economic corridor is acting as a centripetal force in Pakistan's federal structure, despite the potential for such a large external investment to redress the disparities between provinces.


The economic vitality of all town centers is highly dependent upon an ability to attract customers. With the popularization of the car in Australia, the travel decisions of shoppers impacted local centers in two significant ways—more demand for car parking space and reduced dependence on local shopping destinations. A review of historical newspaper coverage about three local centers in an inner city area of Sydney provides insight into how a neighborhood adapts to such change. Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, and Newtown all wanted to change the town center urban form to remain attractive and competitive to customers but they each faced different barriers and pressures. Change was slow. Trade-offs were required. Mistakes were made, expectations changed, and new problems emerged. The neighborhood, in short, adapted.


CONTEXT
In 1998, 33 million US adults aged 18 to 64 years lacked health insurance. Determining the unmet health needs of this population may aid efforts to improve access to care.

OBJECTIVE
To compare nationally representative estimates of the unmet health needs of uninsured and insured adults, particularly among persons with major health risks.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Random household telephone survey conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia through the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 105,764 adults aged 18 to 64 years in 1997 and 117,364 in 1998, classified as long-term (>/=1 year) uninsured (9.7%), short-term (<1 year) uninsured (4.3%), or insured (86.0%).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Adjusted proportions of participants who could not see a physician when needed due to cost in the past year, had not had a routine checkup within 2 years, and had not received clinically indicated preventive services, compared by insurance status.

RESULTS
Long-term- and short-term-uninsured adults were more likely than insured adults to report that they could not see a physician when needed due to cost (26.8%, 21.7%, and 8.2%, respectively), especially among those in poor health (69.1%, 51.9%, and 21.8%) or fair health (48.8%, 42.4%, and 15.7%) (P<.001). Long-term-uninsured adults in general were much more likely than short-term-uninsured and insured adults not to have had a routine checkup in the last 2 years (42.8%, 22.3%, and 17.8%, respectively) and among smokers, obese individuals, binge drinkers, and people with hypertension, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, or human immunodeficiency virus risk factors (P<.001). Deficits in cancer screening, cardiovascular risk reduction, and diabetes care were most pronounced among long-term-uninsured adults.

CONCLUSIONS
In our study, long-term-uninsured adults reported much greater unmet health needs than insured adults. Providing insurance to improve access to care for long-term-uninsured adults, particularly those with major health risks, could have substantial clinical benefits. JAMA. 2000;284:2061-2069


The behaviors of the blast waves produced by femtosecond laser-water interactions, and the blast waves induced by laser self-focusing in air, have been investigated using optical shadowgraphy at a maximum intensity of 1 x 10(16) W/cm(2). The temporal evolution of the blast wave launched by the water plasma can be described by a planar blast wave model including source mass. An aneurismlike structure, due to the quick propagation inside a hollow channel formed by laser self-focusing, is observed. The expansion of the channel in air is found to agree with a cylindrical self-similar blast wave solution.


BaTiO3 (BTO) nanofibers were fabricated by sol–gel combined with electrospinning method. The effects of the concentration of acetic acid and sintering temperatures on the crystal phase and microstructure of the samples were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). BTO nanofibers with improved surface morphology were obtained as the ethanol to acetic acid ratio (E/A) was 8:3. The fibers calcined at 750°C for 2 h exhibited good morphology and crystallization. TEM studies revealed that the BTO nanofibers were polycrystalline, with diameters being on the order of hundreds nanometer, where the existence of domains offered proof of ferroelectric structure. The ferroelectric domains and piezoresponse of BTO nanofibers were characterized by piezoresponse force microscopy. The calculated d33 was 20 pm/V at maximum strain amplitude.


Glycosides of the Citrus laurantifoia L. fruits have been extracted, then number of preliminary qualitative chemical tests were carried out on the extract. It was found that the extract consist of three glycoside compounds (G1, G2 & G3). Compound (G1) has been isolated from Citrus laurantifoia L. fruits by column chromatography using n-Butanol : Acetic acid : Water (4:1:5, upper layer) as eluent. The possible antibacterial activity of glycoside compound (G1) was assayed against the bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli using agar diffusion method. The results revealed that compound (G1) exhibited antibacterial activity against all the bacteria tested indicating that the presence compound had broad spectrum antibiotic effect.


Objective: To investigate the effect of diabetes nurse specialist-led exercise on ankle-brachial index (ABI) and glucose and lipid metabolism in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
 Methods: 60 patients with T2DM without exercise contraindication who were discharged from the Department of Endocrinology in a hospital were selected and randomly divided into the experimental group (36 cases) and the control group (24 cases). The two groups were given routine diabetes diet and medication guidance, while the experimental group wore a scanning flash glucose monitoring (FGM), heart rate arm watch, and exercised in the endocrinology clinic once every other day for 45 minutes for a total of two weeks. Nurse specialists give the home exercise guidance based on the exercise program obtained from the outpatient exercise intervention, and the patient sent the exercise status to the WeChat group for a total of 22 weeks. The control group were guided by nurse specialists in accordance with the exercise guidelines for 24 weeks. The changes of ABI, fasting blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride contents were compared between the two groups.
 Results: After 24 weeks, the ABI in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (1.07±0.73 vs 1.04±0.09, P<0.05), the glycosylated hemoglobin in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (6.81±1.09 vs 7.57±1.66 mmmol/L,P<0.05), and the low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (1.88±0.73 vs 2.80±0.78 mmmol/L,P<0.01).
 Conclusion: Diabetes nurse specialist-led exercise intervention can significantly improve ABI and glucose and lipid metabolism in T2DM.

 X.Liu: None. Z.Jia: None. W.Niu: None. W.Fang: None.

 Henan Province Science and Technology Project Joint Construction (LHGJ20190557)


One of the hallmarks of microwave irradiation is its selective heating mechanism. In the past 30 years, alternative designs of chemical reactors have been introduced, where the microwave (MW) absorber occupies a limited reactor volume but the surrounding environment is MW transparent. This advantage results in a different heating profile or even the possibility to quickly cool down the system. Simultaneous cooling–microwave heating has been largely adopted for organic chemical transformations. However, to the best of our knowledge there are no reports of its application in the field of nanocluster synthesis. In this work, we propose an innovative one-pot procedure for the synthesis of Cu nanoclusters. The cluster nucleation was selectively MW-activated inside the pores of a highly ordered mesoporous substrate. Once the nucleation event occurred, the crystallization reaction was instantaneously quenched, precluding the growth events and favoring the production of Cu clusters with a homogenous size distribution. Herein, we demonstrated that Cu nanoclusters could be successfully adopted for radical cascade annulations of N-alkoxybenzamides, resulting in various tricyclic and tetracyclic isoquinolones, which are widely present in lots of natural products and bioactive compounds. Compared to reported homogeneous methods, supported Cu nanoclusters provide a better platform for a green, sustainable and efficient heterogeneous approach for the synthesis of tricyclic and tetracyclic isoquinolones, avoiding a variety of toxic waste/byproducts and metal contamination in the final products.


In this Article, I contend that directors who purposely refuse to consider corporate social responsibility and related practices, the social return on investment, or the double bottom line could be found potentially liable for breach of good faith under the standard recently articulated by the Delaware Supreme Court. Moreover, it may be a material misstatement and therefore actionable if a corporation makes a false statement claiming to be socially responsible.I introduce an entirely new and original way to define CSR under the "Creative Capitalism Spectrum," providing guidance about whether a company can legitimately claim to be socially responsible. Recent scholarship has been devoted to redefining CSR, but it fails to take into account the legal implications of making public statements about CSR. The Creative Capitalism Spectrum provides directors with objective guidelines based on legal principles to corroborate a public statement of a corporation's social responsibility. The Article distinguishes the concept of social entrepreneurship from other forms of CSR, and insists that full compliance with laws affecting social issues is a precondition to a claim of social responsibility. The Article confronts the growing problem of "greenwashing," a term rapidly becoming a buzzword to describe companies who purport to employ environmentally responsible practices but fall short. Furthermore, I introduce a five-factor test boards can use to determine whether CSR projects or policies are justifiable uses of corporate resources. The five factors were pulled from various sources and reorganized to form the anagram PRISM: Potential, Relevance, Impact, Suitability, and Morale. This PRISM test should serve as guidance to directors and courts, especially as boards come under fire for engaging in CSR projects that ultimately do not prove to be financially beneficial to stockholders. Directors seeking protection under the Business Judgment Rule need the PRISM test to serve as an objective standard to demonstrate that they acted in a reasonably informed manner, in good faith, and that their decisions did not violate their fiduciary duty of due care.


Different types of autogenous cancellous grafts were inserted into both femora of 20 sheep subsequent to special preparation or lethal radiation. The results were indicative of the primary role of the amount of grafted cancellous substance rather than the vitality of the transplanted cells. As compared to the outstanding effectiveness of the muscle-periosteum-flap with its revascularizing ability the significance of the compact receptor bed is minimal. These facts enhance the importance of early formation of vessels and the quantity of the osseous fraction of the substance grafted.


The location and ischemia extent are two important parameters for evaluating the acute myocardial ischemia (AMI). A focused-transducer-based photoacoustic imaging method was employed to assess time-dependent AMI. Our preliminary results show that the photoacoustic signal could identify the myocardium. The intensity and area of photoacoustic images of myocardium could be used for characterizing the ischemia extent and scope of myocardial ischemia. The results also imply that the intensity and area of photoacoustic images are the rapid fall of an exponential model with an increase of delaying time after the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion. These experimental results were consistent with the clinical characteristics. The findings suggest that the photoacoustic imaging be a potential tool for the real-time assessment of acute myocardial ischemia during surgical operation.


Using pressure transducers in soil surfaces prepared in controlled conditions, the vertical stress was recorded at 100 mm, 200 mm, and 350 mm depth within two soil surfaces of 1460 kg/m3 and 1590 kg/m3 for five subjects of 747–843 N body weight running at 4 m/s (5 per cent). Simultaneous in-shoe pressure data were collected to investigate the influence of soil density on loading experienced by the player and to provide information on the load applied to the surface. For each soil density, the subjects wore three different footwear types: soccer boots with traditional studs, boots with moulded studs, and boots designed for synthetic turf. For the mean of all subjects, there was no significant difference in the maximum vertical soil stress or loading rate between surfaces at any depth but within each surface there was a significant reduction of 32 kPa between –100 mm and the other depths. The peak loading rate was two orders of magnitude greater at –100 mm than at –200 mm or –350 mm. The variation in maximum vertical stress at –100 mm for different subjects was significant (p<0.001) and increased with increasing subject weight (R2 = 0.87); at –200 mm and –350 mm there was no significant subject or density effect; a similar pattern was observed with the peak loading rate, with a linear relationship between the loading rate and the subject weight. In-shoe pressure data revealed no significant differences in the peak force or loading rate between surfaces, but a significantly lower heel pressure for the soft (1460 kg/m3) surface compared with the hard (1590 kg/m3) surface (p<0.05). Wearing of different footwear had no influence on the peak force or pressure but revealed a lower rate of loading of force for the moulded boot than for the studded boot when performing on the hard surface. There was a low and non-significant relationship between the peak input force and the peak force experienced within the surface (R2 = 0.01; p > 0.05), however, peak resultant pressure data were used successfully to model the vertical stress distribution during running using a linear elastic model of soil behaviour. This novel approach to understanding the behaviour of the soil surface and the player has revealed a complex relationship between the input load and the load experienced by the surface. Future models will seek to understand this relationship further.


Cancer metastasis counts for 90% of cancer fatalities, and its development process is still a mystery. The dynamic process of tumor metastatic transport in the blood vessel is not well understood, in which some biomechanical factors, such as shear stress and various flow patterns, may have significant impacts. Here, we report a microfluidic vessel-on-a-chip platform for recapitulating several key metastatic steps of tumor cells in blood vessels on the same chip, including intravasation, circulating tumor cell (CTC) vascular adhesion, and extravasation. Due to its excellent adaptability, our system can reproduce various microenvironments to investigate the specific interactions between CTCs and blood vessels. On the basis of this platform, effects of important biomechanical factors on CTC adhesion such as vascular surface properties and vessel geometry-dependent hemodynamics were specifically inspected. We demonstrated that CTC adhesion is more likely to occur under certain mechano-physiological situations, such as vessels with vascular glycocalyx (VGCX) shedding and hemodynamic disturbances. Finally, computational models of both the fluidic dynamics in vessels and CTC adhesion were established based on the confocal scanned 3D images. The modeling results are believed to provide insights into exploring tumor metastasis progression and inspire new ideas for anticancer therapy development.


Liver toxicity is a severe problem associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Fructus Meliae Toosendan (FMT) is a known hepatotoxic TCM, however, the toxicological mechanisms of liver injury caused by FMT treatment still remain largely unknown. In this study, we aimed to reveal possible mechanisms of FMT water extract-induced liver injury using a systemic approach. After three consecutive daily dosing of FMT water extract, significant increases of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase activities, along with elevated total bilirubin and total cholesterol levels and a decrease of triglyceride level, were detected in mice serum. Moreover, hydropic degeneration was observed in hepatocytes, suggesting the presence of FMT-induced liver injury. mRNA and microRNA expression profiles of liver samples from injured mice were analyzed and revealed 8 miRNAs and 1,723 mRNAs were significantly changed after FMT water extract treatment. For the eight differentially expressed miRNAs, their predicted target genes were collected and a final set of 125 genes and 4 miRNAs (miR-139-5p, miR-199a-5p, miR-2861, and miR-3960) was selected to investigate important processes involved in FMT hepatotoxicity. Our results demonstrated several cellular functions were disordered after FMT treatment, such as cellular growth and proliferation, gene expression and cellular development. We hypothesized that liver cell necrosis was the main liver toxicity of FMT water extract, which was possibly caused by oxidative stress responses.


Au/SiO2 nanocomposite films, studied in this work, were prepared by RF-magnetron sputtering technique on glass substrate at room temperature under two different substrate temperatures (Ts), and subsequent heat treatment. For the deposited sample at TS = 25 ̊C, no apparent surface plasmon resonance peak could be observed. After annealing, optical absorption spectrum of the Au/SiO2 thin films showed a broad absorption band around 500 nm relating to gold nanoparticles without any modification in the position of the SPR and the size of particles. For the series deposited at TS = 400 ̊C, the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was found at 500 nm. After heat treatment it's redshift from 500 nm to 503 nm, while the size increases from 2.01 nm to 2.3 nm. We have also shown that, as the AuNPs are embedded in silica films, the small nanoparticles size have a slightly larger expansion coefficient than for bigger one.


Salmonella enterica serovar Choleraesuis may cause swine salmonellosis and human infection. Because the conventional method for detection of this Salmonella serovar may take 3 to 5 days, a PCR method for detection was evaluated. By comparing the sequence of the phase 1 flagellin (fliC) gene of Salmonella Choleraesuis with that of other Salmonella serovars and of other bacteria species available in GenBank, two PCR primers (flinC-F and flinC-R) were designed. Using these primers, all 97 Salmonella Choleraesuis strains assayed generated the expected PCR product, with a molecular mass of 963 bp. Except for S. enterica Paratyphi C, Salmonella isolates other than Salmonella Choleraesuis and non-Salmonella isolates, including strains of Enterobacteriaceae, all generated negative PCR results. Salmonella Paratyphi C could be differentiated from Salmonella Choleraesuis through the use of primers designed from the viaB gene. When Salmonella Choleraesuis isolates from swine stool, pork, liver, feed, and human whole blood samples were assayed with a preenrichment step, as low as 1 CFU/g or ml of the original sample could be detected.


Side information is present along with many text mining application. This side information may be provenance information, any links in the document, web logs which containuser access behavior, the links for any document or any other non textual attributes which are embedded into the text document. All these attributes may contain a large amount of information for clustering purposes. But it is difficult to calculate the concerned importance of this side information especially when some of the data is noisy. In that situation, it is risky to merge side information into the mining process because it can enhance the quality of the representation for the mining process or can add noise in this system. Thus, there should be a proper way to do this mining process so that it will make use of side information to maximize their advantages. Therefore, it is recommended to design an efficient algorithm which makes combination of classical portioning algorithm with probabilistic models in order to create an effective clustering approach.


An application of the rule of six for the estimation of steric hindrance in reactions of dipeptides and polypeptides, and conformational preferences of polypeptides and proteins, is described.


The operation rooms must be the cleanest area in the cleaning classification at the  hospital planning. Providing hygiene and sterilization in the operation rooms is the main problem.  Operation room flooring, wall and ceiling covering materials are generally produced with the most  advance  technology  against  to  post  operative  infection  cost.  Importing  of  those  materials  or  manufacturing with imported technology causes always changing expensive solutions. Building  technical solutions that are not included in General Technical Specifications is possible only by  private contracts and special unit prices. These specifications are generally based on firm catalogues  and international standards. Technical applications can not be controlled truly. So, first of all it is  necessary to be worked out building specifications to provide sterilized environment for hospitals.  The operation rooms should be considered as an interdisciplinary subject that obliges to work  together. Engineering branches and architecture must study together with medicine, through the  basic objective that we can describe as "to built areas that will contribute healing of patient directly". The research was carried out during repair–restoration works and using period in operation rooms and intensive care units of the Faculty of Medicine Research Hospital of the Seljuk University . In this study, in accordance with the findings, it is tried to progress a bottom structure of a specialized building specifications for hospital buildings.


A feasibility study of multiple alarm processing and diagnosis using neural networks is presented. The backpropagation network (BPN) algorithm is applied to the training of multiple alarm patterns for the identification of faults in a reactor coolant pump (RCP) system. The general mapping capability of the neural network makes it possible to identify a fault easily. A number of case studies are performed, with emphasis on the applicability of the neural network to the pattern recognition of multiple alarms. Based on the case studies, the neural network can identify the cause of multiple alarms well, although untrained, incomplete/sensor-failed or time-varying alarm symptoms are given. Also, multiple faults are easily identified with a given alarm pattern. >


Thirty-two Friesian cows in early lactation were given one of tour completely mixed diets based on equal proportions of barley straw and concentrate. Two varieties of barley straws had been identified as varying in degradation characteristics (Corgi and Gerbel) and the straws were either given untreated or treated with anhydrous ammonia. The ad libitum intake for 10 weeks closely reflected degradation characteristics. For Corgi, treated and untreated and Gerbel, treated and untreated the 48·h degradabilities were 71·9, 66·8, 61·9 and 52·2 (g/100 g) respectively. The voluntary intakes of dry matter were 17·1, 14·8, 15·0 and 13·1 (s.e. 0·51) kg/day and average yields of fat-corrected milk for 10 weeks were 26·7, 21·5, 22·6 and 22·4 (s.e. 1·0) kg/day respectively. It was calculated that the differences between actual digestibility and potential degradability were greatest for ammonia-treated straws. Also it was observed that the degradability of faecal dry matter was greater from animals given ammonia-treated straws.


Background BD is rarely encountered in children where the disease is very difficult to recognize. The outcome of patients with few symptoms is currently unknown Objectives To define the outcome of paediatric patients with at least two symptoms of BD, and to obtain an appropriate definition of BD in patients <16y Methods An international expert committee has defined the criteria of inclusion. New patients or patients followed for a maximum of 3 years, who presented at least 2 symptoms of BD (among a list), and gave their informed consent were included, reviewed yearly. Results 223 patients (SR: 1), from 22 centres of 12 countries, were included since 2008, median age of 13,3y (2.3-21y). Median age at first symptom was 8y (9m-18y). Family history of BD was present in 50 (22.4%) and consanguinity in 10 (4.5%). Median disease duration at inclusion was 4.7y (0-16,5y) and from the first symptom to last visit was 5.5y (1m-19.4y). Inclusion criteria plus oral aphtosis (mandatory) were (%): genital aphtosis 51.1, necrotic folliculitis 31.4, uveitis 28.7, familial history 22%, pathergy test positive 18.8, erythema nodosum 14.3, vascular 10 and retinal vasculitis 7.2. Mean number of symptoms: 1 plus family history (41%), 2 (33%), more than 3 (26%). Patient had a median of 1.0 follow-up visit (0-4). 217 patients had a first visit: where symptoms were as follows (%): genital aphtosis 49, skin lesions 49, joints and fever 41, eyes lesions 35, neurological 34.5, gastrointestinal 30.5 and vascular16.5. HLAB51 was present in 48% and A26 in 4%. Male patients had significantly more uveitis. 138 patients had a 1-y visit (mean BD duration: 5.6y). 81 patients had 2-y (6.3y), 44 a 3-y (7.2y) and 18 a 4-y visit (7.4y). Between 1st-4th visit: 62% had no new symptom, 23% had one, and 8% had 2 and 7 had more than 3. The expert committee has reviewed 196 files at a median disease duration of 6,7y (0.9-19y), and classified 118 patients as definite, 21 as probable and 3 as not BD. 54 charts were reviewed but did not reached consensus. 45 files have been reviewed more than once. Although good concordance (Kappa coefficient = 0.72), International criteria and expert classification showed significant differences: 60.2% (118/196) patients were classified as definite BD by experts, whereas only 45.9% of these patients met the international criteria (P<0.0001). Having 2 or more symptoms was significantly associated with classification as definite BD (p=0.0005). Conclusions The expert committee has classified the majority of patients in the BD group although they did not fulfil the international BD classification criteria (for adults) Disclosure of Interest None Declared


Background: Globally there are few reports of the impairments, disabilities and medications used in people living with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Caregiver characteristics and caregiver burden have seldom been reported. We examined the health status in a large cohort of people living with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers managed in a comprehensive health care setting. Methods/Design: A prospective, cross sectional analysis of impairments, disabilities and Parkinson's disease medication use was conducted in a sample of 100 people with Parkinson's disease rated I-IV on the modified Hoehn & Yahr scale. Participants were recruited from the Victorian Comprehensive Parkinson Program in Melbourne, Australia. Their caregivers were invited to provide their views on the burden of care, services provided and support received. Results: The severity of impairments and disabilities was strongly associated with disease duration (mean of 5.5 years). Those with long standing disease or more severe disease also used more Parkinson's disease medications and participated in fewer social roles than people who were newly diagnosed or mildly affected. The severity of impairments was strongly correlated with limitations in performing activities of daily living. Limitations in performing daily activities were also found to be a significant contributing factor for health-related quality of life (PDQ-39 SI β=0.55, p=0.000; EQ-5D SI β=0.43, p=0.001). People with Parkinson's disease lived at home with relatives. The average caregiver was a spouse or child providing approximately 3.5 hours of care per day, with the capacity to provide 9.4 hours per day and had provided care for four years. Additional support was high (63%) for 2.5 hours per day. Conclusion: The comprehensive care setting of this cohort describes a relatively benign condition despite a wide range of disease duration and severity. This report provides a baseline with which to compare other delivery models.


To support secure group communications in resource-constrained wireless sensor networks, we propose an efficient and scalable key management protocol which only uses symmetric cryptographic algorithms and low cost operations. Our protocol can achieve current, forward and backward secrecy. Furthermore, for scalability, the communication and computation cost for master key renewing can be confined to the affected cluster. Our protocol provides better efficiency and is more suitable than the previous master key management protocols for wireless sensor networks.


We describe a language model based on a precise, linguistically motivated grammar (a hand-crafted Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar) and a statistical model estimating the probability of a parse tree. The language model is applied by means of an N-best rescoring step, which allows to directly measure the performance gains relative to the baseline system without rescoring. To demonstrate that our approach is feasible and beneficial for non-trivial broad-domain speech recognition tasks, we applied it to a simplified German broadcast-news transcription task. We report a significant reduction in word error rate compared to a state-of-the-art baseline system.


As early as March 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic took over globally and soon the world as we used to know underwent abrupt changes, including education sector. The key motivation for this research is to understand how teaching and learning in the art and/or design discipline might be transformed in the long term, for both teachers and learners, as a reflection of teaching practices under the pandemic condition. Comparatively, this research aims to find out whether there is a shift in educators in art and/or design's perception toward online class, by considering both technological and human aspects surrounding the subjects. This research uses mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitatively, this study analysed data from online questionnaires addressed to lecturers at Higher Education Institutions (HEI). To get a deeper understanding, this research also uses a qualitative approach, by investigating both lecturers and the students majoring in art and/or design. This research maintains that while the presence of technology and internet are vital in virtual class, but such classes can only be dubbed as successful providing there is an active role from both educators and students. Currently, the online classes that are taking place in a rather emergency manner are not yet running optimally, due to the lack of participation from the students. However, it is probable that in the future this situation may be changed, with the carefully planned curriculum, once our students are mentally prepared.


Summary

Changes in physicochemical properties of germinated brown rice (GBR) and parboiled germinated brown rice (PGBR) dried in a fluidized bed dryer at 110–150 °C were investigated. Results indicated that parboiling altered the properties of GBR owing to starch gelatinisation. The moisture content, yellowness, peak viscosity and hardness of PGBR increased, but internal fissured kernel, cooking time, water absorption and total solids loss decreased when compared to GBR. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) content in GBR was 23.31 mg per 100 g and was reduced to 17.91 mg per 100 g in PGBR. The drying times required to reduce the moisture content of GBR and PGBR to 16% d.b. were 4.01–7.65 min and 5.11–9.50 min, respectively. Final moisture content, which is optimum to prevent internal fissures of dried GBR and PGBR, was 27–29% and 25–28% d.b., respectively. The same trend was observed in the physicochemical properties of GBR and PGBR when increasing drying temperature and time.


Compressive Sensing (CS) is an emerging technique in Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) application especially for smart wearable devices to prolong the sensor lifetime, and enable a continuous healthcare monitoring system. This paper describes the performance of CS on our wrist-based cuff-less biosensor for estimating blood pressure (BP) continuously. The proposed biosensor offers a novel BP estimation method by only using the biosignal from subject wrist. A CS technique is implemented to encrypt and reduce the data transmission load of the dual biosignal, which include impedance plethysmography (IPG) and photo plethysmography (PPG). Therefore, multiple compression ratio (CR) were tested to the original signal. We further compare the CS-based extracted features called pulse transit times (PTTs). Based on our experiments, CS-based PTT value that calculated from the IPG peak point to the PPG max2 point (F2), achieved the best correlation coefficient (R) of -0.85 and -0.43 to the systolic BP and diastolic BP, respectively. These results suggest that the implementation of CS on our proposed wrist biosensor is suitable for non-intrusive, yet long-term continuous BP monitoring.


This article investigates the theoretical and practical considerations for the integration of a regional stock market for the Member States of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).The analysis appears to support the case for the integration of the existing individual markets in the CEE into a regional market and that it can be implemented through the guidance of an existing model in the EU. The paper also offers a practical suggestion for the formation of a regional stock market in the CEE for the overall economic benefit of the Member States in the region.


We present a symmetry-based systematic approach to explore the structural and compositional richness of two-dimensional materials. We use a 'combinatorial engine' that constructs candidate compounds by occupying all possible Wyckoff positions for a certain space group with combinations of chemical elements. These combinations are restricted by imposing charge neutrality and the Pauling test for electronegativities. The structures are then pre-optimized with a specially crafted universal neural-network force-field, before a final step of geometry optimization using density-functional theory is performed. In this way we unveil an unprecedented variety of two-dimensional materials, covering the whole periodic table in more than 30 different stoichiometries of form A n B m or A n B m C k . Among the discovered structures, we find examples that can be built by decorating nearly all Platonic and Archimedean tessellations as well as their dual Laves or Catalan tilings. We also obtain a rich, and unexpected, polymorphism for some specific compounds. We further accelerate the exploration of the chemical space of two-dimensional materials by employing machine-learning-accelerated prototype search, based on the structural types discovered in the systematic search. In total, we obtain around 6500 compounds, not present in previous available databases of 2D materials, with a distance to the convex hull of thermodynamic stability smaller than 250 meV/atom.


Language equations are equations where both the constants occurring in the equations and the solutions are formal languages. They have first been introduced in formal language theory, but are now also considered in other areas of computer science. In the present paper, we restrict the attention to language equations with one-sided concatenation, but in contrast to previous work on these equations, we allow not just union but all Boolean operations to be used when formulating them. In addition, we are not just interested in deciding solvability of such equations, but also in deciding other properties of the set of solutions, like its cardinality (finite, infinite, uncountable) and whether it contains least/greatest solutions. We show that all these decision problems are ExpTime-complete.


We present a dynamic 3-D spherical-shell model of mantle convection and the evolution of the chemical reservoirs of the Earth`s silicate shell. Chemical differentiation, convection, stirring and thermal evolution constitute an inseparable dynamic system. Our model is based on the solution of the balance equations of mass, momentum, energy, angular momentum, and four sums of the number of atoms of the pairs 238U-206Pb, 235U-207Pb, 232Th-208Pb, and 40K-40Ar. Similar to the present model, the continental crust of the real Earth was not produced entirely at the start of the evolution but developed episodically in batches [1-7]. The details of the continental distribution of the model are largely stochastic, but the spectral properties are quite similar to the present real Earth. The calculated Figures reveal that the modelled present-day mantle has no chemical stratification but we find a marble-cake structure. If we compare the observational results of the present-day proportion of depleted MORB mantle with the model then we find a similar order of magnitude. The MORB source dominates under the lithosphere. In our model, there are nowhere pure unblended reservoirs in the mantle. It is, however, remarkable that, in spite of 4500 Ma of solid-state mantle convection, certain strong concentrations of distributed chemical reservoirs continue to persist in certain volumes, although without sharp abundance boundaries. We deal with the question of predictable and stochastic portions of the phenomena. Although the convective flow patterns and the chemical differentiation of oceanic plateaus are coupled, the evolution of time-dependent Rayleigh number, Rat , is relatively well predictable and the stochastic parts of the Rat(t)-curves are small. Regarding the juvenile growth rates of the total mass of the continents, predictions are possible only in the first epoch of the evolution. Later on, the distribution of the continental-growth episodes is increasingly stochastic. Independently of the varying individual runs, our model shows that the total mass of the present-day continents is not generated in a single process at the beginning of the thermal evolution of the Earth but in episodically distributed processes in the course of geological time. This is in accord with observation. Finally, we present results regarding the numerical method, implementation, scalability and performance.


This study is concerned with the relationship between expectations and preferences prior to an interaction, and their effects on behaviours enacted during the interaction. Expectations and preferences of therapists regarding several specific therapist's and client's behaviours were assessed prior to a therapy meeting. After that meeting, the therapists described the behaviours that had occurred during the meeting. It was found that the correspondence between expectations and preferences is affected by the amount of control one has over the behaviours. There seems also to be a clear indication that expectations predict the behaviours better than preferences. Still, it should be noted that preferences do predict behaviours, and this relationship, although weak, holds even after the effect of expectations is removed.


The paper presents a rotational single sheet tester, which can be used to measure vector hysteresis characteristics using specimen with round shape. The measured hysteresis characteristics in the two orthogonal directions present the uniaxial anisotropy of the material under test, which has been handled by the Fourier expansion of the measured Everett functions. The Fourier coefficients of the unknown vector Everett function have been identified by the modification of a previously implemented algorithm. In the identification task linearly and circularly polarized measured data have been taken into account. Comparisons between measured and simulated data show acceptable results.


The conservatism of the austenitic stainless steel fatigue design curve has been severely questioned since the release of the NUREG/CR-6909 document [1] where a new methodology to assess environmentally assisted fatigue (EAF), including also a new in-air fatigue design curve, have been proposed. In the same way, the ASME Code Case N-792 [2] suggests calculating EAF usage factors via the multiplication of the in-air fatigue usage factors by Fen penalty factors, this resulting in a significant increase of these parameters.In this context, AREVA NP SAS has performed, for several years, its own Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) test program to better identify environmental effects in representative industrial conditions [3]. Among others, these experimental works have pointed out the over-conservatism of the NUREG/CR-6909 design approach. From these results, AREVA NP SAS has developed an alternative EAF assessment method which has been approved by the Finnish Nuclear Safety Authority [4]. This paper proposes to give an overview of this approach and to illustrate it on an EAF EPRI sample problem [5].Copyright © 2012 by ASME


To understand biological and geological events and the history of collected samples, it is essential to determine and communicate location information accurately. The accuracy of a georeference depends upon the circumstances of the event. Historical collections depend on having clear verbatim locality descriptions, the correct interpretation of data written on labels, and on the availability of gazetteers and maps of suitable scale and time. Observation and tracking data localities depend on GPS (Global Positiioning System) accuracy, and on presence or absence of nearby obstructions such as buildings, forest cover, cliffs, etc. Marine data depend on the accurate determination of the surface location and the techniques to position a dive event from that location and to determine its depth and extent. Many people are using smartphones or maps such as Google Earth and Google Maps to determine their georeferences – but are they suitable and accurate enough to determine locations and elevations? New editions of the Georeferencing Best Practices (Chapman and Wieczorek 2020), the Georeferencing Quick Reference Guide (Zermoglio et al. 2020), and the Georeferencing Calculator Manual (Bloom et al. 2020), were published earlier this year and address all the issues listed above and many more. These documents were based on earlier versions but ‡ § § | ¶ © Chapman A et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. have been updated and improved considerably – adding information for marine biomes, caves, lithographic stratifications, transects, and the use of elevation, as well as including many more illustrations and examples. The expansion of an extensive georeferencing glossary adds to consistency in the use of terms The trio of documents now provides consistent guidance about how to georeference diverse locality types and detailed instructions on how to calculate uncertainty using many different coordinate reference systems and datums (horizontal and vertical) along with the importance of recording this information. Finally, they provide guidance on how to set up a georeferencing project and how to relate the results to the Darwin Core Standard (Darwin Core Task Group 2009). For the last decade, Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al. 2012) has been one of the preferred standards for sharing biodiversity data, including associated location information. Darwin Core currently has 44 terms in its Location class, allowing sharing from administrative divisions, to elevations and depths, coordinates in different formats, and georeference metadata, among others. Although Darwin Core provides definitions for each of its terms, their correct use is sometimes poorly understood, resulting in information being captured incorrectly, or not captured, documented or shared at all. We will re-introduce these documents, discuss their content, importance, and differences from previously published versions. The newly revised documents provide guidance on capturing and documenting georeferences, clarifying the georeferencing process and showing how to capture information using Darwin Core appropriately. They will improve the location data associated with biological events and our understanding of these events.


Abstract Long-term grazing shaped plant diversity in dry Mediterranean grasslands. Abandonment of grazing affects plant diversity especially in the northern Mediterranean. Considerable efforts are, therefore, under way for grassland conservation and restoration. Yet, we do not know at which temporal scales impacts of grazing abandonment appear and in particular how soil seed banks evolve after longer grazing abandonment. Here, we provide detailed data from one of the very few long-term experiments available. These experiments provide data for up to 23 years (1982–2005) of grazing exclusion built in 1982, 1989, 2000 and 2001. Grazing exclusion decreased species richness, modified vegetation structure and changed soil parameters. Decline in species richness appears in communities that experienced 16 and 23 years of grazing exclusion. Only four to nine plant species of this Mediterranean grassland built persistent soil seed banks appearing after grazing exclusion, compared to 40–50 species in the established vegetation of grazed plots. Hence, similarity between vegetation and soil seed bank decreased with time of grazing exclusion. Even 23 years after abandonment, no woody plants colonised the experiments. We conclude that vegetation will recover fast from grazing abandonment in the short-term. Nevertheless, longer abandonment will impact diversity due to reduced soil seed banks.


This is a guide to doing research in the related areas of physics and astronomy. It is designed to display resources owned by the Alvin Sherman Library as well as free resources available on the Internet.


NHS inspectors have praised a trust for introducing a rapid-fire reporting system to monitor the disappearance of controlled drugs or of dosage miscalculations after administration to patients.


C JHP – Vol. 62, No. 3 – May–June 2009 JCPH – Vol. 62, n 3 – mai–juin 2009 and contribute to successful treatment, and this type of information is often difficult to find. Anticonvulsant medications are discussed in depth, and I am sure that this information will be very useful to practising pharmacists. The final section covers the psychosocial aspects of epilepsy. The way in which this information is presented may help the reader to gain an appreciation for some of the challenges faced by children and families living with epilepsy. There have been many advances in the understanding and treatment of epilepsy in recent years. This book will be an essential reference for pharmacists caring for children with seizures and epilepsy. I highly recommended this book to any health care practitioner who participates in the care of infants and children with epilepsy.