In unpredicted industrial environment, being able to adapt quickly and effectively to the changing is key in gaining a competitive advantage in the global market. Agile manufacturing evolves new ways of running factories to react quickly and effectively to changing markets, driven by customized requirement. Agility in manufacturing can be successfully achieved via integration of information system, people, technologies, and business processes. This article presents the conceptual model of agility in three dimensions named: driving factor, enabling technologies and evaluation of agility in manufacturing system. The conceptual model was developed based on a review of the literature. Then, the paper demonstrates the agility evaluation by developing a multigrade assessment model. This model can be used by decision maker to evaluate their current degree of agility. Lastly, the paper examined the conceptual model of evaluation in the State Company for Vegetable Oils Industry in Iraq. The calculation show that the State Company for Vegetable Oils Industry is very agile.


The product of gene C of bacteriophage phi X174 is required for the replication of phiX174 single-stranded DNA in Escherichia coli cells infected with phi X174. The protein has been purified to homogeneity using an in vitro complementation system. The protein exhibits a molecular weight of 5800 under denaturing conditions. The NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of the protein is (NH2)-Met-Arg-Lys, which is consistent with the sequence predicted from the nucleotide sequence of gene C. The protein has an affinity for single-stranded DNA but less for double-stranded DNA.


CSIEC (Computer Simulation in Educational Communication), is not only an intelligent web-based human-computer dialogue system with natural language for English instruction, but also a learning assessment system for learners and teachers. Its multiple functions—including grammar-based gap filling exercises, scenario show, free chatting and chatting on a given topic—can satisfy the various requirements for students with different backgrounds and learning abilities. After a brief explanation of the conception of our dialogue system, as well as a survey of related works, we will illustrate the system structure, and describe its pedagogical functions with the underlying AI techniques in detail such as NLP and rule-based reasoning. We will summarize the free Internet usage within a six month period and its integration into English classes in universities and middle schools. The evaluation findings about the class integration show that the chatting function has been improved and frequently utilized by the users, and the application of the CSIEC system on English instruction can motivate the learners to practice English and enhance their learning process. Finally, we will conclude with potential improvements.


Sprites--giant flashes of light illuminating the sky above thunderstorms--were discovered only 15 years ago. In his Perspective,
 Neubert
 reviews recent research into these and other electrical phenomena (such as "blue jets") in Earth9s atmosphere. He highlights attempts to elucidate the physics of sprites and jets and their possible effect on the atmosphere. Whether they alter greenhouse gas concentrations in the stratosphere and mesosphere or modulate the atmospheric electric circuit remains to be shown.


Two field experiments were carried out in 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons at Nubaria Research Station, ElBeheira Governorate, Egypt to study the response of three sugar beet cultivars to the foliar nutrition with pigeon manure tea (PMT) in combination with soil N fertilizer and its effect on yield, yield components, chemical constituents and some physiological and genetical parameters. A split plot arrangement in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications was used. Three polygerm sugar beet cultivars namely SN-626, NH627 and Hercule were randomly distributed in the main plots, while the four combinations of PMT and N fertilizer were randomly distributed in the sub-plots, it was as follows; 80 kg N/fed (recommended level) was given as soil application, without PMT (check treatment) (C1), foliar application of 2.5% PMT + soil addition of 40 kg N/fed (C2), foliar application of 5% PMT + soil addition of 40 kg N/fed (C3) and foliar application of 10% PMT + soil addition of 40 kg N/fed (C4). The results illustrated that fertilizing the tested cultivars with (C4) treatment attained the highest mean of sugar yield compared with (C2) and/or (C3), in the two seasons. The three cultivars showed that the highest and the least values of root, top, sugar yields and sucrose% were produced from SN-626 and Hercule cultivar, respectively, in both seasons. Genotypic and phenotypic variances, heritability and coefficient of variance as percent of means were estimated for the studied traits. Maximum heritability values were obtained for root diameter followed by top yield. Meanwhile, it was moderate for sugar yield, sucrose% and root yield, while the minimum values of heritability were recorded by total soluble solids and purity percentages. Besides, different genetic coefficient of variance as percent of mean, as well as high genetic variability and high range of variations were detected. Path-coefficient analysis revealed that the improvement of different genotypes sugar yield can alter the relative importance of root yield, sucrose% and purity%. Under conditions of the present work, it can be recommended that growing SN-626 variety fertilized with (C4) treatment produced the highest sugar yield/fed with no significant difference from treating the same variety with C1 (recommended level). Also, the data suggest that significant improvement could be achieved by increasing purity as well as sucrose percentages to increase sugar yield.


The "Cancer Care in Iraq: A Descriptive Study" portrays the scale of the current and future challenges facing the Iraqi cancer program, it lay down a well balanced statements, suggestions and research questions that require vigilant attention. This report can also provide a baseline for future monitoring of trends and for assessing the progress made in addressing the cancer burden in Iraq. The impact of cancer as a disease on our society is mounting; a road map to revise the perceived epidemic is needed. This can happen through strengthening our national monitoring and surveillance, scaling up the implementation of evidence-based measures to reduce risk factors (like tobacco use), and improving access to cost-effective healthcare interventions to prevent suffering, disabilities and premature death. As an Iraqi oncologist, I know that we are still long way from being able to deliver our goals of delivering world class outcomes. I look with optimism to the day were we will achieve our aims through engagement with all key stakeholders and the development of effective partnerships for the delivery of improved cancer care. (Yasser Haba; MD, MRCP, FRCR; Advisor,Iraqi Cancer Board)


Squamous cervical carcinoma (SCC) is the most common cancer found in Mexican women. Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a prerequisite for this disease. In Mexico little is known about the prevalence of HPV-types and knowledge of the circulating genotypes by region is limited. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of HPV in biopsies from women with intraepithelial lesions and SCC. A total of 211 cervical biopsies were studied. Histopathological analysis was done and HPV DNA was detected by PCR using MY09/MY11 (MY-PCR) and GP5+/GP6+ (GP+PCR) primers. Viral type was determined by RFLP's or sequencing. Tissues were classified as low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) in 123 cases, high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSL) in 40 and SCC in 48. Prevalence of HPV was 55.3% in LSIL, 65% in HSIL and 91.7% in SCC by MY-PCR. These percentages increased to 83, 77.5 and 100%, respectively, when HPV-negative samples were analyzed by GP+PCR. In 138 of 211 samples (65.4%), HPV was detected by MY-PCR and 43 (20.4%) were positive by GP+PCR. In 166 (91.7%) of 181 infections high risk HPV-types were found. Twelve genotypes were detected (16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, 58, 59, 61, 66, 70, 81). Prevalence of HPV 16 in LSIL, HSIL and SCC, were 70.6, 54.8 and 70.8%, respectively and it was the most common type in all cases (67.9%). A significantly higher number of positive samples were detected with MY-PCR and GP+PCR. The high prevalence of HPV infection with high-risk types, especially HPV16, among Mexican women with SIL and SCC, has important implications in the treatment and prophylaxis.


Abstract Background. Neutrophil migration, one of the major factors predisposing to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)-induced intestinal lesions, consists of several steps, including interaction with P-selectin from platelets. Cilostazol, a specific phosphodiesterase (PDE)-3 inhibitor, suppresses the expression of P-selectin from platelets and reduces interaction between platelets and leukocytes, leading to inflammatory amelioration in several disease models. We tried to clarify the therapeutic effectiveness of cilostazol for NSAID-induced small intestinal lesions. Subjects and methods. 1) Anti-PSGL-1 antibody (2 mg/kg) or cilostazol (100 mg/kg) was administered to mice one hour before Indomethacin (IND, 2.5 mg/kg) administration for 4 days to evaluate small intestinal lesions. 2) IND-induced migratory behaviors of neutrophils and platelets were evaluated in intestinal vessels by an intravital microscopy. Results. i) IND induced small intestinal lesions with an increase in MPO activity. Anti-PSGL-1 antibody and cilostazol ameliorated intestinal lesions along with suppression of MPO activity. ii) Intravital microscopy revealed that administration of IND increased migration of platelet-bearing neutrophils. Cilostazol treatment ameliorated neutrophil migration by blocking interaction between platelets and neutrophils. Conclusion. Our results suggest that enhanced platelets-bearing neutrophil migration is critically involved in the pathogenesis of IND-induced small intestinal lesions and suggest a potential application of cilostazol for prevention of NSAID-induced small intestinal lesions.


The new generation electronic sector scanning sonars is now allowing practical use of temporal information for signal processing tasks such as object classification and motion estimation. This paper presents an approach to the segmentation, 2D motion estimation and subsequent tracking of multiple objects in sector scan sonar image sequences. Initially, frequency domain filtering is used to distinguish static and moving objects in the sonar scan image sequence. Optical flow calculations are then performed on moving objects with significant size, to obtain magnitude and direction motion estimates. Matching of these motion estimates, and the object future positions they predict, is then used as a basis for identifying corresponding objects in adjacent scans. A tracking tree is constructed storing multiple possible correspondences and cumulative confidence values obtained from successive compatibility measures. Deferred decision making is then employed to enable best estimates of object tracks to be updated as subsequent scans produce new information.


Comparing simulations and data from paleoclimate archives such as speleothems can test the capability of climate models to capture past climate changes. In past, present, and future, the hydrologic response to radiative forcing changes is far less understood and more uncertain than thermal changes.

Speleothems store terrestrial climate information in the form of isotopic oxygen in mineral and are found mostly in the low-to mid-latitudes of the landmasses. Their usually well preserved (semi-)continuous time series of oxygen isotope ratio δ18O can cover full Glacial-Interglacial cycles and are used for past climate reconstructions. However, the measured δ18O in the mineral is influenced by multiple climate and cave-related variables and does, therefore, not directly represent past temperature or precipitation.

We assess the capability of the isotope-enabled models HadCM3 and ECHAM5-MPI/OM to simulate decadal to centennial climate variability beyond the instrumental period. In particular, we investigate the relationship between simulated δ18O and precipitation variability under different background conditions. By comparing simulated δ18O values at cave locations to the large global speleothem database SISALv2 (Comas-Bru et al. 2020), we also examine the consistency between modeled and archived temporal changes in δ18O in the mean state and variability. Our strategy involves forward-modeling of cave processes such as temperature-dependent fractionation and transit times to constrain a simple speleothem proxy model for the simulation output. For the late Holocene, we observe a strongly underestimated simulated isotopic variability on decadal to centennial timescales. We further test how much this underestimation depends on the background radiative forcing conditions by comparing the Last Glacial Maximum, the mid-Holocene, and the late Holocene. This provides deeper insight on low to mid-latitude state-dependent climate variability on decadal to centennial time scales.

Reference:

Comas-Bru, L., et. al. SISALv2: a comprehensive speleothem isotope database with multiple age-depth models. Earth System Science Data 12, 2579-2606 (2020) https://essd.copernicus.org/articles/12/2579/2020/


With the further development of the Internet and the rapid growth of the number of netizens, there are always new network buzzwords appearing during online communication. Most of these buzzwords don't come out of nowhere but are variants of the extant words or expressions. They inherit, extend or sometimes overturn the original meanings. To some extent, these semantic variations not only influence the language system, expanding the semantic category of words, but also reflect people's cognition and emotions. Therefore, based on the prototype theory, this paper aims to analyze the semantic variations of the top ten network buzzwords of China in 2020 from three aspects: horizontally, the extension of meanings of the basic-level words; vertically, the emergence of new subordinate-level words; and the combination of the two ways of variation. The analysis of these words shows complex emotions of people, including positive life attitudes, nostalgia to the past and helplessness under huge pressures in real life.


When tracking spatially extended objects in a multiple object tracking task, attention is preferentially directed to the centres of those objects (attentional concentration), and this effect becomes more pronounced as object length increases (attentional amplification). However, it is unclear whether these effects depend on differences in attentional allocation or differences in eye fixations. We addressed this question by measuring eye fixations in a dual-task paradigm that required participants to track spatially extended objects, while simultaneously detecting probes that appeared at the centres or near the endpoints of objects. Consistent with previous research, we observed concentration and amplification effects: Probes at the centres of objects were detected more readily than those near their endpoints, and this difference increased with object length. Critically, attentional concentration was observed when probes were equated for distance from fixation during free viewing, and concentration and amplification were observed without eye movements during strict fixation. We conclude that these effects reflect the prioritization of covert attention to particular spatial regions within extended objects, and we discuss the role of eye fixations during multiple object tracking.


The rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) attracts growing attention from both industry and academia. IoT seamlessly connects the physical world and cyberspace via various sensors. It is more worth for us to pay attention to the mechanism of the events to work collaboratively rather than those standalone sensors. In this paper, we present a Distributed Event-centric Collaborative Workflows development system for IoT application, called DECW. It supports loosely coupled event-based interaction between processes, which enables real-time response to events from the physical world. Unlike traditional centralized control flow mode, the interaction between processes in DECW is constrained by the event interface. Users could dynamically adjust the interface between processes without modifying the internal logic of the process. In addition, DECW system provides a full lifecycle for the development and operation of the IoT application, including graphical creation of processes, dynamic definition of the process interaction interfaces, logical validation, distributed packaging and deployment, parallel execution, and real-time monitoring and managing the running status of the IoT application.


Floating drug delivery system offers a simple and practical approach to achieve increased Gastric Residence Time(GRT) and to modify drug release profiles essential for sustained, site specific and localized drug action.
An attempt was made to formulate and evaluate floating drug delivery system containing Febuxostat as model drug by both Effervescent technique and non-effervescent techniques.
The present work has aimed towards developing a floating drug delivery system of Febuxostat based on Novel approaches.
It was hypothesized that a system that combines advantages of both floating and sustained release technology can be successful in the field of novel drug delivery system.
The solubility of Febuxostat was enhanced by the melting method using PEG 6000 as a carrier.
The λmax of Febuxostat was found to be 317nm in 0.1N HCl.
The Febuxostat obeys the Beer's law within the concentration of 2 to 20μg/ml.
DSC and FT-IR studies indicated that there was no interaction between drug and excipients.
The formulations (F1 to F9) were prepared by Effervescent technique and formulations (G1 to G9) were prepared by non- effervescent techniques using hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers.
The formulated tablets were analysed for Pre-compression and Postcompression parameters, In vitro release studies, release kinetics, In vivo x-ray studies, stability studies.
The Pre-compression parameters of all the formulations were within the required limit that was suitable for formulation of the tablet.
The Post-compression parameters, such as Hardness, Friability, Uniformity in weight and Drug content of all the formulated tablets were within the acceptable limits.
The floating lag time and duration of buoyancy were found to be satisfied, for all the formulations.
Among all, formulation (F5) was selected as best formulation based on in-vitro release studies, Swelling index and in-vitro buoyancy studies.
The extent of drug release was found to be 68.34 in 12 hrs.
The drug release model of all the formulations complies with the Zeroorder kinetics followed by Non-Fickian diffusion mechanism.
The in-vivo X-Ray study was performed for the best formulation.It shows the gastric residence time of more than 12 hrs.
Selected formulation of Febuxostat was compared with marketed formulation.
CONCLUSION:
The results of the present study clearly indicate the feasibility to develop Febuxostat in the form of floating drug delivery system with prolongation of gastric retention time and controlled release.
In my present study, the Effervescent formulations had better drug release, Floating Lag time, Swelling Index as compared to Non-Effervescent formulations.
Increment in the concentration of swelling agent, decrement in the drug release. This may be due to increase in diffusion length of drug from dosage form to the dissolution studies.
Increment in the concentration, of swelling agent, increment in Floating lag time, this may be due to gas generated by the gas generating agent was entangled between matrix formed by the swelling agent.
Polymer swelling was crucial in determining the drug release rate and also important for floatation. The viscosity of the polymer had a major influence on swelling process and matrix integrity.
Hydrophilic polymers induce the formation of strong viscous gel layer when they come in contact with the aqueous media that slowed down the rate of diffusion of medium into the tablet, which may result in the retardation or decrease in the drug release.
The combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers, which restricts the penetration of dissolution medium inside the matrix, also restricts the formation of gel, layer around the matrix. So, that the drug release from the hydrophobic matrix tablets gets decreased.


Background and Aims: Monitoring of anthocyanins (Anth) in winegrape (Vitis vinifera L.) is fundamental for the production of top-quality red wines. This work was aimed at testing a new fluorescence-based sensor for Anth detection in the vineyard. Significance of the Study: The present study showed a new important innovative technology for viticulture. The sensor evaluation of the large spatial and temporal heterogeneity in Anth accumulation can be useful as support parameter in the harvest date decision or for vineyard zoning of phenolic maturity. Methods and Results: Anth in grape (cv. Aleatico) bunches attached to the vine were monitored non-destructively inthefieldusingafluorescence-basedsensorduringthe2008and2009seasonsandunderdifferentwaterregimes.The ANTH RG index = log(far-red-fluorescenceR/far-red-fluorescenceG), with fluorescence signals excited with red (R) and green (G) light, was inversely correlated through an exponential function (r2 = 0.875) to the Anth concentration derived from the HPLC analysis of berry skin extracts. ANTHRG was effective in detecting the earlier ripening process in 2009 with respect to 2008 and differences in the Anth accumulation between seasons and in relation to different water regimes. Water deficit imposed in 2009 enhanced Anth concentration in berries because of a reduction in berry size but also an increase of Anth biosynthesis. This effect was observed by both destructive and ANTH RG non-destructive measurements. Conclusions: Our results show that the employed fluorescence sensor represents a reliable, rapid and non-invasive tool for monitoring and determining Anth accumulation in situ.


The present study was conducted in Mosul city to show the oxidants and antioxidants levels in different types of mature milk for (Human, buffalo, cow, sheep, goat) and compared them with each other, beside of showing the effect of age on the composition of human breast milk by measuring biochemical parameters which include: vitamin E, vitamin C, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase(GST), albumin, ceruloplasmin (Cp), glutathione(GSH), total bilirubin, uric acid, malondialdehyde (MDA), peroxynitrate(OONO-) and the metals (Copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe)). The study included (144) sample represented in five groups according to types of milk: human milk (59 nonsmokers), buffalo milk(19), cow milk(23), sheep milk(22) and goat milk(21) . The results showed significant increase in vitamin E for sheep, human, cow, goat and buffalo milk respectively, but showed significant increase for vitamin C in sheep milk and decreased in cow milk when compared with other groups. Also SOD showed high levels in human and goat milks, but low levels in sheep milk, while GST showed high significant levels in buffalo and cow milk, and lower in sheep milk. The GSH observed significant increased in human milk, but decreased in buffalo, beside of increased Cp in goat milk and decreased in human milk. Moreover, it has been observed that there was significant increase in uric acid, for cow milk, but decreased in buffalo milk. On the other hand, the total bilirubin observed significant increased in sheep milk, but decreased in cow milk. The MDA observed significant increase in buffalo milk, but decreased in sheep milk and ONOO levels observed significant increased in cow milk, but decreased in buffalo when compared with other types milk. After the determination of the elements, the results showed a significant increased in Cu of human milk and decreased in sheep milk, while Zn levels increased significantly in buffalo milk but decreased in human milk and iron increased significantly in cow milk but decreased in human milk. Depending on age increasing of lactating women, mature milks were divided into three subgroups (16-25), (26-35) and (36-42) year. It was found that vitamin E, SOD, GSH, T.Bilir., uric acid and iron were decreased significantly for mature milk with the age increasing for lactating women, but increased in: GST, Alb, MDA and Cu. In conclusion, an increased antioxidants and decreased oxidants levels in: sheep milk, goat milk, cow milk, buffalo milk and human milk respectively. On the other hand, the study showed decreased antioxidant and increased oxidants levels in human breast milk with increasing aging of women and that might be affected on infants health.


The crystal structure of cyanogen at 15 K has been determined using neutron power profile measurements. This new structural information and the recently determined quadrupole moment have been included in revised calculations of the lattice dynamics. A satisfactory description of both the crystal structure and the dynamics cannot be obtained with any of the models used for the inter-molecular forces. The model giving the 'best' fit has potential parameters very different from those in the literature. The present results indicate that the concept of transferable potentials is not valid, at least in its simple form. Lattice frequencies, electrostatic interactions and low-temperature crystal structure data must all be included in the database if transferable nonbonded, atom-atom potential are to be a valid and useful concept.


Israeli family medicine provides an example of the accelerated development of a new discipline. This development occurred in a highly dynamic and rapidly growing society against a background of conflicting cultural traditions within the health care field. The developmental stages included: 1) the preponderance of specialists over generalists, 2) the introduction of family medicine teaching into the undergraduate medical curriculum, 3) the achievement of family medicine's independence from the status of a branch of internal medicine or community medicine, 4) the development of the residency training programs, and 5) the establishment of a national academic infrastructure. This paper analyzes the unsolved problem of gaining significant numbers of university academic appointments. Also, two major challenges for the future are examined: 1) the integration of preventive care into family practice, and 2) the exposure of primary care to competition from hospital-based specialists in an atmosphere of increasing commercialism. The Israeli experience forms a basis for comparison for family medicine in other countries.


The effect of mangiferin (MF) with exercise on bood lipids was studied in KK-Ay mice, an animal model of type 2 diabetes. MF (30 mg/kg) reduced the blood cholesterol (p<0.05) and triglyceride level (p<0.01) of KK-Ay mice with exercise 2 weeks after oral administration when compared with the control group. Diabetes also often has elevated lipid levels. Therefore, it may be that MF has beneficial effects on hyperlipidemia in type 2 diabetes.


Emergency Department (ED) physicians are faced with complex care settings, including a high level of uncertainty and intensity. Burnout among physicians is increasing every year, and ED physicians are one of the groups most prone to burnouts and work-related stress in the US. This research focused on developing a supervised Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) artificial neural network model to predict a physician's stress level based on their physiological data. Twelve attending physicians working a 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm shift at Greenville Memorial Hospital (GMH) in Greenville, SC, participated in the study. Stress levels were estimated using physiological measures, including heart rate and electrodermal activity. Over 100 hours of physiological data were collected from 12 eight-hour shifts. Initially, an 80:20 split was used on the 12 individual datasets for training and testing the model. Further, to develop a generalizable model, the data were merged, and a 60:20:20 split was used for training, validating, and testing the model. On the test set, the model achieved values of 0.98, 0.17, and 0.005 as the R-squared, RMSE, and loss for EDA data and 0.99, 0.41, and 0.002 for HR data.


This paper makes two main contributions. The first is a method that combines TDMA time slots for voice and data packet services to offer high peak rates and guarantee packet connectivity in the case of cell congestion. The method can also be used to analyse time slot reservation for voice or data packet services. The second contribution is a novel method for analysing the system. In addition to the traditional approach that consists in solving a large system of equations to compute state probabilities, a combinatorial method that simplifies the analysis and that can be applied to larger and more complex systems is introduced.


In line with the company-wide CS09 project being carried out at Volvo CE Components, Cell 14 will have changes in terms of distribution of machines and parts routing to meet the lean manufacturing goals established. These changes are of course dependant on future production volumes, as well as lot sizing and material handling considerations. In this context, an important emphasis is given to the awareness of the performance measures that support decision making in these production development projects. By using simulation as a confirmation tool, it is possible to re-assess these measures by testing the impact of changes in complex situations, in line with the lean manufacturing principles. The aim of the project is to develop a discrete event simulation model following the methodology proposed by Banks et al (1999). A model of Cell 14 will be built using the software Technomatix Plant Simulation ® which is used by the Company and the results from the simulation study will be analyzed.


Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by the formation of lipid rich plaques in the arterial wall. Rupture of a plaque results in clinical manifestations such myocardial infarction or stroke. Atherosclerosis is a complex disease where both autoimmune responses towards atherosclerosis-related antigens and smooth muscle repair responses play important roles. This thesis contains studies focusing on both regulatory immune responses and tissue repair mechanisms in experimental models of atherosclerosis as well as in patient cohorts.

The first part of this thesis investigates the role of regulatory immune responses targeting plaque-related antigens. In paper I, we developed a matrigel-based method to characterize T helper 2 immune responses against human apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100). We report that matrigel loaded with the antigen of interest can be used to measure antigen-specific immune cell accumulation and cytokine production. In paper II, we report that B cells pulsed with peptide 210 (p210) from ApoB100 coupled to the cholera toxin B subunit (p210-CTB) acquire a regulatory phenotype and induce Tregs in vivo. In the third paper, we unexpectedly found increased frequencies of circulating regulatory T cells in patients with prevalent cardiovascular disease. Our results indicate that the general immune cell activation in patients with prevalent cardiovascular disease can cause a compensatory increase in regulatory T cells to counteract the immune response.

In the second part of this thesis, we focused on the role of smooth muscle cells in atherosclerosis. In paper IV, we show that IL-22 is involved in controlling smooth muscle cell phenotype. More specifically, IL-22 deficient atherosclerotic mice develop smaller plaques with increased expression of contractile proteins. Increased numbers of smooth muscle cells remaining in a contractile phenotype in the media and decreased collagen content in the plaques could possibly contribute to the smaller plaque size observed in IL-22 deficient mice. Finally, in paper V, we present data suggesting that high levels of smooth muscle cell growth factors (platelet-derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor) measured in plasma can reflect a fibrous plaque phenotype. In particular, high plasma levels of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor at baseline was associated with a decreased risk for developing a coronary event.


The balance between low power consumption and high efficiency in memory devices is a major limiting factor in the development of new technologies. Magnetic random access memories (MRAM) based on CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have been proposed as candidates to replace the current technology due to their non-volatility, high thermal stability and efficient operational performance. Understanding the size and temperature dependence of the energy barrier and the nature of the transition mechanism across the barrier between stable configurations is a key issue in the development of MRAM. Here we use an atomistic spin model to study the energy barrier to reversal in CoFeB/MgO nanodots to determine the effects of size, temperature and external field. We find that for practical device sizes in the 10-50 nm range the energy barrier has a complex behaviour characteristic of a transition from a coherent to domain wall driven reversal process. Such a transition region is not accessible to simple analytical estimates of the energy barrier preventing a unique theoretical calculation of the thermal stability. The atomistic simulations of the energy barrier give good agreement with experimental measurements for similar systems which are at the state of the art and can provide guidance to experiments identifying suitable materials and MTJ stacks with the desired thermal stability.


AT first, this appeared to be a simple straightforward case of syphilis, but one or two points made its nature doubtful. He ran the risk of infection on January 20, he had a primary sore on the penis on February 12, which would be about the right date. On February 22 he was examined in Dublin, and the Treponema pallidurns found on the sore. The Wassermann reaction was weakly positive. The diagnosis was made of a recent infection from that date. He was given four injections of novarsenobillon, and half-way through that course the Wassermann reaction was strongly positive. Each time after an injection a rash appeared and became worse, therefore the injections were stopped. He came to me on July 3, and he then had a lichenoid rash on the arms, some of the papules were isolated, some had run together in big solid plaques. He had a diffuse syphiloma of the lips; and a typical late glossitis and leucoplakia of the tongue. In my opinion, therefore, this is an old infection, showing a chancre redux, and not a recent contamination.


The early development of Hindu Javanese architecture can be traced through interpretation of epigraphs, archaeological excavations, and comparison of extant temples with other traditions. However, while many scholars have speculated on connections between Javanese Hindu temples and presumed antecedents in India, these have been made on the basis of visual comparison and epigraphic interpretations. No Indian temple has been conclusively shown to be a model for the earliest Javanese temples. Archaeologist and temple historian Michael Meister has shown in his analysis of the geometric composition of early Hindu temples in South Asia how a ritual sixty-four square mandala was the geometric basis of temple construction during the formative period (fifth to eighth century) of the Indian architectural tradition. Working from an understanding of temple construction sequence as well as their ritual underpinnings, Meister found that the sixtyfour square mandala's dimensions correlate closely to the constructed dimensions at the level of the vedibandha (which corresponds with the plan level of the sanctuary threshold). Furthermore, he shows how the horizontal profile of the cella depends on the number of offsets and the proportional relationships between ech offset based on the subdivision of the sixty-four square grid. The authors have investigated whether a similar compositional basis can be found for the earliest Javanese temples on the Dieng Plateau in the highlands of central Java, despite differences in architectonic and symbolic expression. The analysis of relationships between ritual geometry and actual temple layouts for these buildings has the potential to furthering our understanding of the connections between Hindu temples in Java and those in India.


In this paper, I address the current debates around ethnography and propose a critical feminist ethnography which depends on the alternative narrative strategies suggested by experimental ethnography and the conceptual achievements offered by feminist standpoint epistemology and minor discourse theory. I argue, as have others, that the traditional scientistic-narrativc techniques associated with ethnography actively constrain theoretical knowledges, mystify power relations embedded in the text, while constructing Authorities with totalizing and omniscient vision. Experimental ethnography offers important textual interventions and revisions which challenge the orderliness and constructed Authorities imposed by realist narratives useful for those feminist projects which attempt to deal with the multiplicity of differences/domination. Postmodern feminist standpoint epistemology and minor discourse theory are concerned with recovering and representing historically repressed local knowledges and visions in ways that do not simply translate them into or through dominant critical/feminist theories. Such projects require ongoing critical dialogue among local voices, theory, and the ethnographer in which what counts as knowledge remains contestable and is contested. I argue that textual constructions of such projects must remain heteroglossic (representing multiple visions to readers) in order to potentially revise critical/feminist theory and practice.


Objective: In developed countries, patients' factors and esthetic concerns have predominantly influenced Material & Methods: This was a descriptive study carried out in Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar from March to October 2007. Using a structured data collection-sheet, patient's data including gender, age, socio-economic status, educational level, oral-hygiene status, main concern of patients for consultation and the number, location and type of saddles in the jaws were all recorded. The type of prosthodontic service planned for each patient was also recorded. One investigator collected the required data from each of the 206 partially dentate patients by the method of direct interviewing. Results: Acrylic removable dental prostheses (RDPs) were more frequently provided than fixed dental prostheses (FDPs). No precision-retained or implant-supported prosthesis were planned. Irrespective of the type of prosthesis, the restoration of chewing function was the major concern of patients for consultation. Age, socioeconomic status, educational level and type of saddle in the maxilla influenced patients' treatment with RDPs. In comparison, better socioeconomic status and educational level were the reasons in case of planned FDPs. The reason for the planned FDPs in the maxilla was esthetics as compared to improvement in chewing function in case of the mandible. Conclusion: Acrylic RDPs were the most frequently planned prostheses. Patients; socioeconomic status and educational level and the type and location of saddle influenced the type of prosthesis planned for patients. prosthodontic treatments. The objective of this investigation was to see if such factors in local partially dentate patients influenced the clinicians' decision regarding the prostheses planned.


: The demonstrable potential of team teaching as a productive mechanism for developing collaborative teacher learning is now broadly understood in the field of teacher education. However, there is less evidence of the use of such collaborative teaching as a means of strengthening initial foreign/second language teacher education. This paper reports on the findings of a multiple case study in Chile that explored team teaching in a foreign language teacher education program. The study is illuminated through the lens of cultural historical activity theory framework (CHAT) and draws on the analysis of semi-structured interviews, work shadowing observations and reflections. The outcomes suggest that team teaching provides a space for developmental forms of collaboration that can promote deeper learning among pre-service teachers. The findings support the argument that collaborative practices could be a path for developing and deepening the prospective reflexive practices of pre-service teachers.


This book is based on research that was carried out as part of the Teaching and Learning Research Programme's (TLRP's) Improving Incentives to Learning in the Workplace Research Network. This Network was made up of five projects, each with its own specific research focus, that explored concepts relevant to workplace learning, such as situated learning, communities of practice, apprenticeship as a model of learning, informal learning and tacit skills. The book is aimed at examining learning within the socioeconomic context of the workplace, focusing on its inherent tensions and unequal power relations. It is presented in three parts. 'Part I - the issues' contains: Workplace learning: perspectives and challenges / Karen Evans and Helen Rainbird (pp.3-23). 'Part II - the findings' contains: Expansive and restrictive learning environments / Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin (pp.27-48); Applying the expansive-restrictive framework / Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin (pp.49-67); Learner biographies, workplace practices, and learning / Karen Evans and Natasha Kersh (pp.68-94); How individuals influence workplace practices, and how work can change worker dispositions and identities / Phil Hodkinson and Heather Hodkinson (pp.95-115); Workplace learning: the direct and indirect impact of policy interventions / Helen Rainbird (pp.116-133); The direct and indirect impact of policy interventions: case studies from the research / Anne Munro and Peter Senker (pp.134-159). 'Part III - conclusions' contains: Improving workplace learning: an integrated approach / Phil Hodkinson and Helen Rainbird (pp.163-175).


Flexible perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable attention due to their excellent performance, low-cost, and great potential as an energy supplier for soft electronic devices. In particular, the design of charge transporting layers (CTLs) is crucial to the development of highly efficient and flexible PSCs. Herein, nanocrystalline Ti-based metal-organic framework (nTi-MOF) particles are synthesized to have ca. 6 nm in diameter. These are then well-dispersed in alcohol solvents in order to generate electron transporting layers (ETLs) in PSCs under ambient temperatures using a spin-coating process. The electronic structure of nTi-MOF ETL is found to be suitable for charge injection and transfer from the perovskite to the electrodes. The combination of a [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid (PCBM) into the nTi-MOF ETL provides for efficient electron transfer and also suppresses direct contact between the perovskite and the electrode. This results in impressive power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.94% and 17.43% for rigid and flexible devices, respectively. Moreover, outstanding mechanical stability is retained after 700 bending cycles at a bending radius ( r) of 10 mm.


We describe here a novel procedure for automated protein docking, based only on geometric criteria. In our algorithm we project protein surfaces into bi-dimensional matrices; the search for complementary regions is performed by detecting matching sub-matrices. An exhaustive sampling of the rotation space is made in order to analyse all the possible relative orientations of the two proteins, but nevertheless this procedure requires a relatively short processing time (3 h to 24 h cpu time on a SG4D320, depending on the complexity of the input information). When tested with co-crystallized, free components and models of components of known protein-protein complexes, the method gave very satisfactory results. The procedure selects no more than four relative orientations of the molecular components, but the correct orientation is always present among them, ranking either first or second. In more than half the cases the "wrong" solutions nevertheless correctly identify most of the residues involved in the interaction. This is remarkable also in view of the fact that the chosen test complexes (trypsin-trypsin inhibitor and antibody-lysozyme) have a very different geometry of surface complementarity: trypsin inhibitor inserts a long side-chain into the deep specificity pocket of the protease, while the interface between antibody and lysozyme is rather flat and contains buried water molecules (not included in the calculation). In order to simulate a more realistic protein docking problem, we also used a trypsin inhibitor and an anti-lysozyme antibody model in our simulations, again with satisfying results.


In multi-ported register files, memory cell size grows quadratically with the total number of ports due to wordline and bitline wiring. Reducing the number of physical access ports in a memory cell can thus lead to significant area and power savings as well as latency improvement. Double-pumped register files operate access ports twice in a single clock period to reduce area by halving the number of physical ports in the memory cell — a technique often confined to low-frequency applications. Replication of a memory cell in separate arrays halves the number of physical read ports in each copy. In this work, double-pumped write ports and replicated read ports are applied to a 4R2W register file in a highperformance microprocessor product [1]. This paper describes detailed implementation and measured hardware characteristics of this array and demonstrates a fast error correction scheme. The techniques used balance high efficiency and low latency and thus differ from previous work, in which double-pumped ports perform a write followed by a read in a very large register file [2] or where write ports are double-pumped without cell-level read port reduction [3].


In this article, we sought to empirically validate an instrument for measuring country institutional profiles for the promotion of entrepreneurship in a sample of 254 business students from three emerging economies: Bulgaria, Hungary, and Latvia. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis suggest high reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the instrument. Further, we find important differences in the three dimensions (regulatory, cognitive, and normative) of the institutional profiles across the three emerging economies, reflecting their idiosyncratic cultural norms and values, traditions, and institutional heritage in promoting entrepreneurship. Implications for future research, managerial practice, and public policy are discussed.


Plasmonic catalysis holds promise for opening new reaction pathways inaccessible thermally or for improving the efficiency of chemical processes. We report a gold stripe waveguide along which infrared (λ0 ~ 1350 nanometers) surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) propagate, operating simultaneously as an electrochemical working electrode. Cyclic voltammograms obtained under SPP excitation enable oxidative processes involving energetic holes to be investigated separately from reductive processes involving energetic electrons. Under SPP excitation, redox currents increase by 10×, redox potentials decrease by ~2× and split in correlation with photon energy, and the charge transfer resistance drops by ~2× as measured using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The temperature of the working electrode was monitored in situ, ruling out thermal effects. Chronoamperometry measurements with SPPs modulated at 600 hertz yield a commensurately modulated current response, ruling out thermally enhanced mass transport. Our observations indicate opening of optically controlled nonequilibrium redox channels associated with energetic carrier transfer to the redox species.


The popularity of social media in Indonesia, along with the rise of political Islam, is changing the ways in which people engage with religious matters in the country. In this article, we deploy post-Bourdieuan field theory to explore Indonesia's religious domain as a 'hybrid media space' – a social space mediated by old and new media agents interacting to produce viralized forms of public communication. We undertake this exploration through three viral controversies, or 'social dramas', triggered by a perceived breach of the religious space's order. All three dramas involved political Islamists in contention with various political actors, namely the Muslim senator Fahira Fahmi, the West Sumatran atheist Alexander Aan, and the then governor of Jakarta, 'Ahok'. These examples shed light on the current state of Indonesia's religious space and its multiple mediations, as well as taking field theory into new communicative and religious terrain.


The aim of reconstruction of the webs for syndactyly of the foot is cosmetic improvement, so skin grafting should be avoided. We present our long-term results of 19 feet with simple cutaneous syndactyly in 15 patients who were treated by an open technique. The bottom of the web was covered with a dorsal rectangular flap and the remaining skin defect was left open to epithelialise spontaneously. This took about 4 weeks. After a mean follow-up of 5.7 years (range 3-9), no hypertrophic scar or pigmentation of the skin had developed. Creeping of the web was seen only during the first postoperative year. The final depth of the web satisfied the families of all patients. As the aim of web reconstruction for syndactyly of the foot is purely cosmetic, we conclude that this simple method is reasonable treatment.


Introduction: training of health professionals, particularly nurses, involves the acquisition of clinical skills, management skills and scientific research. Objective: to characterize the role of tutor in the nursing major at Abel Santamaria Cuadrado General Teaching Hospital, Pinar del Rio province during the academic course 2014-2015. Material and methods: a pedagogical bias study based on the materialist-dialectic method integrating the methods of empirical and theoretical level was conducted. The study group consisted of 97 professor-tutors in nursing major and 225 students from second and fifth academic years of the major, a survey was applied. The variables used were: student-tutor relationship, professor-tutors' rank, tutors' functions, and professor-tutor preparedness for their performance and student satisfaction with the care of professor-tutor. Results: the number of professor-tutors per working areas to achieve a studentprofessor-tutor relationship below 5 was considered, not all professors and tutors have teaching categorization and the generality of their functions are not mastered showing not an adequate participation in the methodological preparations planned. Conclusions: the ratio of student-professor-tutor is 2 students per tutors. The largest numbers of professor-tutors are categorized as instructors. Most of the professor-tutors are performing administrative tasks. Among the functions they are performing the one mastered by professors-tutors is the academic consulting. DeCS: Nursing; Faculty.


"Small-cell malignancies of thyroid" is an unsolved dilemma. This term represents an umbrella terminology in thyroid, encompassing for a small group of tumors in which some of them are well-recognized tumors like medullary thyroid carcinoma, poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma, and primary thyroid lymphomas and teratoma, whereas the remaining are less known as primary neuroendocrine carcinoma of thyroid, primary extraskeletal Ewing family tumors, and adamantinoma-like Ewing sarcoma. When the issue comes to evaluate a cytological sample predominantly composed of small-cell morphology, metastatic small-cell carcinomas to thyroid also should be excluded. In this review, our group focused on the main cytomorphological and clinical clues of each entity that help to set up a correct differential diagnosis. The literature discussions were also included for the entities that are not yet recognized by the mother publication WHO. A key point of the issue's simple algorithm based on FNAC with small-cell morphology of thyroid was suggested by the authors.


Although WHO has yet to call the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 infection a pandemic, it has confirmed that the virus is likely to spread to most, if not all, countries. Regardless of terminology, this latest coronavirus epidemic is now seeing larger increases in cases outside China.The novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, which initially began in China, has spread to many countries around the globe, with the number of confirmed cases increasing every day. With a death toll exceeding that of the SARS-CoV outbreak back in 2002 and 2003 in China, 2019-nCoV has led to a public health emergency of international concern, putting all health organizations on high alert. While providing optimal treatment for these patients, careful execution of infection controlmeasures is necessary to prevent nosocomial transmission to other patients and to healthcare workers providing care.Herein, we present on an overview of the currently available information on the pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment of this virus.


Vertebrates lumbered ashore in the Devonian period, perhaps 400 million years ago, using modified swim bladders as lungs. The creatures that crossed this Rubicon interface were probably part of the clade that includes the Dipnoan order, and some of these dipnoans are still with us. Although this order is not the oldest order of fish, it is ancient and has changed little since the Devonian period. Today, the extant dipnoans are represented by the lungfish, with three distinct genera on three of the remnants of Gondwana, including South America, Africa, and Australia. The most primitive representative of these three groups is the Australian species Neoceratodus forsteri (cover image), an animal has changed little over the last 100 million years, thus providing a window to primitive tetrapod vision.

Although N forsteri has been observed walking across land, much like a seal, it is unable to aestivate, or caulk itself in a mucous lined mud case during drought as its fellow genera in Africa and South America can. This primitive trait suggests it is closer to the last common ancestor that led to …


1 Thirteen women taking long term oral contraceptive steroids were studied while taking ampicillin (500 mg three times daily) and compared to a control cycle while not taking ampicillin. 2 There were no significant changes in the plasma concentrations of ethinyloestradiol, levonorgestrel, follicle stimulating hormone or progesterone, although lower concentrations of ethinyloestradiol were noted in two women. 3 We conclude that most patients taking oral contraceptive steroids do not need to take alternative contraceptive precautions while taking ampicillin.


High-accuracy absolute localization for a team of vehicles is essential when accomplishing various kinds of tasks. As a promising approach, collaborative localization fuses the individual motion measurements and the inter-vehicle measurements to collaboratively estimate the states. In this paper, we focus on the range-only collaborative localization, which specifies the inter-vehicle measurements as inter-vehicle ranging measurements. We first investigate the observability properties of the system and derive that to achieve bounded localization errors, two vehicles are required to remain static like external infrastructures. Under the guide of the observability analysis, we then propose our range-only collaborative localization system which categorize the ground vehicles into two static vehicles and dynamic vehicles. The vehicles are connected utilizing a UWB network that is capable of both producing inter-vehicle ranging measurements and communication. Simulation results validate the observability analysis and demonstrate that collaborative localization is capable of achieving higher accuracy when utilizing the inter-vehicle measurements. Extensive experimental results are performed for a team of 3 and 5 vehicles. The real-world results illustrate that our proposed system enables accurate and real-time estimation of all vehicles' absolute poses.


The comparison of Weibull distributions with unequal shape parameters, in the case of right censored survival data obtained from independent samples, is considered within the framework of Bayesian statistical methodology. The procedures are illustrated with the example of a mortality study where a new treatment is compared to a placebo. The posterior distributions about relevant parameters, which may provide support for a conclusion of clinical superiority of the treatment, and the predictive distributions, which may guide decision about early stopping at an interim analysis, are considered for a class of appropriate priors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The association between COVID-19 infection and the cardiovascular system has been well described. Strict precautions limit the use of formal echocardiography in this setting. Information on the importance of the utilization of a hand-held point-of-care cardiac ultrasound (POCCUS) for cardiac evaluation in these patients is scarce.

 To investigate the utilization of hand-held echocardiography in COVID-19 hospitalized patients and the association between cardiac pathologies and outcomes.

 Consecutive patients diagnosed with COVID-19 underwent POCCUS evaluation using a hand-held ultrasound within 24 hours of admission at our institute, throughout March-May 2020. According to the POCCUS results, the patients were divided into two groups: 'Normal' and 'Abnormal' (including left or right ventricular dysfunction or enlargement, or moderate/severe valvular regurgitation/stenosis).

 Among 102 patients, 26 (25.5%) had an abnormal POCCUS study. They were older, with more co-morbidities, cardiovascular disease history, chronic medical therapy, and more severe presenting symptoms, as compared to the group with a normal echocardiography exam. Individual and composite endpoints (advanced ventilatory support, acute decompensated heart failure, shock, or death) are presented in Table 1. Multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusting for pertinent variables revealed that abnormal echocardiography at presentation was independently associated with the composite endpoint OR=4.63 (95% CI 1.51–14.15, p=0.007).

 Abnormal echocardiography results in COVID-19 infection settings are associated with a higher burden of medical comorbidities and independently predict major adverse endpoints. Hand-held POCCUS at presentation can be utilized as an important tool for risk stratification for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

 Type of funding sources: Private hospital(s). Main funding source(s): SZMC Scientific


Microscope slides were prepared to confirm the presence of ferning from a 32-week gestation with possible premature rupture of the membranes. Although no amniotic fluid was seen in the vagina, an atypical ferning pattern was produced and was again reproducible with fingerprints on the glass slide. Guidelines to recognize and avoid this source of error are outlined.


The aim of the article is to identify canonical correlations among performance indicators calculated from a base of accounting statements prepared in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP), Brazilian accounting standards (BR GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Descriptive research with a quantitative approach was carried out. A research sample of 50 companies was selected, including 17 Brazilian companies listed on the Bovespa's Board of Corporate Governance and 33 English companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, all of which trade American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange. The results demonstrate divergence between companies and indicators in relation to differences calculated in performance indicators as well as statistically significant canonical correlations in both groups researched. The performance indicators of Brazilian and English companies were not affected in any significant way, despite divergences between BR GAAP and US GAAP and between IFRS and US GAAP. However, stands out as the main limitation that no company listed on Bovespa was found in the lists of European stock exchanges, which was necessary in order to verify the differences in these companies' indicators in the conversion of their accounting statements from BR GAAP to US GAAP and IFRS. This required the adoption of an alternative (i.e., canonical correlations). The main implication of this study is that the impact of IFRS adoption by Brazilian companies may be less than the expected, in terms of improvement of accounting quality and cost of adoption. The article advances research on a comparative study of the financial disclosures made according to Brazilian, American and international accounting standards, supported by an analysis of performance indicators calculated from accounting statements prepared from and based on these standards.

 Key words: Performance indicators, accounting statements, BR GAAP, US GAAP, IFRS, canonical correlations.


Protein aggregation has been increasingly recognized as a problem limiting the effi cacy and shelf life of protein therapeutics and as an indicator and cause of numerous disease states. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms behind aggregation has become a central focus of investigation in order to improve therapeutics and to understand the relationship between aggregate formation and cellular toxicity in protein misfolding diseases. Innovations in analysis techniques, particularly of solid state materials, and computational molecular modeling approaches have provided higher resolution information about the structure of aggregates as well as key insights into the mechanisms of aggregate formation. These breakthroughs, coupled with understanding gained from solution experiments and biological systems, have just begun to enable strategies to combat aggregation, including the design and evaluation of peptides and small molecules that inhibit the growth or that facilitate the dissociation of aggregates. This chapter describes the fundamental properties of proteins and the current understanding of underlying mechanisms that infl uence native folding and the formation of aggregates.


The urban human settlement environment system is a fragile unstable ecosystem.Compared with the natural one,the urban human settlement environment system has many unique characteristics,such as a high consumption of energy and material,serious environmental pollution and a low reserve of natural resources.It is the preferred strategy for many countries,especially for the developing countries,to give energetic support to improve the level of urbanization,while there are still some other things making people anxious,such as the potential eco-environmental problems caused by rapid urbanization.The rapid urbanization process has resulted in urban human settlement environment even worsening.The spatial differences in urban human settlement environment security are getting increasingly conspicuous.This paper analyzes the pros and cons of some causal chain structure models,such as PSR,DSR and DPSIR,and builds a new urban human settlement environment security assessment model—DPSIRM(Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response-Management) model,a causal network model combined with GIS spatial analysis method,which reflects the health state of the urban human settlement environment system in Dalian City.We can draw following conclusions.The network model is proposed by way of studying the characteristics of chain models in the past,in terms of the complexity of urban human settlement environment system.A assessment indicators system of the "Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response-Management" model was built,which presents that human beings play an essential role in urban human settlement environment security.DPSIRM model reveals the intrinsic relations among all indicators and intrinsic relations between the problem of urban human settlement environment security and the indicators.A fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) is applied to indicate weights by a comprehensive and comparative method for results.It is shown that the state of ecological health and spatial differences of urban human settlement environment security with GIS spatial analysis method,as well as the urban management play the essential role in the urban human settlement environment security.


What is the consolatory function of conceptions of the afterlife? In order to counteract widespread misperceptions about consolation, which is negatively associated with religion and played out against philosophy, I examine the interface between ancient philosophical consolation and early Christian consolation. I suggest that both modes of consolation are closely related, sharing important characteristics, inter alia by setting the idea of a fulfilled life against the threat of death and by describing the fulfilled life in terms of a revisionist, virtue-centred account of human flourishing. I argue that conceptions of the afterlife are an optional component of ancient consolations. Instead of shifting the focus away from worldly life (as has frequently been claimed), they help to 'intensify' it. Their main thrust is to dignify fundamental life-choices and thus to facilitate biographical closure. arguments point to the materiality of the soul and show that there is no pre-existing immortal soul which could exist in separation from the body, material constellations (including material souls) might recur in cosmic cycles, so that the same individual might exist a number of times. Lucretius' answer points to the necessity of mental continuity between the different recurrences that would be needed for identity across those recurrences. Since this mental continuity must be lacking, cyclical recurrence cannot secure a sense of continuity.


often show a wide variation in results and they are rarely large enough to give a realistic measure of mortality risks. The chance of death during first-trimester legal abortion is now so small that it requires a situation where large numbers of operations are monitored to assess the danger with any degree of accuracy. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, has assembled information from throughout the U.S.A. It is a government body organized by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and it has access to all the death registration in the country.


Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) first appeared in the 1990s, where crumbed rubber made from waste tyres was used as a partial aggregate replacement in paving concrete. CRC has better acoustic insulation, higher toughness, better impact resistance and reduced shrinkage and cracking when compared with traditional concrete. However, due to the weak interfacial bonds between the cement paste and tyre rubber, there is a reduction in compressive strength of concrete manufactured with rubber aggregates, which has to date limited the application of CRC in structural engineering. This paper addresses one of the potential structural applications of CRC for wall panel construction. An innovative composite panel with external steel skin filled internally with light-weight CRC has been designed, constructed and tested. Because of the reversible elasticity properties of rubber materials and the significantly increased damping properties, the new composite CRC panel is expected to have potential advantages in structures sensitive to vibration and impact. In this research, the static moment capacity and compression capacity of the CRC composite panel was tested. As a second step in the study, windborne debris impact tests were carried out to calibrate the impact capacity of the CRC panel. The test results verify that the newly developed CRC panel exhibits superior dynamic performance without any significant loss in static load-carrying capacities when compared with traditional lightweight composite panels.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The biologic basis for intelligence rests to a large degree on the capacity for efficient integration of information across the cerebral network. We aimed to measure the relationship between network architecture and intelligence in the pediatric, epileptic brain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were retrospectively identified with the following: 1) focal epilepsy; 2) brain MR imaging at 3T, including resting-state functional MR imaging; and 3) full-scale intelligence quotient measured by a pediatric neuropsychologist. The cerebral cortex was parcellated into approximately 700 gray matter network "nodes." The strength of a connection between 2 nodes was defined by the correlation between their blood oxygen level–dependent time-series. We calculated the following topologic properties: clustering coefficient, transitivity, modularity, path length, and global efficiency. A machine learning algorithm was used to measure the independent contribution of each metric to the intelligence quotient after adjusting for all other metrics. RESULTS: Thirty patients met the criteria (4–18 years of age); 20 patients required anesthesia during MR imaging. After we accounted for age and sex, clustering coefficient and path length were independently associated with full-scale intelligence quotient. Neither motion parameters nor general anesthesia was an important variable with regard to accurate intelligence quotient prediction by the machine learning algorithm. A longer history of epilepsy was associated with shorter path lengths (P = .008), consistent with reorganization of the network on the basis of seizures. Considering only patients receiving anesthesia during machine learning did not alter the patterns of network architecture contributing to global intelligence. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the physiologic relevance of imaging-based metrics of network architecture in the pathologic, developing brain.


The results presented in the study refer to the prevention and fighting of wireworms (Agriotes spp.) through the method of chemical corn seed treatment. The newest chemical products have been selected in order to analyze their efficiency against attacks on both the germinating seed and the underground stem. The results obtained in the field, both those regarding efficiency as well as production were compared to those obtained in the untreated reference lot, as well as to a standard product, and the final data was statistically processed through the method of variance analysis.


The transportation sector across the globe has witnessed massive changes from the conventional "ICE (Internal Combustion Engine)" vehicles to battery driven electric vehicles (EVs) in the last two decades. While sustainability is the need of the hour and there exists a plethora of research analysing sustainable fuel alternativesandEVs,onecannotdisregardtheinfluenceofconsumerbehaviourand colossalresponsiveness towards this growing trend. Its adoption, however, has been challenged by the dilemma that as long as the number of charging stations is insufficient, manufacturers will not be incentivised to enter the EVmarket. Subsequently, a low number of EVs will fail to stimulate sufficient demand for charging stations, resulting in a 'chicken or the egg' quandary. In the case of India, the shift to EVs has been gradual as opposed to Norway, which has seen much rapid response and infrastructure readiness. By delving into questions surrounding technological factors and the legal-political schemes that impact prospective owners' choices towards EVs, the research carried out will help ascertain the factors responsible for the growth of EVmarket in two distinct economies. This paper presents a comprehensive review of literature based on consumer preferences for EVs aiming to better inform policy-makers as well as give direction to further research. An attempt is also made to analyse Norway's success story from the Indian standpoint and delve deeper into the interrogation to better understand what factors influence consumer preferences in the Indian market


Reinjection is one of the most important methods to dispose fluid associated with oil and natural gas production. Disposed fluids include produced water, hydraulic fracture flow back fluids, and drilling mud fluids. Several formation damage mechanisms are associated with the injection including damage due to filter cake formed at the formation face, bacteria activity, fluid incompatibility, free gas content, and clay activation. Fractured injection is typically preferred over matrix injection because a hydraulic fracture will enhance the well injectivity and extend the well life. In a given formation, the fracture dimensions change with different injection flow rates due to the change in injection pressures. Also, for a given flow rate, the skin factor varies with time due to the fracture propagation. In this study, well test and injection history data of a class II disposal well in south Texas were used to develop an equation that correlates the skin factor to the injection flow rate and injection time. The results show that the skin factor decreases with time logarithmically as the fracture propagates. At higher injection flow rates, the skin factor achieved is lower due to the larger fracture dimensions that are developed at higher injection flow rates. The equations developed in this study can be applied for any water injector after calibrating the required coefficients using injection step rate test (SRT) data.


With the improvement of the traditional Chinese medicine fumigation (TCMF), more and more people are studying lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LIDH) by TCMF. In order to clarify the thermodynamic mechanism of TCMF to LIDH and provide a model reference for individualized diagnosis, the lower control system is compiled by the microprocessor, and the upper control system is compiled by computer technology of VB. In this new system, the medical information of patients is recorded in the databases by the upper control system, and clinical diagnosis and treatment experience are packaged in the lower control system. The simulation results and clinical examples show that the new control system of TCMF has better clinical efficacy for LIDH patients, which not only effectively improves the pain symptoms of LIDH patients but is also economical and safe.


In spite of the wide use and fundamental importance of the classical Gibbs adsorption theorem, its validity has never been given adequate experimental demonstration. Until quite recently the principal means available for testing this theorem was the "moving bubble method", developed by Donnan and Barker, and later by McBain, Davies, and DuBois. Almost without exception this method has given results many times greater than the values calculated from either the exact or the approximate Gibbs equation. A recent exhaustive investigation of this dynamic method by DuBois and Todd has shown, moreover, that the results for moving bubbles may be varied and controlled over a wide range by merely altering the size or speed of the bubbles or the amount of accompanying liquid. Thus the results, although definite and reproducible, vary greatly with the experimental conditions, and hence they bear no definite relation either to the Gibbs value or to that for mono-molecular adsorption. It is evident that a moving surface carries in general an amount of adsorbed material which is much greater than that predicted by the Gibbs theorem. Similar high results are reported by Seymour, Tartar, and Wright for moving droplets of benzene in water, which may carry with them as much soap as would correspond to twenty or more mono-layers.


Advances in lithography and thinner SiO/sub 2/ gate oxides have enabled the scaling of MOS technologies to sub-0.25-/spl mu/m feature size. High dielectric constant materials, such as Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/, have been suggested as a substitute for SiO/sub 2/ as the gate material beyond t/sub ox//spl ap/25 /spl Aring/. However, the Si-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ material system suffers from unacceptable levels of bulk fixed charge, high density of interface trap states, and low silicon interface carrier mobility. In this paper we present a solution to these issues through a novel synthesis of a thermally grown SiO/sub 2/(10 /spl Aring/)-Ta/sub 2/O/sub 5/ (MOCVD-50 /spl Aring/)-SiO/sub 2/ (LPCVD-5 /spl Aring/) stacked dielectric. Transistors fabricated using this stacked gate dielectric exhibit excellent subthreshold behaviour, saturation characteristics, and drive currents.


Recall that last time, we saw that there were two fundamentally different kinds of particles: "bosons," which were force particles like photons; and "fermions," which were matter particles like quarks. In a system of identical non-interacting particles, we calculate the amplitudes for states of the system in future configurations in fundamentally different ways for these two kinds of particles. Observe, in Figure 1, the two particles could enter the same configuration by either taking paths a and b or by taking the paths labeled c and d:


The development of a contraceptive vaccine based on a gamete-specific antigen requires knowledge of the ability of the antigen to elicit an immune response that inhibits fertilization. A well-defined immune response, as elicited by a synthetic peptide comprising a dominant B-cell epitope coupled to a common promiscuous T-cell epitope, might be preferable. In this study, the immunodominant B-cell epitope of sperm antigen Sp17 has been identified and synthesized as a chimeric peptide with the promiscuous T-cell epitope bovine RNase[94-104] at the N terminal. Immunization of female BALB/c mice with this peptide induced a dose-dependent reduction in fertility. Although antibodies to recombinant and native Sp17 were elicited in these mice, there was no strict correlation between the level of these antibodies and the reduction in fertility. Moreover, the induction of infertility was strain-specific since no effect on fertility could be induced in B6AF1 mice. To understand the mechanism behind this apparent strain-specific infertility induction, a more extended study on both the humoral and the cellular immune response to the chimeric peptide was performed. The antigen-specific T-cell response and the levels of antigen-specific cytokines are the major factors that affect fertility outcome.


The effects of pre-treatment and preservation methods on the mineral composition and nutritional quality of bitter gourd leaves harvested from the wild and around homestead were investigated. The pre-treatments consisted of 30 sec, 2 and 5 min immersion of leaves in boiling water followed by one of oven, sun or air-drying as preservation methods. Dried materials were subsequently milled and analyzed for mineral and nutritional values. Results revealed that the fat contents in both the samples were low and comparable. The mean fibre content in leaf samples from the wild was 11.63±2.11%, while that from the homestead was 8.81±1.64%. Elevated levels of protein content were obtained from both the sources; being significantly higher in the wild (29.01±3.81%) than from the homestead (24.73±1.84%) samples. The mineral composition of the samples showed highly marked variation across the different pre-treatment methods; with elevated level of iron and zinc. Immersion of leaf samples in boiling water for 30 sec, followed by oven drying as a preservation method resulted in a marginal increase in the mineral composition. These results underpin the relevance of indigenous knowledge practices by rural dwellers in the preservation of inherent nutritional values of important traditional vegetables for improved nutrition. There is an urgent need to ensure the conservation of this important indigenous vegetable crop through promoting increase cultivation at the level of small-scale farmers as a priority medicinal plant for nutritional security, income generation and the prevention of its extinction.


We identify 47,600 clusters of galaxies from photometric data of Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and SuperCOSMOS, among which 26,125 clusters are recognized for the first time and mostly in the sky outside the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) area. About 90% of massive clusters of M_{500}>3*10^{14} M_{\odot} in the redshift range of 0.025<z<0.3 have been detected from such survey data, and the detection rate drops down to 50% for clusters with a mass of M_{500}~1*10^{14} M_{\odot}. Monte Carlo simulations show that the false detection rate for the whole cluster sample is less than 5%. By cross-matching with ROSAT and XMM-Newton sources, we get 779 new X-ray cluster candidates which have X-ray counterparts within a projected offset of 0.2 Mpc.


The basketball is a situational sport classified among activities laying on alternative aerobe and anaerobic processes, with an important participation of the muscular mass and an accentuated prevalence of the alactacid anaerobic process. The purpose of this work is to analyze and evaluate the correlations between the various variables of an anthropometric character and the differences in performance between the roles, testing a group of senior high-level basketball players, subdividing them according to their role within of the team. Data were collected by 40 basketball players (Senior elite), divided into four groups: Power Forward (n = 12; age = 24.5 + 1.4 y.), Pivot (n = 12; age 24.1 + 1.1 y.); Playmaker/Guard (n = 8; age = 24.4 + 1.3 y.), and Small Forward (n = 8; age = 23.5 + 1.2 y.). Morphological data were height, weight, body mass index (BMI), Abalakov test modified. The explosive strength was measured with the method of Bosco: squat jump (SJ), counter movement jump (CMJ) and CMJ with arms (CMJas). Jumping performance and of coordination was determined through the difference between the measurement on the technical action of the shot block with one hand (St) and the height with one stretched arm (AB1); then, the measurement of the technical action of the rebound at two hands (Rb) and the height with two stretched arms (AB2). The results of the anthropometric parameters showed significant differences in height (F = 4.75, p <0.006), height with a stretched arm AB1 (F = 3.60; p <0.02) and height with two stretched arms AB2 (F = 3.66; p <0.02). In the comparison by role we did not obtain any statistical significance regarding the Bosco test. Results of Abalakov test modified showed significant differences in St (F = 7.29; p<.001) and in Rb (F = 3,95; p <0.01). With the Bosco test the information obtained concerns the assessment of the athlete's jumping capacity not related to specific technical gestures; differently with the Abalakov Test, has provided precise indications on the elevation abilities connected to the technical gesture of the blocked shot and of the rebound. A high correlation was found between the results of the anthropometric parameters and those of the Abalakov test. In senior high-level basketball, the anthropometric profile of the players is directly related to specific variables which must be used for training planning and for the choice of players in setting up a team. Modern basketball, due to the increasing intensity of the game rhythm, increasingly engages the anaerobic alactacid component; it is above all for this reason that we need more and more powerful athletes, who are both fast and capable of high performance in jumps. This is the reason why assessment, training and continuous monitoring of jumping skills are a decisive aspect of performance.


A simple numerical method is developed to calculate the Floquet eigenstate and the quasienergy; the quantum Wigner function and the Husimi function in phase space in the atomic stabilization dynamics have also been studied within the Kramers-Henneberger reference frame. The characteristic Wehrl entropy is introduced and used to measure the spreading and ionization of those obtained Floquet eigenstate wave packets.


This work addresses the leader election problem in distributed systems where processes can crash and recover. More precisely, it focuses on implementing the Omega failure detector class, which provides a leader election functionality, in the crash-recovery failure model. The concepts of quiescence and near-quiescence for an algorithm implementing Omega are defined. Depending on the use or not of stable storage, the property satisfied by unstable processes, i.e., those that crash and recover infinitely often, varies. Two algorithms implementing Omega are presented. In the first algorithm, which is quiescent and uses stable storage, eventually and permanently unstable processes agree on the leader with correct processes. In the second algorithm, which is near-quiescent and does not use stable storage, unstable processes agree on the leader with correct processes after receiving a first message from a correct process. An adaptation of this second algorithm that avoids the disagreement of unstable processes by providing instability awareness is also presented.


This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 14171 "Evaluating Software Verification Systems: Benchmarks and Competitions". The seminar brought together a large group of current and future competition organizers and participants, benchmark maintainers, as well as practitioners and researchers interested in the topic. The seminar was conducted as a highly interactive event, with a wide spectrum of contributions from participants, including talks, tutorials, posters, tool demonstrations, hands-on sessions, and a live competition.


Experiments have been carried out on ribonuclease A in which refolding in high concentrations of guanidine hydrochloride is either preceded or not preceded by a short ammonium sulfate pulse. Application of the pulse causes the rapid formation of the nativelike intermediate, and the effect of this pulse was determined by using three different methods for monitoring the subsequent refolding reaction: direct absorbance, direct fluorescence, and a double-jump fluorescence unfolding assay which is specific for the isomerization of proline-93. The effect of the pulse is quite different depending on the method of detection. With absorbance detection, the pulse causes a large reduction in the refolding amplitude with no change in the kinetics of the decay curve, while with the fluorescence unfolding assay, the pulse causes no change in the refolding amplitude but produces a large acceleration in the decay kinetics. The results with direct fluorescence are intermediate with some reduction seen in the refolding amplitude and some acceleration in the decay kinetics. The results of these experiments are simulated by using the simple model of Lin and Brandts (1984) [Lin, L.-N., & Brandts, J. F. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 5713] in which proline-93 must be in the correct cis configuration before folding to the native or nativelike state can occur. In all cases, the simulations accurately predict the experimental results for all three methods of detection, without any adjustment of parameter values from those published earlier.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Good newesjrom Fraunce. French anti-League propaganda in late Elizabethan England. By Lisa Ferraro Parmalee. Pp. ix + 204 incl. 2 figs. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1996. £29.50. 1 878822 65 9 This book seeks to describe the transmission of absolutist and proto-absolutist ideas from France into late Elizabethan England, sowing seeds which later germinated in debates about royal power during the first half of the seventeenth century. Parmalee argues that the importation of these ideas was both a reflection of English interest in the French wars of religion and an unintended consequence of efforts by the Elizabethan regime to harness French criticisms of the Catholic League for its own political purposes. This work is certainly a useful reminder that Elizabethan readers were exposed to an outpouring of newsletters about French affairs and translations of French polemics in the 1580s and 1590s, but it is ultimately a rather light-weight book. Physically it is slight, the text (only 166 pages) is bulked out by double-spaced footnotes and fully a quarter of it has previously been published in article form. The content is also somewhat disappointing. The book is heavily indebted to the work of earlier scholars, especially J. H. M. Salmon, and few of the ideas expressed seem very novel or surprising. Comments on the 150 or so works relating to France which form the basis of this study are necessarily brief. Parmalee does make a case for the Archpriest Controversy having a significant intellectual impact beyond the strictly religious sphere. In the process of encouraging the publication of Appellant propaganda, influential members of the Elizabethan establishment were exposed to politique ideas just at the very time when they were contemplating the transfer of royal power from Elizabeth to James vi of Scotland. Nevertheless, this book should be seen as only a starting-point for investigating the impact of French ideas on England, rather than any kind of definitive statement. Evidence about printers and covert publishing to be found even in readily accessible manuscript sources such as State Papers Domestic and the Cecil papers has been overlooked. There is also no recognition that the circulation of manuscripts (i.e. scribal publication) remained a crucially important means by which ideas were transmitted in this period, as demonstrated by the brilliant work of Harold Love and (more recently) H. R. Woudhuysen. It is to be hoped that Lisa Ferraro Parmalee will take up the challenge in her future endeavours because this is an interesting and important subject.


The aim of this contribution is to summarize our knowledge of the morphology of the basement membrane (BM). The first step in this direction is the attempt to define this term. The BM is composed of the Lamina lucida, densa, and fibroreticularis. Subsequently, the historical development of this term is discussed. Our main interest is, of course, focused on the description of the BM‐structure up to the macromolecular level and the special forms of this structure. This is supplemented by discussing its chemical composition and establishing a relationship between morphology and biochemistry. The obtained findings yielded some indications as to the molecular composition of the BM which may serve for the construction of "models." The composition of the Lamina lucida (L.l.) and the Lamina or Pars fibroreticularis (L.f.) must be discussed separately, since, if present, they show a different and strongly varying structure (L.f.). An important aspect is the function of this extracellular layer which comprises mechanical tasks up to inductive effects. Finally, the concepts of the formation of the BM, especially of the Lamina densa (L.d.), are summarized. It obviously consists of a sequence of individual steps which starts with expression and secretion of the L.d.‐components and is followed by an induction of integrin expression. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Palm bunch management and disposal as solid waste have been studied for the amount discharged from selected palm oil mills in Abia State. The process of personal interviews was conducted and responses evaluated and tabulated. A correlation was drawn between the responses and previous research work on the use of palm bunch ash as admixture in the stabilization of soil for road construction works in Abia State. Palm bunch as solid waste has proven to be a good material in both ash and nanosized ash additive to soil in improving its strength properties which satisfied the standards for the materials' use in pavement construction and rehabilitation. The results have encouraged the Ministries of Environment and Works to collaborate in this task to convert solid waste to usable materials in Geoengineering and "Geowaste" Engineering.


PURPOSE
Dosimetric gamma-analysis used for QA of complex radiotherapy plans tests the dosimetric equivalence of a delivered plan with the treatment planning system (TPS) optimized plan. It does not examine whether a dosimetric difference results in any radiobiological difference. This study introduces a method to test the radiobiological and dosimetric equivalence between a delivered and the TPS optimized plan.

METHODS
Six head and neck and seven lung cancer VMAT or IMRT plans optimized for patient treatment were calculated and delivered to an ArcCheck phantom. ArcCheck measured dose distributions were compared with the TPS calculated dose distributions using a 2-D gamma-analysis. Dose volume histograms (DVHs) for various patient structures were obtained by using measured data in 3DVH software and compared against the TPS calculated DVHs using 3-D gamma analysis. DVH data were used in the Poisson model to calculate tumor control probability (TCP) for the treatment targets and in the sigmoid dose response model to calculate normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) for the normal structures.

RESULTS
Two-D and three-D gamma passing rates among six H&N patient plans differed by 0 to 2.7% and among seven lung plans by 0.1 to 4.5%. Average ± SD TCPs based on measurement and TPS were 0.665±0.018 and 0.674±0.044 for H&N, and 0.791±0.027 and 0.733±0.031 for lung plans, respectively. Differences in NTCPs were usually negligible. The differences in dosimetric results, TCPs and NTCPs were insignificant.

CONCLUSION
The 2-D and 3-D gamma-analysis based agreement between measured and planned dose distributions may indicate their dosimetric equivalence. Small and insignificant differences in TCPs and NTCPs based on measured and planned dose distributions indicate the radiobiological equivalence between the measured and optimized plans. However, patient plans showing larger differences between 2-D and 3-D gamma-analysis can help us make a more definite conclusion through our ongoing research with a larger number of patients.


Brazil occupies a unique position among the major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting countries due to its low per-capita energy-related GHG emissions (2.4 tons CO2 in 2014), attributable to abundant clean energy sources. Recently, deforestation in Brazil has slowed considerably, to the point where forestry has ceased to be the major source of emissions. Brazil has reduced its overall GHG emissions by 41% from 2005 to 2012, and its total GHG emissions per capita decreased from a high in 2004 of 14.4 tCO2e to an estimated 6.5 tCO2e in 2012. Brazil faces the challenge of building upon its historically low energy-related GHG emission levels through new decarbonization strategies, while pursuing higher living standards for its population. There is a huge potential to further reduce national GHG emissions through the implementation of a wide spectrum of mitigation measures. While several observers from the scientific community have a different view, Brazilian government considers that the country has been playing both a pioneer and a leader role in ambitious climate action, including the submission of a quite ambitious intended nationally determined contribution, and a constructive role played in COP21, joining the High Ambition club at the end of the negotiations. Several motivations exist for Brazil joining other 'climate clubs' focusing on innovative financial mechanisms and sustainable energy and forestry technologies. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e439. doi: 10.1002/wcc.439

For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.


Multilayers of nanoburger structures of silver island films-SiO(2)-silver island films (SIFs-SiO(2)-SIFs) were used as substrates to study the fluorescence of close-proximity fluorophores. Compared to single-layered SIFs, multilayer nanoburgers exhibit several distinctive properties including a significantly enhanced fluorescence intensity, decreased lifetimes, and increased fluorphore photostability by simply varying the dielectric layer thickness while the SIF layer is kept constant. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations show that the maximum electric field intensity can be tuned by varying the distance between the silver particles. Enhanced fluorescence emission coupled with a reduced fluorophore lifetime suggests that both an electric field and plasmon-coupling component are the underlying mechanisms for nanoburger-based metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF). This tunable multilayer nanoburger structure holds great potential for applications in biology, microscopy, imaging, and biomedical research, given the current uses of MEF.


This Guideline is a tool to address issues on EST in national and sectorial policies and plans to relieve the negative effects of climate change in LAC. Its main objectives are: i) To be a practical tool for LAC countries to adopt policies and plans with regards to the identification, assessment, and adoption of EST to achieve climate change policy objectives. ii) Raise the number of countries using models and tools to assess technologies. iii) Facilitate the scenario analysis of technology inclusion as a climate change planning tool, using models that help decision makers to answer questions, nationally and internationally, and to understand the environmental, economic, and social impact of adopting these policies in their own countries, the region, and the rest of the world.