Background Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies are chronic, heterogeneous systemic autoimmune diseases with symmetrical proximal muscle weakness. During the disease course, osteoporosis and bone fractures are more common compared to the healthy population, which can be explained by the chronic inflammation, immobilization, spontaneous falls and steroid treatment, and affect crucially the patients' quality of life. Recently, a WHO fracture risk calculation tool, FRAX score is available, to measure the 10-year probability of osteoporotic fractures. It takes into account relevant clinical risk factors, such as rheumatoid arthritis, however myositis does not exist among the risk factors. Objectives Estimation the effect of myositis and myositis related bone mineral densities on bone fracture risk calculated by FRAX tool. Methods FRAX score was determined in 71 patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and results were compared with the data from 50 age, sex and BMI matched patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Moreover, osteoporosis related biomarkers, disease related fractures and bone mineral densities were determined using DXA examinations. Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS 20.0 software. Results There were no significant differences between the demographical data, biomarkers (Ca, Vitamin D, parathormone level) of the two groups. Disease duration and cumulative steroid dose were higher in the myositis group. Results of the FRAX score without BMD were significantly lower in the patients with myositis, in both fracture risk: major osteoporotic (8,61±6,36%, vs. 15,59±12,66%; p: 0,002) and femur neck (2,66±3,24%, vs. 6,34±9,018; p: 0.003). T score results of the DXA examination were not significantly different between the two populations (Lumbar1–4: -0,9±1,43 vs.-0,829±1,38; p:0,829; Femoral neck: -1,4±1,08 vs. -1,02±1,08; p: 0,93), but the presence of osteopenia (60% vs. 39,5%) and osteoporosis (13,5% vs. 7%) were more frequent in the myositis group (p: 0,045). Disease related fracture was associated with disease duration in the myositis group and with antibody (RF, ACPA) presence in the RA group. FRAX score with BMD results showed no significant differences between the two populations (Major osteoporotic: 9,44±6,72 vs. 13,25±9,43; p: 0,053; Hip: 2,77±3,01 vs. 3,57±5,08; p: 0,811). Conclusions As far as we know, this is the first study which examine the fracture risk using FRAX score in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. According to our data, we can conclude that existence of myositis might indicate similar, independent risk factor in fracture probability, like rheumatoid arthritis. Evaluation of fracture risk should be done with DXA result in patients with IIM, otherwise risk could be underestimated. An exact value of the "myositis related risk" could be determined by a 10-year prospective study. Disclosure of Interest None declared


[1] During several campaigns during the last 10 years, detailed in situ studies of electrons, positive ions, and charged aerosols have been performed by means of rocket borne instruments in the presence of Polar Mesophere Summer Echoes (PMSE) and Noctilucent Clouds (NLC). We have studied the correlation between the amount of charged aerosols present in the mesopause region and the PMSE echo power. We have also correlated the PMSE echo strength with the small-scale structure of electrons at the radar Bragg scale that are responsible for the echoes. We find that PMSE occur for rather small amounts of charged aerosols, with the number of electrons exceeding the number of charged aerosols. This is in contradiction with previous, mainly theoretical, studies predicting that PMSE only occur when the ratio between the aerosol charge number density and the number density of electrons is larger than about 1. We also find that there is a high degree of correlation between the PMSE echo power and the fluctuation intensity of electrons at scales comparable to half the radar wavelength. This confirms that variations in electron number density are responsible for the echoes, but does not explain the mechanism that creates the fluctuations.


Online hate speech, particularly over microblogging platforms like Twitter, has emerged as arguably the most severe issue of the past decade. Several countries have reported a steep rise in hate crimes infuriated by malicious hate campaigns. While the detection of hate speech is one of the emerging research areas, the generation and spread of topic-dependent hate in the information network remain under-explored. In this work, we focus on exploring user behavior, which triggers the genesis of hate speech on Twitter and how it diffuses via retweets. We crawl a large-scale dataset of tweets, retweets, user activity history, and follower networks, comprising over 161 million tweets from more than 41 million unique users. We also collect over 600k contemporary news articles published online. We characterize different signals of information that govern these dynamics. Our analyses differentiate the diffusion dynamics in the presence of hate from usual information diffusion. This motivates us to formulate the modeling problem in a topic-aware setting with real-world knowledge. For predicting the initiation of hate speech for any given hashtag, we propose multiple feature-rich models, with the best performing one achieving a macro F1 score of 0.65. Meanwhile, to predict the retweet dynamics on Twitter, we propose RETINA, a novel neural architecture that incorporates exogenous influence using scaled dot-product attention. RETINA achieves a macro F1-score of 0.85, outperforming multiple state-of-the-art models. Our analysis reveals the superlative power of RETINA to predict the retweet dynamics of hateful content compared to the existing diffusion models.


In this paper, we present a machine-learning algorithm to synthesize defect-free single degree of freedom spatial mechanisms for the Alt-Burmester problem. The Alt-Burmester problem is a generalization of a pure motion synthesis problem to include via path-points with missing orientations. While much work has been done towards the synthesis of planar and, to some extent, spherical mechanisms, the generation of mechanisms that are free of circuit, branch, and order defects has proven to be a difficult task. This is even more challenging for spatial mechanisms, which can consist of a large number of circuits and branches. Moreover, the Alt-Burmester problem makes solving such problems using an analytical approach further demanding. In this paper, we present a novel machine-learning algorithm for solving the Alt-Burmester problem for spatial 5-SS platform mechanism using a Variational Auto-Encoder (VAE) architecture. The VAE helps capture the relationship between path and orientation properties of the motion of the 5-SS mechanisms, which enables reformulating the Alt-Burmester problem into a pure motion synthesis problem. The end goal is to produce defect-free spatial mechanism design solutions. While our focus in this paper is on the 5-SS mechanisms, this approach can be scaled to any single-degree-of-freedom spatial mechanisms.


BACKGROUND
Organizational and professional learning are interrelated processes that underpin the contemporary drive for a quality evidence-based delivery of health care in the United Kingdom (UK).

DESIGN
A soft systems methodology was used to explore the pervasiveness of practice developments. Three case study sites were identified using matrix sampling and data collected through 29 individual interviews and two focus group interviews, with the interviews augmented with a tool designed to maximize analysis of the processes of developing practice.

FINDINGS
The resultant model of developing health care practice includes three processes: using and creating knowledge, understanding and practice of patient care, and effecting development. The whole model was underpinned by professional and organizational learning in which 'expert thinkers' engaged in double loop learning to reconceptualize care rather than just perpetuate existing patterns of care delivery.


Background: Lichen planus (LP) is a chronic inflammatory disease, involving the skin, mucous membranes, hair, and nails. Cardiovascular risk factors have been assessed with some chronic inflammatory skin diseases such as alopecia and psoriasis. Recently, some studies found that lichen planus (LP) was associated with dyslipidemia. So we did this study to find this association in our patients. Objective: To evaluate lipid levels in patients with L.P and compare it with controls. Materials and Methods: This case- control study included 160 participators (80 with L.P. and 80 controls) admitted to dermatology clinic at Tishreen University Hospital, Lattakia, Syria, from 2020- 2021. Results: Cholesterol, triglyceride and Low- density lipoprotein (LDL) levels in patients were significantly higher than the control group; it was only regarding high- density lipoprotein (HDL) levels that no significant difference was observed between the two groups. Triglyceride levels were significantly higher and HDL levels were lower in patients with diffused disease. There was a recognizable correlation between elevated levels of LDL and cholesterol with disease duration. Conclusion: In this study, a disrupted lipid profile was observed in LP patients, which can be associated with disease severity. This study proposes measuring lipid serum levels prior to commencing the treatment in all known cases of lichen planus, so as to preclude cardiovascular diseases if there is a problem with the lipid profile.


In remote storage services, delays in the time to retrieve data can cause economic losses to the data owners. In this paper, we address the problem of properly establishing specific clauses in the service level agreement (SLA), intended to guarantee a short and predictable retrieval time. Based on the rationale that the retrieval time mainly depends on the storage media used at the server side, we introduce the concept of Provable Storage Medium (PSM), to denote the ability of a user to efficiently verify that the provider is complying to this aspect of the SLA. We propose PSM as an extension of Provable Data Possession (PDP): embedding challenge-response PDP schemes with measurements of the response time, both properties can be enforced without any need for the user to locally store nor download her data. We describe a realistic implementation of PSM in a scenario where data should be stored both in RAM and HDD. A thorough analysis shows that, even for relatively small challenges, the total time to compute and deliver the response is sensibly affected by the remarkable difference in the access time of the two supports. An extensive simulation campaign confirms the quality and viability of our proposal.


Lower limb amputation affects an estimated 1.71 million people in the US. The lack of sensory feedback and proprioception often causes loss of balance which heightens the risk of falls and injury. In this presented paper, a haptic feedback system named HapticLink was developed based on the weight distribution of the prosthetic foot to increase the individual's balance and the self-attribution of the prosthesis. The repeatability and linearity of four different force sensors were tested. The FlexiForce A201 sensors were identified as the optimal choice for the parameters and scenarios investigated. HapticLink consists of four A201 sensors, a microcontroller, and four Vibration Motors (VM). The developed system can determine and convey weight distribution on a prosthetic foot to the wearer as haptic feedback. Initial tests with Lower-Limb Prosthetic (LLP) users were conducted with quantitative results (Directional, Frequency, and Manually Applied Directional Perception tests avg. 94.44%, 79.17%, and 100%) and responses from the participants indicating that HapticLink may aid during single or double lower-limb amputee ambulation after establishing haptic feedback intensity comfort. Finally, the successful qualitative tests with a double lower-limb amputee imply the haptic feedback may be sufficient without requiring sensor fusion on the part of the participant from both the VMs and the proprioception of the contralateral leg. Clinical Relevance--- This establishes the utility of a simple, stand-alone 4:4 force sensor and haptic motor feedback system to aid during single or double lower-limb amputee ambulation.


Compressed Sensing has allowed a significant reduction of acquisition times in MRI, especially in the high resolution (e.g., 400 μm) context. However, in this setting CS must be combined with parallel reception as multichannel coil acquisitions maintain high input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To get rid of usual parallel imaging limitations (output SNR loss), non-Cartesian trajectories provide a gain in sampling efficiency in the CS context. In this paper, we propose a self-calibrating MRI reconstruction framework that handles variable density sampling. Low resolution sensitivity maps are estimated from the low frequency k-space content using an original and fast method while MR images are reconstructed using a nonlinear iterative algorithm, which promotes sparsity in the wavelet domain. As regards the optimization task, we compare three first-order proximal gradient methods: Forward Backward (FB), Fast Iterative Soft Thresolding Algorithm (FISTA) and Proximal Optimized Gradient Method (POGM) and evaluate their respective convergence speed. Comparison with state-of-the-art (i.e., ℓl-ESPIRiT) suggests that our self-calibrating POGM-based algorithm outperforms current approaches both in terms of image quality and computing time on several acquired data collected at 7 Tesla and we will focus more specifically on prospective non-Cartesian 8-fold accelerated in vivo Human brain data.


The King's Fund, one of Britain's leading charitable institutions working on healthcare policy, has formed a partnership with Humana Europe, the regional subsidiary of a large US health insurer that bids for NHS commissioning contracts.

Humana Europe is widely believed to be on a Department of Health shortlist of approved companies eligible to bid for commissioning work from primary care trusts. Under the terms of the agreement with the King's Fund, the company will provide £30 000 (€45 000; $60 000) towards the cost of seminars that NHS officials will attend.

A health policy expert, Tom Granitir, from Humana's Kentucky based parent organisation will also be seconded to the fund as an adviser in a joint public health project, focusing on encouraging healthy lifestyles.

Daniel Reynolds, a spokesman for the King's Fund, said the charity was "dipping our toe into the water" of partnership with private enterprise on an experimental basis. "Private companies are playing an increasing role in the NHS, and we have to accommodate that reality," he added.

The £30 000 payment would not compromise the fund's independence, he said. "Some people have asked us if this means we're running out of money. We aren't, and even if we were, £30 000 would hardly go very far."

Rebecca Rosen, medical director of Humana Europe, who previously worked at the King's Fund and remains a senior associate of the charity, said that Humana hopes to capitalise on its reputation for changing patients' behaviour in the United States through incentive based schemes.

One Humana programme in the US provides insured patients with pedometers that can be plugged into a computer, allowing patients to claim air miles on a website in exchange for exercising. It also recently launched health coaching and online support for people signed up to its insurance policy, including support in tobacco cessation, weight management, physical activity, stress management, nutrition, and back care.

Humana is seeking contracts with primary care trusts to improve health among schoolchildren and could launch a similar scheme here, offering rewards in the form of sports equipment from a participating sponsor, she said.

The joint project will also examine ways to help employers encourage healthy lifestyles among their staff, she said.

Dr Rosen acknowledged that there is suspicion about US healthcare companies seeking NHS contracts. "But no one is proposing bringing US-style health care to Britain," she said, noting that Humana was only seeking commissioning and consulting work, not the actual provision of primary care. "It would be very sad if people rejected new ideas just because they came from America," she added.

The chief executive of the King's Fund, Niall Dickson, indicated that further partnerships with private industry might be on the horizon: "The King's Fund is developing a range of initiatives within the corporate world, and, like our work in the public and voluntary sector, this is an exciting opportunity to share knowledge and develop fresh ways of working. Our research on how individuals can change their health behaviour comes at a critical time when the need for us all to become more engaged in our own health and health care has never been greater. This is an area where Humana have led the way in the US."


I. INTRODUCTION II. STRUCTURED FINANCE: A CONVENIENT FRAMEWORK A. Mortgage-Backed Securities III. WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? AVOIDING A REPEAT OF HISTORY IN CARBON SECURITIZED AND DERIVATIVE INSTRUMENTS A. Risk Reallocation and Diversification B. Predictive Models and Irrelevant Data C. The Collateral Behind the Security D. Layers: Increasing Complexity & Risk/Value Determinations E. Credit Rating Agencies F. Insurance Companies IV. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION Wall Street's most storied financial institutions have collapsed. And along with them, U.S. and global economies. Once lauded for their innovative financial alchemy to engineer high-return, low-risk mortgage-backed securities, Wall Street's finest were permeated by frenzied greed and diminished lending standards. In the years leading up to the lending fallout of 2007, U.S. financial institutions worked around the clock to flood financial markets with securitized and derivative instruments collateralized by mortgage-backed securities whose illusory quality crippled global portfolios. Yet even amidst the most dramatic economic downturn since the Great Depression, U.S. financial institutions continue to seek new ways to bring securitized and derivative instruments to market. As the international community embraces the greenhouse gas reduction commitments of the Kyoto Protocol, the ears of U.S. financial institutions and investors are perked. A regulatory framework forcing emissions compliance on U.S. corporations and regulated entities, and the establishment of a market-based cap-and-trade scheme to buy, sell, trade, and exchange carbon credits, means participants in a carbon-constrained market will seek low-cost solutions to meet compliance targets. Outside the primary market, secondary market participants, such as banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, and energy speculators, are poised to play a game of store-and-sell--bringing carbon to market when it can fetch the best price. Just as with mortgage-backed securities, U.S. financial institutions seek inventive ways to cross-pollinate markets by securitizing carbon credits and bringing low-cost carbon credits to the marketplace. The dawn of carbon structured finance is near. But before U.S. financial institutions and investors embark on this endeavor, understanding the mistakes and pitfalls of securitizing mortgage-backed securities provides U.S. policy makers guidance as to where similar mistakes may be made in carbon finance. By understanding the historical miscalculations of the recent financial collapse, policy makers are better equipped to fashion appropriate legislative and regulatory responses so that mistakes may be avoided. Such issues are becoming increasingly important. Efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions spark wide-felt international support. (1) Regulated companies and countries, however, are less enthusiastic, (2) as operating within a greenhouse gas-constrained environment necessarily involves the high cost of compliance. (3) In an effort to provide the most cost-effective means for regulated companies and countries to operate within this greenhouse gas-constrained environment, financial mechanics are being employed to make emission-reduction economically feasible. (4) The most noteworthy, cost-benefiting results will be achieved within the developing carbon market. Financial institutions and investors are simultaneously recognizing the profit potential within the developing carbon market. (5) Frenzied in their response, such institutions seek new ways to bring securitized and derivative instruments, collateralized by carbon credits, to the market. (6) Yet with the effects of the recent financial collapse and historical miscalculations made in connection with mortgage-backed securities still reverberating within the U.S. economy, concern should surface as to whether the application of traditional structured finance techniques to carbon credits will cause a relapse of the current financial crisis. …


This paper investigates how the latency and energy of register alias tables (RATs) vary as a function of the number of global checkpoints (GCs), processor issue width, and window size. It improves upon previous RAT checkpointing work that ignored the actual latency and energy tradeoffs and focused solely on evaluating performance in terms of instructions per cycle (IPC). This work utilizes measurements from the full-custom checkpointed RAT implementations developed in a commercial 130-nm fabrication technology. Using physical- and architectural-level evaluations together, this paper demonstrates the tradeoffs among the aggressiveness of the RAT checkpointing, performance, and energy. This paper also shows that, as expected, focusing on IPC alone incorrectly predicts performance. The results of this study justify checkpointing techniques that use very few GCs (e.g., four). Additionally, based on full-custom implementations for the checkpointed RATs, this paper presents analytical latency and energy models. These models can be useful in the early stages of architectural exploration where actual physical implementations are unavailable or are hard to develop. For a variety of RAT organizations, our model estimations are within 6.4% and 11.6% of circuit simulation results for latency and energy, respectively. This range of accuracy is acceptable for architectural-level studies.


BACKGROUND
Epidemiological studies and mice models have demonstrated that air pollution containing particulate matter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) exacerbates acute episodes of asthma in both children and adults.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of continuous PM2.5 treatment on asthma regulation mechanism behind this effect.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
In this study, the effects of continuous exposure to PM2.5 on asthma and eosinophil recruitment was compared to the effect of a single pre-ovalbumin (OVA)-sensitization exposure to PM2.5. Wild-type mice were either challenged once with PM2.5 + OVA before sensitization and asthma induction over a 27-day period, or with 5 times of PM2.5 + OVA treatment and sensitization/asthma induction over the same period.

RESULTS
Continuous exposure to PM2.5 significantly increased total plasma immunoglobulin E (IgE), bronchial alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cell numbers, eosinophils, and macrophages, leading to increased lung injury. This effect was regulated through increased production of chemokines and cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), IL-12, IL-5, IL-13, and prostaglandin D2 (PGD2). Eosinophil recruitment during continuous PM2.5 treatment was regulated through phosphorylation of the JAK/STAT6 pathway. As this study shows, continuous PM2.5 treatment significantly worsens asthma as compared to single exposure to PM2.5 or OVA exposure alone.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings reveal that continuous exposure of PM2.5 exacerbates OVA-induced asthma in mouse lung through JAK-STAT6 signaling pathway.


Introduction Fever in early infancy is a common problem for which management can be challenging. All residents need to be able to recognize critical illness such as meningitis in febrile infants and manage complications such as seizures. Many new residents are not competent performing bedside procedures as there is little opportunity to perform them while in medical school. This simulation case revolves around fever and subsequent seizures in an infant. Designed to last 2 hours, the case is specific for subinterns but is relevant for clerkship students and interns in pediatrics, family medicine, and emergency medicine. Methods In this case, a 5-week-old infant presents with fever and lethargy. He develops seizures with respiratory depression requiring antiseizure medication and respiratory support. His final diagnosis is bacterial meningitis. Major equipment required includes an infant mannequin and an infant lumbar puncture task trainer. Results A pilot study was conducted in 2015 with all subinterns on the pediatric service. Students' perceived competence in diagnosis/management, procedural skills, and managing complex pediatric cases rose sharply after completing the session. Critical actions include obtaining IV access, performing blood and urine cultures, considering lumbar puncture, recognizing respiratory depression, performing bag and mask ventilation, administering antiseizure medication, counseling parents, and starting appropriate anti-infective therapy. Discussion This clinical simulation case allows students to demonstrate clinical reasoning skills, procedural skills such as performing a lumbar puncture and bag-mask ventilation, and management skills. Materials are provided for students to perform self-assessments of perceived competency in procedural, diagnosis, and management skills related to the case.


Suprathermal electron depletions are structures of the nightside ionosphere of Mars resulting from an equilibrium between electron loss and creation processes. Photoionization of oxygen and carbon dioxide by UV and EUV photons is the main ionization process of the Martian atmosphere. The observation of suprathermal electron depletions is strongly unexpected in the portion of the Martian environment where photoionization can occur. This region is delimited by the UltraViolet (UV) terminator, behind which no UV ionizing photons are detected. In this study suprathermal electron depletions are used to determine the position of the UV terminator thanks to MAVEN observations. The MAVEN spacecraft is now in its fourth year of data recording and has already covered more than one Martian year, a large range of latitude, local time, and solar zenith angle in the nightside down to 110‐km altitude. This coverage enables us to determine the approximate position of the UV terminator over one Martian year. We then investigate the variation of its position on the dawnside and duskside and depending on seasons. Our results are compared with models of the Martian atmosphere and in situ data of the atmospheric composition which all highlight an asymmetry between the duskside and the dawnside at equinox. However, models show an inversion in the position of the dusk and the dawn UV terminator at perihelion and aphelion, which cannot yet be confirmed or disproved by the data.


The initial level of PL-beta-ED-ir was significantly lowered in a group of 14 patients with gastroduodenal ulcer disease as compared with healthy volunteers (P less than 0.05). Immediately after i.m. administration of 20 mg gastrozepin (G) the PL-beta-ED-ir level increased but not significantly. Given orally over two weeks, G (50 mg/day) led to a more than doubling of the initial level (P less than 0.05). Controls showed no significant changes. A further meaningful change represented the time relationship of PL-beta-ED-ir during 5-hour observation to i.m. administration of 20 mg G before the start and after the end of the 2-week oral therapy. The placebo character of the above findings rules out the absence of any deviations of PL-beta-ED-ir in the diseased and healthy group after i.m. injection of saline. The study deals with the findings in relation to the pathophysiology of ulcer disease, and with a potential interference of G in the interrelation of the cholinergic and endogenous opiate systems.


Field dependence–independence (FDI) is a psychological construct determining an individual's approach of the perception–cognition coupling. In virtual reality (VR) context, several studies suggest that an individual's perceptive style is susceptible to shift toward a more FI mode through down-weighting of conflicting visual cues. The present study proposes to investigate the potential flexible nature of FDI following a virtual immersion and to assess if this flexibility might be associated with the subjective experience of VR. 86 participants explored a real-world–like virtual environment for approximately 10 min. FDI levels were measured before and after the VR exposure using the rod-and-frame test. Their subjective experience of VR was measured a posteriori (cybersickness and sense of presence) and used in order to build two experimental groups via a cluster analysis. The results showed that only participants with a poor subjective experience of VR (i.e., a low level of sense of presence associated with a high level of cybersickness) significantly shifted to a more FI mode, which is discussed as a sensory re-weighting mechanism. Pragmatical applications are discussed, and future studies are outlined, based on the conclusion that FDI might be more flexible than we thought, which could shed light on the psychophysiology of VR.


In this letter, we report the results on transport Jc of solenoid coils of up to 100 turns fabricated with Cu-sheathed MgB2 wires using a wind-reaction in situ technique. Despite the low density of the single core and some reaction between the Mg and Cu sheaths, our results demonstrate that the decrease in transport Jc with increasing length of MgB2 wires is insignificant. Solenoid coils with diameter as small as 10 mm can be readily fabricated using a wind-reaction in situ technique. The Jc of the coils is essentially the same as that of comparable straight wires. A Jc of 133000 A cm−2 and 125000 A cm−2 at 4 K and self-field has been achieved for a small coil wound using Cu-sheathed tape and Cu-sheathed wire, respectively. These results indicate that MgB2 wires have a great potential for large-scale applications.


The densification of cemented carbides during sintering was studied using an existing constitutive model based on powder particle size and material composition. In the present analysis, we study how well the constitutive model can capture the experimental results of a dilatometer test. Three experiments were performed, where the only difference was the transition between the debinding and sintering process. From magnetic measurements, it is concluded that the carbon level in the specimen is affected by changes to the experimental setup. It is shown, using parameter adjustments, that the constitutive model is more suited for a certain experimental setup and carbon level, which is a limitation of the model. In order to capture the mechanical behaviour under different experimental conditions, further constitutive modelling relevant to the carbon level is recommended.


This paper describes the status, challenges and scope for strengthening surveillance of chronic disease risk factors, morbidities and mortality in India. Surveillance experience of four selected States of India namely Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are taken to understand key requirements in relation to financing, infrastructure, human resources and governance. The public health system is grappling with resource constraints but there is room for more efforts to undertake systematic population-based chronic disease surveillance in India. Although there are no immediate policy goals to ensure population-based screening, opportunistic screening of selected chronic diseases is an important strategy under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Diabetes, Cardiovascular diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS).


We have developed an innovative technology for extraction of non-ferrous, rare and precious metals from complex, hard mineral, man-made and recycled materials. Technology is based on the combined use of electrochemical reactions in the amount for one reactor producing the leaching agent, and the reaction metal extraction into solution. The source of sulfur leaching agents in the alkaline solution used sulfur graphite composite electrode. Experimental data on the parameters of metal leaching, from complex raw materials, on the characteristics of solutions (pH, electrical conductivity) was obtained. As was evidenced how these parameters change using sulfur-graphite electrode as an anode and as a cathode. Leaching was performed at the different initial concentration of alkali in solution. The changes in the parameters (pH, conductivity of solutions, etc.) in the leaching of various materials, using sulfur-graphite electrode, was investigated. Application of sulfur-graphite electrode as a cathode and an anode led to the same results of sodium metal formation into solution, results that in this case may be increased by selective extraction of metals in solution.


ABSTRACT This study examines the long- and short-run relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, economic growth, energy consumption, foreign trade, and urbanization based on the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in Malaysia for the period 1980–2008. This study employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) methodology for empirical analysis. The results obtained suggest the existence of three forms of long-run relationships among variables when CO2 emissions, foreign trade, and urbanization are the dependent variables. The long-run results support the EKC hypothesis, which assumes an inverted U-shaped relationship between income and environmental degradation. Moreover, both energy consumption and urbanization are found to have positive effects on CO2 emissions in the long run, while trade has a negative effect on CO2 emissions in both short and long runs. The stability of the variables in the estimated model is also examined. Results suggest that the estimated model is stable over the study period.


Purpose: Obesity increases the development of cardiovascular risk factors: hypertonia, diabetes mellitus, endothel dysfunction. Our aim was to follow the response pattern of plasma adipokine and ghrelin levels to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in patients with (on-pump) and without (off-pump) cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Methods: 16 consecutive patients (age: 62±10 years, male: 10) with coronary artery disease (CAD) who underwent elective CABG surgery with CPB and intraoperative GIK infusion were selected for on-pump group and 19 CAD patients (age: 63±10 years, male: 16) were included in the off-pump group. Intraoperative samples were withdrawn simultaneously for peripheral vein (P) and coronary sinus (CS). Plasma adipokine concentrations were measured by ELISA, those of ghrelin by RIA kits. Blood samples were taken before, during and after surgery.

Results: In patients operated on-pump the surgical intervention resulted an early reduction in plasma levels of adiponectin (p<0.001) and resistin (p=0.002) followed by an increase to approach their initial values. Off-pump operation did not cause any changes in plasma resistin and adiponectin. During on-pump surgery the CPB induced a significant increase in the peripheral ghrelin levels (p=0.034), but not in coronary sinus (p=0.077). Ghrelin level remained mostly unaffected by off-pump surgery (p=0.267). In patients operated on-pump no discernible difference could be detected in plasma leptin levels between peripheral vein and coronary sinus (p=0.835).

Conclusions: Epicardial adipose tissue is unlikely to have major contribution to the development of CAD as adipokines are not elevated in the coronary sinus independent of the mode of intervention.


Endoscopic examination of the uterine scar site was performed on 52 women prior to a trial of labor after a previous cesarean section. A sterilized intraoperative fiberscope was introduced into the amniotic cavity after rupture of the fetal membranes under constant visual guidance. In 45 cases the site of the previous incision appeared unremarkable, and a scar from the previous surgery could not be identified. "Compromised" scars were detected in three patients, and scars were identified as vertical in four patients with no record of the type of uterine incision used for the previous surgery. Endoscopic data were confirmed postpartum in all cases. This approach seems beneficial in selected cases.


IEEE 802.11 MAC does not use RTS/CTS exchange in multicast/broadcast mode. This may cause throughput loss and packet collision by hidden terminals. We propose a new cross-layer ad hoc multicast protocol, named MIMO-CAST, to improve efficiency of IEEE 802.11 MAC. MIMO-CAST builds a multicast tree on-demand by using control packets exchange. To reduce duplicated transmissions, MIMO-CAST employs Multi Point Relay with which only designated nodes forward packets and all nodes in the network hear those packets. It also exploits Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) by giving different weights to its multiple antennas so that a node can receive from one neighbor while blocking the interference from other nodes. We investigate the performance improvement of MIMO-CAST through a simulation study


The near field ground motions have a high amplitude pulse like at the beginning of the seismogram which are significantly influenced by the rupture mechanism and direction of rupture propagation. This type of ground motion cause higher demands for engineering structures and its response spectrum is dramatically different than far field spectra. Tabriz is one of the ancient cities in Azerbaijan province with many industrial factories, financial centers and historical monuments in North-West of Iran. In this region, North Tabriz Fault which has a well known history of intense seismic activity is passing through in close distance of urban area. In this regard investigation of near field ground motion effect on current practice seismic design spectrum in this region is necessary. Hence, probabilistic seismic hazard analysis is carried out using appropriate attenuation relationship to consider near field effect. The peak ground acceleration (PGA) and several spectral accelerations (SA) over bedrock are estimated for different return periods and maps of iso acceleration contour lines are provided to indicate the earthquake hazard in different points of Tabriz city. Afterward, the generated horizontal equal-hazard spectrums considering near field effect are compared with different spectrums developed based on simple pulse model for near field motion. Both types spectrum are used for verifying current practice seismic design spectrum of Iranian code (2005) and International Building Code (IBC 2000). The results reveal the longperiod structures which are seismically designed based on current practice seismic codes are in high risk of being damaged by attenuation relationships during near fault ground motion.


Young adults are an age group that has been the target of multiple education campaigns regarding the harms of cigarette smoke exposure. Although smoking rates of conventional cigarettes have declined in the US, continued usage is noted among a select subset of the population aged 18 –30 years. This group either serves as current or soon-to-be future caretakers of young children who will likely spend a significant amount of time exposed to their cigarette byproducts. Understanding their current knowledge base of the dangers of secondhand smoke and the means to address these risks are of major importance for the welfare of young children. We had utilized a brief and limited sample size survey to explore the utility of using an online task marketplace on Amazon.com® to assess secondhand smoking beliefs and financial incentives among young adults. The pilot study had a particular focus on the perception and means to minimize smoke exposure among children residing with young adults serving as their primary caretaker or fellow home residents.


Research highlights: Water transport and CO2 diffusion are two important processes that determine the CO2 assimilation efficiency in leaves. The integration of leaf economic and hydraulic traits will help to present a more comprehensive view of the succession of woody plants in arid regions. However, studies on hydraulic traits of plants from different successional stages are still rare compared to that on economic traits in arid regions. Materials and methods: We selected 31 species from shrub stage, pioneer tree stage and late successional stage on the Loess Plateau, and measured five economic traits and five hydraulic traits of these species. Results: We found species from the pioneer tree stage exhibited "fast-growing" characteristics with high maximum net photosynthesis rate (Pmax) and vein density (VD). Species from the late successional stage exhibited "slow-growing" characteristics with low Pmax and VD. Economic traits showed no significant differences among the three stages except for Pmax. Hydraulic traits, such as VD, leaf area to sapwood area ratio and vessel frequency, exhibited significant differences among different stages. Conclusions: Hydraulics may play an important role in the succession of woody plants in arid regions. Hydraulic traits and Pmax, should be combined to investigate succession of woody plants in future studies. The "fast-growing" characteristics of pioneer trees and "slow-growing" characteristics of late successional trees may induce the succession of woody plants.


Recent applications have shown that proteomics can provide crucial new information regarding cellular signaling processes. Bottom-up and small-scale top-down proteomics approaches related to routine biochemical methods have become widely applied to identify new aspects of established signaling pathways. Top-down, global proteomics methods are developing rapidly and are beginning to deliver information on global integration of signaling processes that has been difficult to obtain with conventional approaches.


In healthcare systems in high-income countries, critical incidents are increasingly seen as an important indicator of the quality of care. Based on the rationale that there are important lessons to be learnt from mistakes and that insights into critical incidents will help to prevent them from happening again, there is a widespread assumption that conducting inquiries will contribute to improvements in patient safety. In this article, we draw on data from a qualitative comparative case study of three critical incidents in Dutch hospitals in the last decade to examine the ways in which critical incidents are investigated. Through a detailed analysis of the inquiry documentation, we identified four key elements in the inquiry process: how risks were framed and perceived, the type of methods the inquiries used to examine critical incidents, the ways in which inquiries allocated blame and the ways in which they sought to maintain transparency. Drawing on Schön and Rein's work on framing theory, in this article we examined how the key participants in the inquiries framed issues so that they could undertake their work. We found that inquiries are complex processes in which inquiry teams can and do use different frames for deciding who should be involved in the inquiry, what should be discussed, how this should be done and to whom findings of the inquiry should be disclosed. We found that inquiries used professional, managerial or governance frames and sometimes elements of two or more frames coexisted. Within these frames, risk was framed in different ways, leading to different types of actions, involving different groups of actors.


We propose using high-resolution stimulated Raman spectroscopy to directly measure high-speed molecular flow velocities in wind tunnels and in combustive chambers. Our feasibility study indicates that flow speeds from Mach 0.04 up may be measured with the proposed method using available laser systems. It is pointed out that the success of the proposed technique will make possible the potential of measuring all interesting flow parameters, i.e., species concentration, temperature, and velocity, in a time of less than 1 μs at a repetition rate of 104/s using a single experimental arrangement.


in several cases of comminuted fracture of the body of the bone, drilling the bone through the mouth or through a wound which already existed. 1Ir. Bickersteth of Liverpool (AMe(dicoClzirzrgical Transactions, vol. xlvii) has suggested and practised a method of securing the fractured ends of this and other bones by means of a drill, and has given a most interesting account of several cases in which it was successfully adopted. The employment of special external incisions, as in the case related, has rarely if ever been practised in connection wvith recent fractures of the lower jaw. The objection to them is the resulting external cicatrix or cicatrices which, although not of so much consequence in the male, as the whiskers will usually completely cover them, must cause somiie deformity in the female. For this reason, I would only advocate an external incision or incisions in cases which cannot be successfully treated by other means. In the removal of the tongue, or portions of it, and in some cases of tumour of the jaw, I always now bring the ends of the divided jaw together by means of the wire suture; and my experience of this method is, that it is safe, efficient, and easy of application. Since writing this, Mr. Mason of St. Thomas's Hospital has been kind enough to direct my attention to the ingenious method of employing the wire suture in bringing the end of bones together, practised by him (AfMedico-Chirzer-ical Tratsactio,zs, vol. liv). His method allows the wire to be easily removed at any time, and is, therefore, to be preferred to that which has usually been employed, should the case admit of the needle being passed in an oblique direction through both ends of the bone.


The essential guide to all contract law, a publication that combines in-depth discussion of the substantive law usually applicable to wide ranges of commercial transactions, whatever their status, and deals in detail with the drafting implications thereof, as well as includes numerous illustrative forms. Commercial Contracts from Aspen Publishers addresses a wide range of topics, including the expectations of parties to commercial transactions generally, the considerations applicable to different types of transactions and U.S. interpretations thereof. In addition, this publication is designed to provide practical and sophisticated negotiating and drafting advice both to new and experienced attorneys who have mastered their topics. Commercial Contracts presents insights and guidance from contract specialists, all experts in their fields. These noted authorities examine the growing influence of New York Law on multi-jurisdictional transactions, discuss the general expectations of parties to commercial transactions, and identify critical issues that drafters need to consider when handling different types of agreements, from joint ventures and strategic alliances, and many others. No other single reference covers as broad a range of corporate and commercial law issues, international and other cross-border ventures, and legal opinion practices.


Dynamic AdS/QCD is a bottom-up model inspired from top-down, probe-brane extensions to the renowned AdS/CFT correspondence. The AdS/CFT correspondence states that there is an equivalence in the physics describing an N = 4 super-Yang-Mills gauge theory and that pertaining to a type IIB superstring theory on an AdS5S5 background. Moreover, the duality between the two theories in a particular limit requires that the gauge theory be strongly coupled when the superstring theory is weakly coupled. From this, we have a tool for studying strongly coupled gauge theories in a physically equivalent gravitational description. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence as a springboard, relationships between more complex superstring constructions on varying backgrounds have been studied to push the dual gauge theory to be more like those of QCD. In this thesis, we use one such bottom-up model, Dynamic AdS/QCD, to probe the behaviours of strongly coupled, asymptotically free gauge theories, including QCD.We show that the model correctly describes the hyperscaling relations of quark masses and the condensate, the behaviours expected of the scalar, vector and axial meson spectra in theories with infrared fixed points and how the condensate is affected by temperature and magnetic field in such theories. We finally go on to show that it is possible to describe QCD-like theories with a Lorentz-symmetry breaking vacuum, e.g. a striped condensate, and follow up with the cosmological ramifications of such a proposal and conclude that outside of a totally disconnected dark sector, this behaviour is highly constrained.


Performance of weaner rabbits fed graded levels of sweet potato peel meal in place of maize-based diet was investigated. 24 weaner rabbits aged between 5-7 weeks and of equal live weight were randomly allocated to 4 dietary treatments. Each treatment having 3 replicates of 2 rabbits per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). Diet 1 was maize based, which served as control and the test feedstuff (sweet potato peels) quantitatively replaced 5 (11.11%) 10 (22.22%) and 15 (33.33%) of maize meal in diets 2, 3 and 4 respectively. Each diet was offered ad libitum for a period of 56 days. The proximate composition of the test ingredient is as follows: Dry matter 89.74%, Crude protein 6.34%, Ether extract 1.37% C.F 0.36%, Ash 4.58%, NFE 87.42 and Gross energy 3.214. The anti nutritional factors of the test ingredient are as follows: Saponin 0.67%, Oxalate 1.08%, Tannin 0.22% phytate 0.74% and Trypsin inhibitor 0.00. There was significant (P<0.05) difference for growth parameters considered among the diets. Diet 2 had the highest weight gain of 10.4267 as against 8.8367, 9.5300 and 8.2700 for diets 1, 3 and 4 respectively, and the least feed conversion ratio of 7.4733 as opposed to 8.8100, 9.0467 and 10.9867 for diets 1, 3 and 4 respectively. There were significant (P<0.05) differences for the values obtained for cut parts. The result favoured diets 1 and 2 when compared to others. However, diet 2 had the highest values for the prime parts (thigh, drumstick, shoulder, breast cut and back cut). The values of the organs showed significant (P<0.05) difference with the exception of lung and spleen. For haematological and serum chemistry (Hb, PCV, RBC, WBC, lymphocytes, neutrophil, eosine, MCV, MCHC, MCH, creatinine and alkaline phosphates), values obtained fall within the normal range of haematological and biochemical indices for rabbits. For gross margin, diet 2 had the highest value (N227.4600) when compared with the control diet (N147.5800), diet 3 (N178.4500) and diet 4 (N174.1000) making diet 2 a choice diet. Judging from growth performance, carcass characteristics, organ weights, haematological and biochemical values and economics of the diets, diet 2 is recommended.


The typha is a plant which mostly grow on wetlands areas of Asia and it belongs to typhaceae family. With the usage in the folk medicine and being nutritive, most of the biochemical and phytochemical aspects are studied in the present study. The sample of typha pollen was purchased from Lahori Mohala of Larkana Sindh, Pakistan, Methanol, Ethanol, Chloroform and aquous extract were used for qualitative analysis whereas metals were detected by Perkin elmer AA Analyst 800 Atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Qualitative analysis showed the presence of phenolic compounds, tannins, saponins, carbohydrates and non-reducing sugars as well as reducing sugars, protein and amino acids whereas absence of alkaloids, flavonoids , glycosides and keto sugars were observed. 32% carbohydrates, 4.27% total protein were quantitatively determined from typha pollen (cattails) plant. Potassium (193mg/kg), Magnesium (933mg/kg), Zinc (38.3 mg/kg), Copper (13.4 mg/kg), Iron (14.3mg/kg) were also detected. Study revealed that active components of Typha pollen is rich source of carbohydrates and proteins and phytochemicals, which are basic need of human body, and biochemical analysis results indicates that it can be used as a food source. Present work also enhance the awareness about the Typha Pollens medicinal and nutritional value which enoromously meet with human needs.


A new atom interferometer works at less extreme temperatures and with lighter atoms than previous designs, opening up a new route to precision measurements of fundamental constants.


Study of the deep subcritical systems (QUINTA) using relativistic beams is performed within the project "Energy and Transmutation of Radioactive Wastes" (E&T – RAW). The experiment assembly was irradiated by deuteron/proton beam (Dubna NUCLOTRON). We calculated the neutron energy spectrum inside the whole assembly by using threshold energy (n,xn) reactions in yttrium (Y-89) foils. There are almost no experimental cross section data for those reactions. New Y-89(n,xn) cross section measurements were carried out at The Svedberg laboratory (TSL) in Uppsala, Sweden in 2015. In this paper we present preliminary results of those experiments.


Can legal institutions maintain impartiality in the face of violent ethnic conflict? Can a steep decline in the intensity of violence help restore impartiality to ethnically-biased courts? How persistent are the effects of violence? Given the ubiquity of ethnic conflicts in the past half century, understanding the institutional and cultural legacies of conflict seems vital. This paper studies ethnic bias in the legal system using decisions made by Arab and Jewish judges in Israeli courts. Data on conflict-related fatalities allow us to relate the extent of the bias to the court's and the judge's history of exposure to ethnic violence. In Shayo and Zussman (2011) we found that during the conflict of 2000-2004 (the Second Palestinian Intifada) judges exhibited a significant degree of ethnic ingroup bias which was strongly associated with the recent intensity of violence around the court. The current paper asks whether the fall in violence in subsequent years (20072010) was accompanied by attenuation in ethnic bias. We find no evidence of such attenuation at the country level. Judicial bias remains positively associated with past exposure to violence, but the association weakens over time and courts seem to converge towards a relatively high level of bias. To the extent that we see a persistent local effect of exposure to violence, it operates at the institutional (court) level rather than at the individual (judge) level.


Serious Games (SGs) are becoming popular worldwide to educate, train and inform other than entertainment but the absence of SGs is clearly noticeable in Bangladesh region. Although there exist a few educational games in Bangladesh, those are not SGs by their characteristics. SGs are applicable in many sectors such as healthcare, security, education, politics, and marketing. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of SGs combined with Learning Analytics (LA) in the product marketing domain. LA is a system for measuring, collecting, analyzing and reporting data about players. Players engage with SGs for entertainment, create raw data and our objective is to collect those data, represent those in a meaningful way to reduce typical marketing cost and time with the help of LA technique. We also present a case study which uses LA techniques with a SG to show how users' data can be used in product marketing for a consumer product in Bangladesh.


The change in community pharmacists' practice from compounding and effectively unregulated medicines supply through to the highly regulated and largely automated high-volume dispensing process of today has been challenging. The economic and social standing of community pharmacy was transformed creating a need for further adaptation. This thesis explores 'how business and professional practice models for community pharmacy in England in ten to twenty years are likely to be structured?'. It has six sections, plus an overarching discussion. A work sampling study of ten community pharmacies found that pharmacists continue to spend two-thirds of their time on dispensing related activities, compared to one tenth on counselling. The accompanying analysis links this to an increase in prescription volumes and payments that have incentivised pharmacy contractors to focus on medicines supply. A significant decrease in the average prescription duration for eight chronic disease medications over the past decade is revealed, and its desirability questioned. Using the Kingdon model of the policy process as an evaluative framework, 16 interviews with 'policy leaders' provided insight into how seven factors (identified from a structured thematic review of the implementation of Medicines Use Reviews) have influenced the implementation of the New Medicines Service. In addition, role theory-based thematic analysis involving 17 stakeholders in pharmacy policy highlighted the tensions between community pharmacists' roles as shopkeepers, clinicians and businessmen, and the effects that new technologies will have on them. The analysis identifies a need for pharmacy to embrace a new strategic direction that enhances pharmacy's contributions to health outcomes. In conclusion, community pharmacy in England should offer timelier and economically efficient ways of solving contemporary health problems. The evidence presented here suggests that without stronger internal leadership and robust external stakeholder support medicines supply will split from the provision of clinical pharmacy in the community setting, leaving community pharmacies as 'commodity cost', low return medicines suppliers.


Drugs and Youth relates the proceedings of the 1968 Rutgers Symposiwn on Drug Abuse and as such it is one of a series. Part One presents an overview and tends to expand beyond the sociological, medical and pharmacological into the moral and legal spheres. Part Two, "Morphine, Heroin and Cocaine", includes historical, economic, medical, social, control, and the treatment perspectives of these drugs plus LSD, cannabis and amphetamines; it is highly informative and remarkably up-to-date. Part Three, "Amphetamine Type and Barbiturate Tranquillizer Type Drugs", is informational in nature, with the overlay of attitudinal comments common to the subject area of non-medical drug use. Part Four discusses marijuana and LSD. As might be expected, each author becomes an instant legislator and sociologist. The content varies from generally factual to largely anecdotal opinion. Part Five examines "Drug Abuse and the Law." Although the references are to United States legislation, much of the philosophical and legal discussion implicitly relates to the situation in Canada. The final section reviews the Conference and presents cogent discussion of the multiplicity of issues involved in the 'drug problem' and the 'drug problem problem'. Overall, Drugs and Youth is up-to-date and relevant to the problems facing psychiatrists interested in the field of nonmedical drug use. The viewpoints may be largely described as conservative, with some balancing by reactionary and liberal elements. The radical is omitted. As is common, the medical and pharmacological professions lean toward the conservative side, with lawyers, sociologists and psychologists being more liberal. In general, this book is very informative and will be of interest to those with a specific orientation in the direction of drugs and youth; for others it will be a useful reference work. The endless repetition is probably unavoidable as fiftythree authors present fourty-seven papers on overlapping topics. The emerging emphasis of the Conference is summed up by J. R. Wittenborn: "Men qualified to speak with high authority . . . repeatedly point to questions concerning characteristics of the users of drugs. Similarly, [they} appeared to see these relevant characteristics as expressions of society. . . . this continuing reference [was to} the individual in his society, an orientation which was often expressly explicit and almost always implicit ..." LionelP. Solursh, M.D., Toronto, Ontario


Abstract : Breast cancer screening is currently the most reasonable strategy for reducing the impact of breast cancer on women. However, increased perceived risk and psychological distress have been associated with lower screening rates. The specific aims for this study were to: (1) assess the psychological distress of women ages 50 to 85 who receive breast cancer risk appraisal and randomization to immediate or delayed group psychosocial counseling; (2) assess their breast cancer screening behaviors over 2 years from the time of enrollment; (3) evaluate the degree of association between perceived and estimated risk of breast cancer; (4) describe short-term psychological reactions to breast cancer risk appraisal; and (5) describe their sense of coherence, coping style, other health-related behaviors, social support, and perceived quality of life. This study was conducted to provide important information about women's reactions to breast cancer risk appraisal and ways to enhance positive health behaviors. A total of 343 women participated in the study (mean age, 62 years). Each participant completed a breast cancer risk assessment form and received an estimate of their risk. Participants were randomized to either an immediate or delayed psychosocial counseling intervention on breast health. Results of the intervention showed largely non-significant changes in psychological distress and breast cancer screening behaviors (p>O.05). Further analyses will be conducted to provide more detail about these unexpected findings.


Abstract We focus on modelling categorical features and improving predictive power of neural networks with mixed categorical and numerical features in supervised learning tasks. The goal of this paper is to challenge the current dominant approach in actuarial data science with a new architecture of a neural network and a new training algorithm. The key proposal is to use a joint embedding for all categorical features, instead of separate entity embeddings, to determine the numerical representation of the categorical features which is fed, together with all other numerical features, into hidden layers of a neural network with a target response. In addition, we postulate that we should initialize the numerical representation of the categorical features and other parameters of the hidden layers of the neural network with parameters trained with (denoising) autoencoders in unsupervised learning tasks, instead of using random initialization of parameters. Since autoencoders for categorical data play an important role in this research, they are investigated in more depth in the paper. We illustrate our ideas with experiments on a real data set with claim numbers, and we demonstrate that we can achieve a higher predictive power of the network.


1. Introductory Remarks Andreas Pyka and Hans-Peter Burghof 2. Financial Bubbles, Crises, and the Role of Government in Unleashing Golden AgesCarlota Perez 3. Innovation, Financial Activities and the Future of the EU Pier Paolo Saviotti 4. Innovation and Economic Performance (Industrial and Financial): Recent Results and Questions for Future Research Pelin Demirel and Mariana Mazzucato 5. An Essay on the Emergence, Organization and Performance of Financial Markets: the case of the Alternative Investment Market Valerie Revest and Sandro Sapio 6. Financing Instruments to Combat the Crisis Ryszard Wilczyski 7. Automotive Dynamics in the Stockholm and Southern German Regional Economies - A Comparison Gunnar Eliasson 8. Innovation Policy, Innovation and Innovation Finance Co-Evolution: The Israeli Case and Some Implications Morris Teubal 9. Venture Capital in Canada Jorge Niosi


Most companies nowadays use digital platforms to host conferences, job interviews, and other business events. The unexpected increase in the need for internet platforms has resulted in a rapid rise of fraud advertising. The agencies as well as fraudsters recruit the job seekers using a variety of techniques, including sources from online job-providing websites. By applying Machine Learning algorithms, researchers aim to decrease the number of such fraudulent and fake attempts. In this article, classifiers such as K-Nearest Neighbour, Support Vector Machine, and Extreme Gradient Boosting algorithms are implemented for fake advertisement prediction. The performances of the machine learning algorithms are evaluated using metrics such as accuracy, F1 measures, precision and recall.


Resin composites with antibacterial activity may be useful to decrease the frequency of secondary caries around restorations. The purposes of this study were to investigate the antibacterial activity of light-activated resin composites incorporating one of three silver-containing materials and to evaluate their long-term inhibitory effect against Streptococcus mutans The three types of silver-containing materials, Novaron (N), Amenitop (AM), and AIS, were incorporated into TEGDMA-UDMA-based light-activated resin composites, and the antibacterial activities, mechanical properties and release of silver ions were examined. Minimum inhibitory concentrations in suspensions of N, AM, and AIS against S. mutans were 1.1, 1.2, and 23.0 mg/ml, respectively. Resin composites incorporating 5 wt% of Novaron (N-5) and 7 wt% of Amenitop (AM-7) inhibited the growth of S. mutans after immersion in water for 3 months, whereas the resin composite incorporating 10 wt% of AIS did not. No significant difference in either compressive or flexural strength was observed between the control and N-5 composites after 1 d and 3 months storage in water. However, for AM-5 composite, there was a significant difference in both strength parameters between the two immersion periods. There was no or extremely little release of silver ions from the N-5 and AM-5 composites after 1 d or 3 months immersion in water. These results indicated that a light-activated resin composite incorporating silver-containing materials such as Novaron may be clinically useful due to its long-term inhibitory effect against S. mutans and favorable mechanical properties.


Brand Image is a compilation of assumptions in the minds of consumers regarding a brand. Building a brand image in a good educational institution has a competitive influence. Brand Image in an educational institution is one of the important steps in fulfilling the maximum reputation in the minds of the wider community.The research objectives are: 1) To find out the efforts made by the strategy to form a brand image in increasing the competitiveness of educational institutions at Tanjungsari State Agricultural Development Vocational School; 2) To find out how to maintain the existence of the brand image of agricultural education institutions; 3) To find out what are the supporters and obstacles to building a brand image in increasing the competitiveness of educational institutions at Tanjungsari State Agricultural Development Vocational School. This research uses a qualitative approach with a case study research design. This research uses data collection methods, namely Field Observations and Intensive-depth Interview. The technique of analyzing data is data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. To check the validity of the data, triangulation of sources is carried out and discussions with supervisors and colleagues are carried out. The results of the study focused on SMK PPN Tanjungsari in a strategy to build a brand image to increase the competitiveness of educational institutions in surgery with the theory of brand identity, brand personality, brand association , brand attitude & behavior, and brand benefit & competence.
Keywords: brand image, competitiveness, educational institutions, strategy


The regeneration protocol for rice plants from callus culture obtained from dehusked and sterilized whole rice seeds (caryopses) of a popular Nigerian local cultivar Suakoko 8, and a NERICA cultivar FARO 55 is described. Utilizing a modified Nippon Barre medium (NBm) consisting of: Macro N6, Micro B5, Fe-EDTA, B5 vitamin and 30 mg/l of locally produced St Louis® sugar (to save cost) supplemented with casein hydrolysate and proline, and with cytokinin and auxin hormones (ratio 1:10), profuse and friable calli were obtained at 25oC in the darkness. The friable calli produced were transferred to fresh medium once every week for three weeks before transferring them to pre-regeneration medium containing ABA and NAA (replacing 2-4,D in the callus induction medium), and incubated for 9 days in the darkness at 25oC.  Finally the creamy calli were transferred into regeneration medium containing high cytokinin (3 mg l–1 BAP) with incubation at 28oC and 12 h – photoperiod. Regeneration of plantlets was obtained between two to four weeks of transfer on the regeneration medium. The regeneration frequency (efficiency) of 53 and 42% were obtained for Suakoko 8 and FARO 55. Regenerated plants also produced viable seeds and hence fertile plants.

 Key words: Embryogenic calli, regeneration, Suakoko 8, FARO 55, new rice for Africa (NERICA), Oryza sativa, Oryza glaberrima.


Five sedimentary basins formed along the Iranian margin of the southern Tethys Ocean during its evolution. These basins record the opening and closing of the ocean basin and the collision of what is now Arabia and Iran. The late Paleozoic–Jurassic Isfahan basin opened by continental rifting that began in the Devonian, and contains an early (late Paleozoic–Triassic), passive-margin sequence and a later clastic-wedge phase. The Early Cretaceous Sanandaj basin is a forearc overlying the tectonized and subsided Isfahan basin. The latest Cretaceous–Paleocene Kermanshah basin is a remnant of the Tethys Ocean basin. It initially lay along tectonic strike from the lengthening Arabian-Iranian collision orogen to the southeast but was later incorporated into the orogenic foldbelt. The late Cenozoic Zagros basin is a suture (foreland) basin that formed on the Arabian plate as it attempted subduction beneath Iran. The Paleogene tectonic setting of the Kashan-Gavkhuni basin is in doubt, but, by mid-Tertiary time, it was a foreland basin that lay landward of the collisional foldbelt and was nearly surrounded by other orogenic highlands that formed during convergence of other plates within and marginal to Iran.


ABSTRACT The High Andean peatlands are peat-accumulating wetlands dominated by cushion-forming plants and are embedded in a matrix of puna grasslands above 4,000 m. These ecosystems are an essential source of water and evergreen vegetation for wild and domestic animals and are considered sensitive to environmental alterations. We studied the birds' habitat and microhabitat preference in peatlands and their surrounding grasslands in the Cordillera Real, Bolivia. We established 3 parallel transects around 12 peatlands: (1) in peatland, (2) at 100–200 m from the peatland edge, considered as the transition habitat between peatlands and grasslands, and (3) in puna grasslands at >500 m from the peatland edge. We quantified bird abundance, species richness, and the availability of 8 microhabitats along 36 transects. We recorded 934 individuals of 34 species and found higher bird species richness and abundance in peatlands than in surrounding grasslands and transition habitats. We found that 26% of bird species were exclusive to peatlands. While most bird species common in peatlands were almost nonexistent in other habitats, most species associated with grasslands were also found in proximity to peatlands. A canonical correspondence analysis showed that bird species were associated with one or more microhabitats. The high abundance, bird species richness, and diet types in peatlands is probably related to the high primary productivity of peatlands and year-round availability of water. Degradation of these peatlands may reduce the abundance of regional bird communities, not only peatland specialists but also species in surrounding habitats.


Objective To evaluate the left ventricular function in hypertensive patients by Doppler echocardiography.Methods Fifty hypertension patients and thirty normal subjects underwent Doppler echocardiography to find out the following items: left atrial diameter(LAD),diastolic interventricular septal thickness(IVST),left ventricular posterior wall thickness(PWT),mitral valve anterior leaf EF slope(MV-EF),moving amplitude of interventricular septal and left ventricular posterior wall,left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF),left ventricular fractional shortening(FS),stroke volume(SV),early filling velocity of the E wave(VE),peak A wave velocity(VA),mitral valve peak flow velocity E/A ratio and isovolumic relaxation time(IVRT).Results The parameters of left ventricular structure(LAD、IVST、PWT) were significantly higher in hypertensive patients than those in normal subjects(P 0.01).Left ventricular systolic functions(EF,FS and(SV) were significantly higher in hypertensive patients1than those in normal subjects(P0.05).The left ventricular diastolic function of hypertensive patients became abnormal,and the variability was clear compared with normal subjects(P0.01).Conclusions Doppler echocardiography can indicate the left ventricular structural and functional changes of hypertensive patients and provide objective data to clinical diagnosis and treatment.


The tautomycetin (TTN) biosynthetic gene cluster has been recently cloned and sequenced from Streptomyces griseochromogenes, unveiling four genes, ttnCDFI, as candidates to encode the tailoring steps for TTN biosynthesis. It is reported that (i) TtnC plays no essential role in TTN biosynthesis, (ii) TtnI catalyzes C-5 oxidation, and (iii) combining the previous findings with TtnFD, the tailoring steps from TTN F-1 to TTN take place in the order of TtnF-catalyzed C-1"/C-2" dehydration, TtnD-catalyzed C-3" decarboxylation, and TtnI-catalyzed C-5 oxidation.


A composite film of tantalum carbide (TaC)-graphite was synthesized on etched Si using thermal evaporation of Ta followed by C/H chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In the present study, Ta wire 0.5 mm in diameter was electrically heated without carburizing. Under high current conditions, filaments were thermally evaporated and interacted with chemically decomposed C, forming a composite film of TaC-graphite deposits on the substrates. The influence of chamber pressure, substrate temperature, and methane concentration on the film properties has been studied. By increasing chamber pressure from 25 to 100 torr in a gas mixture of H and methane (containing 3 % methane), the morphology of films changed with an increased growth rate and surface roughness. Increasing the methane concentration in the mixture resulted in broadening of X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks, increase in film thickness, and coarsening of grains, along with formation of clusters. The growth rates of the films produced at a substrate temperature of 950 °C were lower than those deposited at 850 °C. Their grain sizes were bigger and exhibited a dense structure with higher surface roughness.


Trajectory time distribution optical microscopy (TTDOM), which records the mean off-times of single molecular fluorescent indicators that light up when they collide with vesicles, is extended to record fluorescence durations or on-times. TTDOM can distinguish shapes of objects that are smaller than the diffraction limited resolution. The fluorescence duration time image can also provide high-resolution information. The effects of the threshold that separates fluorescent bursts from background signals and of two or more probes visiting the vesicles simultaneously have been investigated systematically. New experimental results along with simulations indicate that TTDOM is capable of providing the size and shape of objects and information on probe-vesicle binding.


The stock market is an indicator of investor sentiment when it comes to new information or innovative firm-level products. Green bonds are both innovative and unique in terms of their higher information disclosures and understanding the impact of sustainable finance on investor outlook for a company's stock. Using the comparative case of Mainland China and Hong Kong's stock market, we examine whether green bond announcements from 2016 to 2019 can create significant investor reactions. By employing the event study methodology, we confirm that both markets react in a positive way toward green bond announcements. This reinforces the reputational and financial benefits of green bonds. We find that issuers that are non-banks, environmentally friendly firms as well as those issuing non-general bonds, create a more positive reaction, whereas ownership aspects do not matter as much for investors. However, even among those issuers listed in both markets, certain institutional dynamics like strategic framing and source credibility tend to reinforce a firm's institutional legitimacy and are seen as being more prominent for investor reaction. The policy implications of our study show that the stock market reaction among two connected economies, where previously varying institutional contexts have resulted in regional differences, are now equally supportive of sustainable financial markets like the green bond. As seen with the positive stock market sentiment, governments and listed issuers can now better align their policies and internal strategies, allowing the low-carbon transition to be a financially attractive opportunity for all investors.


The linear amplification using nonlinear components (LINC) technique is a well-known power amplifier linearization method to reduce adjacent channel interference in a nonconstant envelope modulation system. Its major drawback is the inherent sensitivity to gain and phase imbalances between the two amplifier branches. In this paper, a novel full-digital base band method is described which corrects any gain and phase imbalances in LINC transmitters mainly due to the unmatching of the two amplifier paths. Amplifiers are characterized by a level-dependent complex gain using a memoryless model. The method uses adaptive signal processing techniques to obtain the optimal complex coefficient to adjust gain and phase imbalances. Its main advantage is the ability to track the input signal variations and adapt to the changes of amplifier nonlinear characteristics. Other effects are included in the analysis such as quadrature modulator and demodulator imbalances and loop delay. A computer simulation has been carried out to verify the method functionality.


To validate the particle motion in flighted rotating drum (FRD), a laboratory FRD was built and operated at 15% filling degree and 10 rpm rotation speed using plastic balls as bed material. The particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) and magnetic particle tracking (MPT) techniques were applied to investigate the particle flow behavior. The 3D particle flow was modeled by Discrete Element Method (DEM) with LIGGGHTS. The height of the barycenter of all overall particles and particle instantaneous velocity were calculated from PTV and DEM data. The 3D time-averaged particle velocity distributions obtained from MPT experiment and DEM simulation were compared.Keywords: flighted rotating drum; particle motion; particle tracking velocimetry; magnetic particle tracking; DEM simulation.


13S contribute to regulation of epithelial permeability.56 We asked whether endothelial cell cytoskeletons could contribute to regulation of endothelial permeability and whether this might have any relationship to granulocyte-mediated increases in lung microvascular permeability. To answer these questions, we used 2 models to measure endothelial permeability. Porcine pulmonary artery endothelial cells were grown on micropore filters. On the filters, the cells form a monolayer impermeable to albumin while the filter itself is permeable. The filters with adherent monolayers are mounted in modified chemotaxis chambers and the movement of albumin from the luminal to the subluminal side is measured. To support the relevance of this in vitro system, we also used isolated rabbit lungs perfused with a balanced salt solution. To determine if microfflaments of the endothelial cell cytoskeleton were important in determining vascular permeability, we added the microfilament disrupting agents cytochalasin D (2 x 106M) or cytochalasin B (lx 10-5M) to monolayers of endothelial cells. We observed a 2-fold increase in endothelial permeability that was readily reversed by washing the cytochalasins off the monolayers. Parallel fluorescence and phase contrast microscopy showed disruption of endothelial cell microfilaments and gaps between adjacent cells, both defects reverting to normal within 4 hours. To support the relevance of these findings, we added lx 105M cytochalasin B to perfusates of isolated rabbit lungs and observed that the lungs became edematous within 1.5 hours (lung weight increase 20 x above control and lung lavage albumin concentration/perfusate albumin concentration was 20 x above control). We had recently shown that granulocytes and PMA caused a granulocyte-dependent increase in permeability of endothelial monolayers grown on micropore filters and of isolated perfused lungs. Phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy of endothelial monolayers exposed to granulocytes and PMA showed marked disruptions of the microfilaments with gaps between adjacent endothelial cells. These studies demonstrate that primary alterations in endothelial cell cytoskeletons can alter endothelial permeability and that at least 1 model of granulocyte-mediated edema is associated with marked disruption of endothelial cell cytoskeletons. The endothelial cell cytoskeleton may contribute to regulation of vascular permeability in vivo.


We consider practical methods for adding constraints to the K-Means clustering algorithm in order to avoid local solutions with empty clusters or clusters having very few points. We often observe this phenomena when applying K-Means to datasets where the number of dimensions is n 10 and the number of desired clusters is k 20. We propose explicitly adding k constraints to the underlying clustering optimization problem requiring that each cluster have at least a minimum number of points in it. We then investigate the resulting cluster assignment step. Preliminary numerical tests on real datasets indicate the constrained approach is less prone to poor local solutions, producing a better summary of the underlying data. Contrained K-Means Clustering 1


We report femtosecond pump and probe experiments in a semiconductor microcavity containing quantum wells. At high pump fields, the exciton-polariton Rabi doublet changes into a triplet structure. The triplet splitting increases as the square root of the input intensity. The transmitted probe intensity is modulated with the corresponding frequency versus pump-probe delay. The experimental results are discussed in terms of Mollow spectra of a saturated transition of a two-level system. [S0031-9007(98)06194-8]


Coherent microwave measurements of backscattering from a rough water surface were made in a wind wavetank at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters. Ku-band return was collected simultaneously at HH and VV polarizations at a 45 degree incidence angle looking up wind. Data were collected when the wind was steady and when it was suddenly started. The authors found that the Doppler spectra exhibited peak frequencies which correspond to those expected from a scatterer moving at the phase speed of the dominant wave in the tank. The ratio of VV and HH backscattering cross sections goes from about 6 dB at low wind speeds to about 2 dB at high. Finally, they find that when the wind is suddenly started, both HH and VV cross sections grow rapidly and that the polarization ratio is very nearly 8 dB during this growth. Shortly after the growth stops, however, the polarization ratio drops to a value corresponding to that in the steady wind state. They interpret these results to mean that the primary scatterers in this wind wavetank are not free Bragg waves but scatterers tied to the dominant waves in the tank. They suggest that a tilted Bragg wave bound to the dominant wave could explain these results.


Background. Nowadays the bone substitute materials are widely applied in the oral surgery. Objectives. This article covers the comparison of two bone−substitute materials – ChronOS ® and Cerasorb ® (both pertain to beta−tricalcium phosphates group), the quality of newly created bone was compared. Material and Methods. For the purposes of this paper, the analysis of X−ray photographs of 90 patients has been conducted. Intraoral periapical radiographs were made on the day of a surgery and 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months after the surgery such as extraction, resection and cyst removal. The quality of the newly created bones was com− pared and contrasted taking into consideration sex of the patient, the kind of surgery, and location where the bone− substitute material was applied. Results. The above−mentioned materials belong to the same group of tricalcium phosphates, but have different shape, size, and surface structure of granule, as a result of which there are slight differences on the bone regener− ation activity observed during a few months post−operatively. Conclusion. Application of beta−tricalcium phosphate bone substitute materials leads to as proper reconstruction as the reference bone structure is, independently on brand of investigated products (Dent. Med. Probl. 2009, 46, 4, 384–388).


This study focuses on the transport behavior of model polymeric nanoparticulate drug delivery systems (PNDDSs) across ryegrass roots to determine whether uncontrolled and accidental releases of PNDDSs may enter into the food chain. It was shown that uptake of PNDDS ranging from 46 nm to 271 nm into ryegrass roots could take place. Upon exposing ryegrass to an aqueous PNDDS dispersion for 312 h, 91 ± 6%, 64 ± 3%, and 26 ± 8% of PNDDSs were localized in and on the ryegrass for 46 nm, 159 nm, and 271 nm PNDDS, respectively. The overall transport of PNDDSs from the solution to the ryegrass could be modeled well as a first-order adsorption process, which was followed by a first-order uptake process. The adsorption of PNDDSs onto the roots was found to be much faster than the uptake of PNDDSs into the roots.


This research paper deals with our effort of creation and recognition of isolated Lampung characters, a script originated from Indonesia. The aim is to describe this new script with all its peculiarities, propose a labeling scheme to manage a large isolated character dataset and finally a recognition scheme based on water reservoir concept. The Lampung script originally descending from Brahmi script is used in Lampung Province and it is close to extinction if no such initiative as ours will direct the focus to this cultural heritage. The collected dataset contains isolated characters coming from fairy tales transcriptions and were annotated with a semi-automatic labeling method using a limited human effort. Our attention is focused not only on the database collection but on recognition as well. For this purpose a water reservoir based feature set is proposed exploiting the different cavities and the subsequent measures of the character shapes. The experimental results (94.27%) prove the efficiency of the method considering a brand new script and feature set.


--- Physical development is a complex process of various quantitative and qualitative changes in all indicators of the human body in the course of its life, that is, the dynamics of the process. Anthropologists and specialists in sports medicine understand physical development as "a complex of morphological and functional properties of an organism, which determines the reserve of its physical strength.


Main objective of in this paper computer based manipulating and analyzing an image. We proposed algorithm fully based on wavelet transform the main function of wavelet transform is real and imaginary value s into orthonormal series. Proposed two algorithms first one is dual tree complex wavelet transform (DTCWT) and another one is dual tree complex wavelet transform with orthogonal shift property (DTCWT with OSP) both are used for image denoising process .wavelet transform mostly used for image denoising process. In this algorithms are novel method forimpulse noise reduction in images .image denoising compare to wavelet transform in this algorithms is best one for image denoising and also improve orthogonal and symmetrical properties and originality of the image is improved and also shown in experimental results of proposed algorithms. Improved signal to noise ratio level (SNR).


Electron-microprobe analyses were carried out on monazite from magnetite-series and ilmenite-series granitic rocks in Japan. All of the samples examined consist of monazite-(Ce), except for a unique case of monazite-(Sm) in the Shimo-ono ilmenite-series granitic pegmatite. The observed variations in their chemical composition are largely explained by the huttonite exchange [(Th + U) 4+ ↔Si 4+ ], and subordinately by the cheralite exchange [(Th + U) 4+ ↔2Ca 2+ ]. However, there are differences in the degree of contribution of the two exchanges between monazite grains from magnetite-series and ilmenite-series granitic rocks. The cheralite exchange is more important for monazite grains in ilmenite-series granitic rocks than for those in magnetite-series granitic rocks. Monazite grains in Japanese granitic rocks of these two series characteristically have a low cheralite component compared to those in S-type granites from various regions in the world, but chemical characteristics of ilmenite-series granitic rocks are more similar to S-type granitic rocks than those of the magnetite-series. The monazite grains of the Japanese granitic rocks show a continuous decrease in the slope of chondrite-normalized REE patterns from magnetite-series granites [(La/Sm)cn: 6.22–7.50] to ilmenite-series granitic pegmatite [(La/Sm)cn: 0.09–1.88] through magnetite-series granitic pegmatite [(La/Sm)cn: 2.25–3.70] and ilmenite-series granites [(La/Sm)cn: 2.13–4.56]. Thus, the REE compositions of the monazites reflect the degree of fractionation from granites to granitic pegmatites in both series. The same trend is confirmed by the (La/Nd)cn value, resulting in a positive correlation between (La/Nd)cn and (La/Sm)cn values of monazite from Japanese granitic rocks. Because the whole rock REE compositions of the magnetite-series and ilmenite-series granites show higher and lower (La/Sm)cn-(La/Nd)cn values, respectively, which are identical to the values of the respective granites-series monazites, we conclude that the chemical compositions (especially REE compositions) of monazite reflect the types (magnetite-series or ilmenite-series) and the degree of differentiation (granite or granitic pegmatite) of the granitic rocks in the subduction-related magmatic arcs.


Myths are embedded in the cultural heritage of nations. This research analyzes the treatment of myths evident in the African culture as seen in Okri's The Famished Road. The text is imbued with elements that are germane to the objectives of this study. This research employs Northop Frye's Archetypal theory which deals with recurring myths and symbols of season, life and death as well as images, and character types. This research maintains that myths are of great relevance in our contemporary society, especially as The Famished Road is almost an allegory of the Nigerian nation.


Introduction: Hospitals provide healthcare services to society during and after emergencies. Therefore, the hospitals should be well-prepared for emergencies and have easy applicable, and efficient emergency plans. We aimed to investigate the applicability of emergency regulations in a university hospital.
Methods: It is a descriptive study in which the current emergency plan of a university hospital is compared with the regulations and legislation in effect in Turkey. The number of teams and officials included in the teams in the current legislative emergency plan are identified and compared to the available emergency teams in a hospital for the present study.
Results: The present study identified the potential emergencies in accordance with the "Regulation on Emergencies in Workplaces" and the conditions in the particular region and hospital. 16 teams were identified for these emergencies and the number of officials in each team was confirmed. In the current staff of the hospital, there were 12 teams. Additionally, three teams were identified in the current hospital team that was not stated in the regulation. Although stipulated in the regulations, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear teams, and national medical rescue teams were not available in the hospital. Therefore, these teams and the number of officials in each team were determined.
Discussion: Due to the geopolitical location of Turkey, the high disaster risk in the region, and the history of disasters, all hospitals should have applicable and constantly updated emergency plans. The number of teams in emergency plans and the number of officials in these teams should be arranged under current legislation, size of the hospitals, risk analyses, and functionality. With this study, we determined the emergency teams and the number of staff in the hospital.


Abstract Background: Accelerometry is increasingly used to assess physical activity (PA) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It is not known how the relationship of PA to clinical results depends on the position of the PA sensor. Methods: We assessed the effect of monitor position by measuring lower extremity (ankle), upper extremity (wrist) and total body movement (hip) in 52 patients with severe COPD (mean [± SD] age, 62 ± 10 years; FEV1, 38 ± 12% predicted) undergoing long-term oxygen therapy with and without walkers during a pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program. Sensors were worn 8.5 ± 3.1 days and data was compared to the BODE score and the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) assessed at the beginning and end of the PR. Results: Mean ankle PA was moderately related to the 6MWD, irrespective of patients being equipped with a walker or not (p < 0.05). Mean PA values were considerably lower in COPD patients with walker compared to patients without for all sensor positions. No significant association was observed between mean hip PA data and 6MWD; however, hip and ankle PA data were moderately related in walker-free and strongly related in walker patients (p < 0.01). In a multivariate regression model only ankle activity was significantly associated with the BODE score (p < 0.01). Conclusion: The sensor position had a significant impact on the association between PA recordings and the 6MWD in very severe COPD. In our setting, ankle measurement seemed to best reflect the clinical state of patients.


Sciurus granatensis Humboldt, the red-tailed squirrel, is the only squirrel species known to occur in Trinidad (Boos 1986). It is distributed from north central Costa Rica to central Ecuador and eastwards from the Pacific Ocean through Venezuela north of the Orinoco River, including the islands of Margarita, Tobago and Trinidad (Nitikman 1985). This species occupies diverse ecological habitats ranging from tropical forest, where populations reach high densities, to crop lands, where it is considered a serious pest. Interest in squirrel activity was stimulated by the massive destruction of cocoa pods and the reduction of yield at a cocoa estate located near the 16 3/4 mile POSt on the Naparima Mayaro Road, Trinidad, W.l. This paper reports some observations on the feeding behaviour of the squirrel, Sciurus granatensis , on this estate.


Reveals the notion administrative act, the main theoretical and methodological approaches to the definition of an administrative act. Highlight a sign of an administrative act as a written document containes the rules of conduct of general direction.


The secreted signaling molecule GDNF is expressed in the metanephric mesenchyme and has recently been implicated as a factor necessary for development of the metanephric kidney. We have examined the effects of GDNF on mouse kidney explants. We show that GDNF increases cell proliferation in ureter tips. There is an increase in the number of ureter tips and expansion and fusion of adjacent tips and some tips appear to grow toward the source of GDNF. These events are accompanied by transcriptional upregulation of several genes localized to the tips, including its own receptor, c-ret, the transcription factor Sox9, and the signal Wnt-11. These results support a model in which GDNF supplied by the mesenchyme regulates growth and branching in the metanephric kidney through the local regulation of ureter tip-specific factors.


Fossil bison remains have been recovered from gravels on an extensive spit complex situated between the Upper and Lower Campbell levels of Lake Agassiz in Swan River valley, western Manitoba. Three bone samples yielded radiocarbon dates of 10 300 ± 200 years BP (BGS-617), 9500 ± 150 years BP (BGS-840), and 9400 ± 125 years BP (BGS-887). These are the first dates obtained outside the southern basins of Lake Agassiz for the beginning of the Campbell phase.Local geomorphological evidence and the radiocarbon dates indicate that both Campbell beaches formed within a relatively short time during the Campbell phase. Aside from their geological significance, the bison remains and their depositional context are important for interpreting early Holocene ecology and Paleo-Indian occupation of the Swan River valley.