Purpose Many patients with asthma still have insufficient disease control, despite the availability of effective treatment options. A substantial proportion of patients appear to rely more on short-acting beta2-agonist (SABA) rather than on anti-inflammatory maintenance treatment. The aim of this study was to describe differences in indicators of asthma symptoms and exacerbations among patients using more or less SABA than the guideline-recommended threshold of <3 times/week. Patients and Methods Data from Dutch respondents in the European REcognise Asthma and LInk to Symptoms and Experience (REALISE) survey were used in this post hoc analysis. The survey included asthma patients aged 18–50 years with at least two prescriptions for their asthma in the past two years. SABA use was categorized into two groups: <3 (low-SABA users) or ≥3 (high-SABA users) times in the last week. Results Of the 736 asthma patients, 21% did not use SABA and 19% used SABA 1 to 2 times (all low SABA users) and 60% used SABA ≥3 times (high SABA users) in the last week. The majority of high and low SABA users also reported using an ICS-containing treatment. Significant differences were found for all indicators related to exacerbations (p<0.001): high SABA users more frequently used antibiotics and oral steroids, more frequently visited the emergency departments or needed an overnight hospital stay. Indicators of asthma symptoms were not significantly different between both groups. Conclusion The majority of a Dutch asthmatic population reported high SABA use and had frequent moderate/severe exacerbations. More effective interventions are needed to change healthcare providers' and patients' behaviours to improve care and reduce SABA (over)use.


Use of high permittivity dielectrics with antennas is known to reduce their operating frequency but also introduces side effects such as reduced gain and bandwidth. This paper presents a miniaturization scheme for a 15 cm (6 inch) square circularly polarized (CP), cavity-backed antenna using textured dielectric loading and a folded metallic strip feed. The proposed design has an operational frequency f, around 500 MHz implying a linear size of 0.25lambda0. The challenge in designing such a small size antenna is to increase bandwidth (10-15%) while retaining a gain of 2-4 dBi. By carefully positioning high permittivity textured dielectrics within the aperture in conjunction with shape design, we show that bandwidth and gain are retained as compared to comparable size antennas in the literature. As part of our design, we present parametric studies through computer simulations and a prototype antenna is fabricated and measured for verification


The aim of this research was to assess the effect of nitrogen and carbon dioxide as well as of two methods of their application, i.e. the gas blanket method and the flushing method on the oxidation rate of the fully refined rapeseed oil. Both gases effectively reduced the oxidative changes in the tested rapeseed oil, however, carbon dioxide proved to be more effective in protecting the oil against oxidation compared to nitrogen. The peroxide values obtained in the Schaal oven test and the long-term storage test were, in both methods, significantly lower when using carbon dioxide than when using nitrogen. In the long storing test, carbon dioxide significantly reduced the p-anisidine value compared to nitrogen, regardless of the method used. The continuous flushing of oil with nitrogen or carbon dioxide protected the oil against oxidation almost completely, even at high temperatures (120°C). The oxygen dissolved in oil does not have any impact on oil oxidation.


The major hepatobiliary infections (excluding the viral hepatitides) include amebic and pyogenic liver abscess and cholangitis. Little new information has been published in the area of cholangitis during the last several years. In contrast, the clinical presentation and management of liver abscess have evolved considerably, not only in the last several years but also during a more extended period spanning the last two decades. In the United States, amebic liver abscess occurs largely in individuals from endemic areas or in those traveling to endemic areas. Recent data suggest that patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are at an increased incidence of amebic liver abscess. New serologic tests and molecular techniques are being added to the diagnostic armamentarium for amebic liver abscess. In most cases, amebic liver abscess is associated with an excellent prognosis (up to 100% survival) if properly managed. Pyogenic liver abscess, although commonly occurring in patients with known biliary tract disease, is often cryptogenic in origin (ie, no clear causal factor can be identified) or often is caused by underlying medical disorders. An emerging population of patients with pyogenic liver abscess includes those with complications of aggressive interventions (hepatic chemoembolization, cryoablation, liver transplantation). Pyogenic liver abscess was predominantly managed by surgical methods up until the early 1980s, but almost entirely has changed to being managed by interventional techniques; in 2000, this trend has continued. In contrast to amebic liver abscess, pyogenic liver abscess is associated with greater morbidity and mortality, ostensibly caused by the severity of the underlying disease in many patients. However, it should be emphasized that the prognosis of patients with pyogenic liver abscess, who do not have underlying comorbid conditions, is excellent.


The mechanism leading to the observed coexistence of gaps and narrow ringlets in the planetary rings is found. It is based upon the quasi-stationary radial drift of the matter under action of two forces in the disk plane: the Coriolis force and the Reynolds stresses. To an accuracy of the factor of 2 the first force coincides with the Lorentz force, therefore the radial drift in rings is similar to the gradient drift of plasma in the magnetic field. The second force is produced by the wave generated by the nearby satellite in the resonance position. In inertial systems, the second force alone causes a matter flow in its direction, called acoustic streaming. Since the radial drift is caused by nonlinear time-averaged force of high-frequency harmonic interactions in the wave, it exists in the wave propagation zone: from the birth place of the wave-the resonance position, up to the reflection point of the wave, where its group velocity vanishes. Our estimations show that the size of the density wave propagation zone corresponding to the density wave which had been formerly generated the 2:1 orbital resonance with Mimas is consistent with the width of the Cassini Division. In our case the nature of the radial drift is such that first of all it clears out the farthest from the resonance position; later, the closer areas also get affected by the drift. The zone closest to the resonance position itself is the last to be involved in the process. The matter carried away by the drift is partially accumulated near the resonance position forming a narrow dense ringlet. (c) 1996 American Institute of Physics.


A new finite element method is explored to model crack propagation in a silicon substrate bonded with a stress-inducing layer. This approach is based on the level-set method coupled with anisotropic remeshing to define the crack faces and tip. Furthermore, the Gθ method is used for computing the strain energy release rate and the propagation direction. Simulations are performed in a monolithic Lagrangian framework


Children account for 22% of presentations to Emergency Departments in Australia, the majority presenting to mixed departments. A diverse group of clinicians looks after these children. In this review, we examine the different techniques and approaches to implementing education curricula and professional development within these emergency departments with a particular focus on bedside teaching, professional coaching, skills maintenance, e‐learning and simulation.


The theft cases toward the thing of tour like status as a part of temple at Tulungagung, and the last is the theft cases of the status at solo show that the human are clever and charmingly round which have much of ways in doing of the theft.
The problems in this research is: 1. How the rules of law protection toward the object of tour for the temple at Tulungagung, 2. How the accomplishment of law protection toward the object of tour for the temple at Tulungagung, 3. what the problem faced in accomplishment of the law protection for the temple at Tulungagung and how to solve those problems.
This resets uses sociologist judicial method. Data gathering techniques that are used are interview with respondent/sample from population of the temple of Tulungagung and observation directly the object of research at Tulungagung as the lace for gathering the primary of data. Then, analyzing the data using descriptive method.
From two sample of the tem[le that ever lost, the eases of the theft it self were ; a. There was noting protection for the temple as one of the object of tour, b. The institution of the tourism were not responsible toward the theft of part the temple, c. There was nothing cooperative between tourism institution and law institution about the problem of the law protection for the temple.
The conclusion, the causes toward the theft of the temple were fro inside: it because tourism institution were realize toward those cases. As a institution that had authority, they should make a distrait rules in law protection for the object of tour. Besides, there was nothing socialization from society about the importance of the protection and continuous the object of tour. The causes from outside it was because there was not realize from the society with the thing that history value, also nothing cooperation whit the society about the safety and continuous of the thing at the tour, for example : temple.
For suggestion, it is importance to make the district rules toward the law protection at Tulungagung, in order most of people will be care with the thing that history value, like : statue


Generation and maintenance of protective immunological memory is the goal of vaccination programs. It has recently become clear that CD8+ memory T cells are derived directly from CTLs. The mechanisms underlying this transformation and the subsequent survival of memory cells are not completely understood. However, some effector molecules required by CTLs to eliminate infected cells have also been shown to control the number of Ag-specific cells. We report that memory cells express high levels of serine protease inhibitor (Spi) 6, an inhibitor of the effector molecule granzyme B, and that Spi6 can protect T cells from granzyme B-mediated apoptosis. In mouse models, both elevated expression of Spi6 and the complete absence of granzyme B in CD8+ T cells led to an increase in memory cells after infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus. This was not the result of increased levels of antilymphocytic choriomeningitis virus CD8+ T cells during the expansion or contraction phases, but rather transgenic Spi6 directly influenced the survival of CD8+ memory T cells. We propose that expression of protective molecules, like Spi6, serves to shield metabolically active CD8+ memory T cells from their own effector molecules.


It is well established that variation in sampling, processing and storage protocols can alter the levels of potential biomarkers in serum and plasma. Here, using pancreatic cancer as an example, we demonstrate that consideration of clinical parameters related to the patient's illness is equally important when seeking cancer-specific biomarkers. Bile duct-obstruction is a feature of pancreatic disease that can cause jaundice. Comparing patients with pancreatic cancer, chronic pancreatitis or biliary duct obstruction, we observed that the plasma levels of apolipoprotein A1, transthyretin, and apolipoprotein E, when examined in isolation, were each associated with pancreatic cancer. However, when the effect of bile duct obstruction was considered, only transthyretin levels were independently associated with cancer likelihood. Our results demonstrate the importance of accounting for disease-related confounding factors when analyzing data for the detection of cancer biomarkers.


PurposeTransformative marketing provides a way to encourage positive behaviors. This approach can be applied to community intervention organizations, such as the Special Olympics. Such organizations bring services to provide activity, healthy eating, proper healthcare and caretaker education. This study examines one campaign of the 2018 Special Olympics USA Summer Games focusing on health and wellness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed caretakers about these campaigns including their attitudes toward health and wellness and other basic psychographics (i.e. needs/values) to inform a transformative marketing campaign directed to engaging the caretakers.FindingsThe hierarchical regression shows us is that all the variables combined explain 26.9% of intentions to help their athlete eat as healthily as possible, with needs/values explaining the most variance, even after all of the other variables are in the model. The authors discuss their results and the practical applications of their findings to improve transformative marketing campaigns to achieve desirable social outcomes through the Special Olympics.Originality/valueThe authors identified what variables uniquely contributed to the intention by caretakers of ID athletes to engage in health and wellness campaigns that benefit their athletes. Future research can apply the results to developing similar sustainability (environmental, social or economic) campaigns using transformative marketing perspectives that will more positively benefit target markets in and through sport.


Analogous to the study of Onclin and Verstegen of 1996 the combination of a dopamine agonist, cabergoline, and a synthetic analogue of prostaglandin F2 alpha, cloprostenol or dinoprost, was used to induce termination of pregnancy 25 (+/- 2) days after the first mating. The study was done in six bitches. Cabergoline was administered at a dose of 5 micrograms/kg daily over a period of nine days and cloprostenol was injected subcutaneously at 1-2 micrograms/kg (dinoprost at a dose of 25 micrograms/kg) every other day. Treatment efficacy was 100%. No side effects were observed. Pregnancy and its termination was diagnosed by ultrasonographic examination. The combination of cabergoline and cloprostenol offers a simple and safe procedure for the termination of unwanted pregnancy.


Active galactic nuclei are extremely compact and highly energetic objects, and the mechanisms that produce their radiative emissions at short wavelengths are the subject of debate. In his research commentary, Buckley discusses results presented in the same issue by [Mannheim][1] in which the acceleration of protons is suggested as the source. Buckley puts the work in context with the alternative scenario involving an electron mechanism.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/279/5351/684


when the efficacy of such measures has been clearly proven. How else is it to be explained that such institutions as Papworth Village Settlement, Preston Hall, and Peamount Village Settlement have not been copied all over the country? In a similar light stand such institutions as the Cripples Training College at Leatherhead, Surrev. Much of the interest which these institutions have evoked appears to be derived from the fact that they are still regarded as "bold and courageous experiments," and that they are the exception rather than the rule, as well as from the excellent work which they have undoubtedly accomplished. Almost all of them are dependent or semi-dependent on charitable sources for their income, and in 1937 the Cripples Training College already referred to had to report that ". . . the financial position leaves much to be desired. Running costs exceeded receipts by £357, while of the original loan of £6,000, £2,000 has still to be repaid. . . . Contributions are therefore most urgently required, and until a more stable foundation can be established the work of the college must be seriously hampered." Further, though a high percentage of trainees from this college are placed in industry, work cannot be guaranteed in a society suffering from a chronic unemployment, which affects healthy, let alone crippled, workers. And again, the marketing of commodities produced by patients and workers in such special institutions raises innumerable difficulties. I know of at least one mental hospital where the excellent articles created through the craft activities of the patients are stored in a large room, only seeing the light of day for. exhibition purposes, their sale being prohibited because of the objections of local tradesmen. All this is in marked contrast to what could be achieved in this field of medical economics in a society released from the restrictive influence of the profit motive. In the U.S.S.R. the principles and practices so strongly advocated by Sir Pendrill Varrier-Jones in the care of tuberculous workers are universally carried out through the network of " labour prophylactoria " attached to the institutes of tuberculosis. I was able in 1939 to visit the Leningrad Institute of Tuberculosis, and there saw for myself the excellent work being carried out in the training and re-education of tuberculous workers. Many of these workers eventually take their place in production in special factories and workshops, working entirely outside the various schemes of planned production and under constant medical supervision. In the U.S.S.R. such provision for tuberculous workers is universally applied, since it is regarded as an integral part of treatment. A further important point is that for such workers-whether disabled through disease or injt*y-work could, in a socialist economy, be guaranteed. and this is in fact what occurs in the U.S.S.R. This brings me to my final point, which I will put in the form of a question. Are we to wait until our capitalist form of economy is replaced by one based on socialized production before the Ministry of Health (acting in conjunction with the varioLIs local authorities and, in the case of Wales, with the Welsh National Memorial Association) can be expected to adopt such measures on a nation-wide scale; or is the Government prepared ioiW-as an earnest of its avowed intention to " build a new world after the war "-deliberately to foster and encourage the initiation of schemes of this kind for the training and employment of tubercuilous persons? The answer to this question is, I maintain, one of tremendous importance, as it involves a question of policy. To adopt the latter course would solve one of the most difficult and pressing problems which face tuberculous patients when they leave sanatoria, and would go far to break that vicious cycle of "tuberculosis-poverty-tuberculosis" which is so often established when the person affected is a family wage-earner. It would at the same time be the highest tribute to the memory and work of Sir Pendrill Varrier-Jones.I am, etc., Neath, Glamorgan, Feb. 17. T. FRANCIS JARMAN.


INTRODUCTION
Early adolescence represents a time of heightened vulnerability for depression. Negative interpretation biases have been associated with increases in depressive symptoms during this developmental period; however, the mechanisms underlying the association between interpretation biases and depression remain poorly understood. Cognitive theories posit that interpretation biases give rise to depression by modulating daily affect, particularly in the context of stress. However, this has not yet been directly examined. The present study tested affect intensity and instability as mechanisms linking negative interpretation biases with change in adolescent depressive symptoms.

METHODS
Ninety-four adolescents (aged 11-13 years; 51% boys) from Vancouver, Canada, were recruited for this longitudinal study. At baseline (Time 1), participants self-reported depressive symptoms and completed the Scrambled Sentences Task to assess negative interpretation biases. Next, participants completed daily diaries to assess positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) during a naturalistic stressor-the first 2 weeks of high school (Time 2). Finally, participants self-reported depressive symptoms 3 months later (Time 3). Path models were conducted to test whether PA and NA intensity and instability mediated prospective associations between negative interpretation biases and depressive symptom changes.

RESULTS
Although NA intensity, NA instability, and PA instability predicted increases in depressive symptoms, only NA intensity mediated associations between interpretation biases and symptom changes. Neither PA intensity nor instability mediated these associations.

CONCLUSIONS
Elevated daily NA represents a specific mechanism through which stronger negative interpretation biases predict increases in depressive symptoms in adolescence.


An unknown injury to carrots has been observed in California for several years. It has been identified as being caused by the larvae of a flea beetle (Systena blanda and Epitrix cucumeris). A study was conducted in 2013 to determine how prevalent the damage caused by flea beetles were to carrots grown in California and to how to best monitor their populations in the field. Flea beetle injury was determined to be caused by two species of flea beetles; palestriped flea beetle (Systena blanda) and the potato flea beetle (Epitrix cucumeris). Potato flea beetles were found to be best monitored by yellow sticky traps placed 1 meter above the plant canopy while palestriped flea beetles were best monitored by the use of a sweep net. We found a correlation between flea beetle populations and the amount of carrot injury seen at harvest.


The FV-replicating target cell characterized in this study is an erythroid precursor cell, as shown by its response to bleeding and hypertransfusion. The target cell is not identical with the BFU-E compartment as demonstrated by different model velocities and different cell cycle characteristics as compared to BFU-E. Different sensitivity of FV-target cells and CFU-E to AMD, differences in the growth kinetics of both cell populations in bone marrow and spleen of mice after bleeding, and large quantitative differences of both cell populations in hemopoietic organs, suggest only partial identity or non-identity of these two cell types. Finally it is shown that spleen colonies originating from FV-infected target cells are a primary erythroleukemic lesion, since they contain more Ep-independent CFU-E than do intercolony areas of the spleen.


BACKGROUND
Oclacitinib is safe and effective for treating dogs with pruritus associated with allergic and atopic dermatitis, based on randomized clinical trials of up to 4 months duration.

HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES
This study assessed long-term safety, efficacy and quality of life of oclacitinib-treated dogs enrolled in a compassionate use programme.

ANIMALS
Two hundred and forty-seven client-owned dogs with allergic skin disease that had previously benefited from oclacitinib therapy.

METHODS
Dogs were enrolled in an open-label study at 26 veterinary clinics. Dogs received 0.4-0.6 mg/kg oclacitinib twice a day for 14 days, then once a day for up to 630 days. Assessments were performed at ~90 day intervals. Owners completed a quality-of-life survey and assessed pruritus using a Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at each clinic visit. Veterinarians assessed dermatitis using a similar VAS. Abnormal health events, concomitant medication and clinical pathology results were summarized.

RESULTS
Visual Analog Scale scores showed improvement from baseline at all time points. The percentage of dogs showing ≥50% reduction from baseline on day 90 was 63.9% for pruritus and 66.4% for dermatitis. Owners saw a positive impact on quality of life in >91% of all dogs. Urinary tract infection/cystitis, vomiting, otitis, pyoderma and diarrhoea were the most frequently reported (>5% of dogs) abnormal clinical signs. Haematology and serum chemistry means remained within the normal reference ranges. Concomitant medications were well tolerated.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Results indicated that oclacitinib was safe and efficacious for long-term use and improved the quality of life for dogs in this study.


This study proposes a novel decentralized operation strategy for a multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) link system to control the power flow between interconnected distribution networks. The proposed strategy is divided into two stages. First, by applying a curve-/surface-fitting technique to the network topology data, the formulas for the voltage and total line losses in the network are derived. Subsequently, the active/reactive power set-points of the MTDC link are optimized to minimize the network losses and balance the injected power from the upstream grid. The optimization model with a quadratically constrained quadratic problem is relaxed as a second-order constrained programming model using the proposed substitution process. The proposed strategy is implemented solely based on the information at the point of common coupling of the MTDC link and does not require the acquisition of any real-time data related to the distributed generator output and load demand. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by comparing it with a conventional centralized operation method using modified IEEE-33 test networks.


This report is based on a study in which a regression model was constructed to increase accuracy in enrollment predictions. A model, known as the Modified Regression Technique (MRT), was used to examine K-12 enrollment over the past 20 years in 2 New Jersey school districts of similar size and ethnicity. To test the model's accuracy, MRT was compared to the Cohort-Survival Ratio method--the most common method employed by school planners--using two prediction time frames, 1990-96 and 1993-96. These time frames were then compared to actual enrollments. The results show that MRT performed significantly better than the Cohort-Survival Ratio, achieving much lower absolute-mean-error rates. Error rates were larger for one of the districts using either method; for most accurate results, both models worked best under conditions of uniform growth or decline. Furthermore, smaller data sets produced the best results, indicating that, rather than picking the greatest number of years available, school planners should use data that closely resembles prevailing trends. It is suggested that MRT can provide school planners with a more accurate methodology for predicting long-term school enrollments, helping them to make decisions regarding the opening and closing of schools, hiring new faculty, and planning time. (RJM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** The Modified Regression Technique 1 Predicting School Enrollments Using the Modified Regression Technique:


The synthesis of bacillamide A, a tryptamide alkaloid of marine origin, and its analogues from L-cysteine ethyl ester hydrochloride through an efficient and convergent synthetic approach is described in this work. The present two-step protocol involves the use of iodobenzene diacetate, a versatile oxidising agent, to synthesize the key intermediate ethyl 2-differently substituted-1,3-thiazole-4-carboxylates in one step. In this work, 4,6dimethylpyrimidin-2-ol was used as a catalyst for solvent-free aminolysis of esters to achieve the title compounds by taking advantage of its property of simultaneously donating and accepting a hydrogen bond.


We define a subgame perfect Nash equilibrium under Knightian uncertainty for two players, by means of a recursive backward induction procedure. We prove an extension of the Zermelo-von Neumann-Kuhn Theorem for games of perfect information, i. e., that the recursive procedure generates a Nash equilibrium under uncertainty (Dow and Werlang(1994)) of the whole game. We apply the notion for two well known games: the chain store and the centipede. On the one hand, we show that subgame perfection under Knightian uncertainty explains the chain store paradox in a one shot version. On the other hand, we show that subgame perfection under uncertainty does not account for the leaving behavior observed in the centipede game. This is in contrast to Dow, Orioli and Werlang(1996) where we explain by means of Nash equilibria under uncertainty (but not subgame perfect) the experiments of McKelvey and Palfrey(1992). Finally, we show that there may be nontrivial subgame perfect equilibria under uncertainty in more complex extensive form games, as in the case of the finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma, which accounts for cooperation in early stages of the game. * Central Bank of Brazil and Graduate School of Economics Getulio Vargas Foundation (EPGE/FGV), Rio de Janeiro. A Notion of Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium under Knightian Uncertainty Sérgio Ribeiro da Costa Werlang


In this paper, we propose a novel method for knitting advanced smart garments (e.g., garments with targeted electrical or mechanical properties) using a single, spatially-varying, multi-material monofilament created using additive manufacturing (AM) techniques. By strategically varying the constitutive functional materials that comprise the monofilament along its length, it is theoretically possible to create targeted functional regions within the knitted structure. If spaced properly, functional regions naturally emerge in the knit as loops in adjacent rows align. To test the feasibility of this method, we evaluated the ability of a commercially available knitting machine (a Passap® E6000) to knit a variety of experimental and commercially available, spatially-variant monofilament. Candidate materials were tested both to characterize their mechanical behavior as well as to determine their ability to be successfully knitted. A repeatable spatial mapping relationship between 1D filament location and 2D knit location was established, enabling the ability to create a variety of 2D functional pathways (straight, linear, nonlinear) in the knit structure using a single monofilament input. Using this approach, a multi-material monofilament can be designed and manufactured to create advanced functional knits with spatially-variant properties.


Mobile agent is an emerging technology that is gaining momentum in the eld of distributed computing. There are some advantages in using the mobile agent technology compared with a traditional client-server solution. For example, it can reduce a network traffic, it can support a large scale of computations with many computers in a distributed environment, it allows the use of disconnected computing for processing user queries, and it provides more exibility in the development and maintenance of distributed applications. The goal of this research is based on the application of mobile agent technology in supporting the query retrieval process from the World Wide Web (WWW). Specically, the methods of dispatching the mobile agents to retrieve the query results from the search engines in WWW have been investigated. We have also considered the ranking and classifcation methods applied to the query results that have been retrieved by the mobile agents. The scopes of the research are as follows: First, the effectiveness of mobile agent for query retrieval using the off-line and on-line approaches is investigated. We have found that the query retrieval using the off-line approach by the mobile agent is better compared with the on-line approach. Second, the ranking of query retrieval results that have been retrieved by the mobile agents using the Number of Ordering Score (NROS) is investigated. The Precision of the query results using the NROS is higher than the Recall scores. It indicates that from all of the documents returned from the query, a large proportion of the documents is relevant to the user by using the NROS approach. Third, the performance of mobile agents for query retrieval using an extended hierarchical query retrieval (EHQR) approach compared with the hierarchical query retrieval (HQR) approach is investigated. The result shows that the total routing time taken by the mobile agents to retrieve the query results using the EHQR approach is less compared with the HQR approach. Fourth, the classification of news web pages retrieved by the mobile agents using neural networks based on a background knowledge is evaluated. A new web news categorization approach, namely, a Web Page Classication Method (WPCM) is proposed. The WPCM uses a neural network with inputs obtained by both the principal components and class prole-based features (CPBF). The experimental evaluation demonstrates that the WPCM provides acceptable classification accuracy with the sports news datasets. Finally, we have also overcome the limitation of the principal component analysis-neural networks (PCA-NN method) in supervised data where the characteristic variables that describe smaller classes tend to be lost as a result of the dimensionality reduction by using the WPCM. The classification accuracy on the small classes can be improved although they have been reduced into a small number of principal components.


A new class of tetraarylcyclopentadienones bearing 3-hydroxy-1-propynyl substituents has been synthesized. One of them, 3,4-bis (4-(3-hydroxy-3-methylbut-1-ynyl) phenyl)-2,5-diphenylcyclopenta-2,4-dienone, exhibits pronounced aggregation properties in various organic solvents responding to thermal and ultrasound stimuli and represents the first example of a tetraarylcyclopentadienone based low molecular weight organogelator. The hydroxydimethyl group on the ethynyl substituent proved to be essential to perform the gelation process. The 1H NMR analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy suggested that the intermolecular π–π and hydrogen bonding interactions of the gelator with the solvent are the main driving forces for the supramolecular assembly. The SEM images of xerogels show the characteristic gelation morphologies of 3D fibrous network structures. Fluorescence and UV/Vis absorption studies provided more information to define the molecular packing model in the gelation state. In addition the obtained gels show selective response to the fluoride anion.


All doctors, however experienced and conscientious, make mistakes. This article aims to show how medical practice can be improved by a study of mishaps and mistakes.


Inflammatory arterial disease is often insidious and associated with a substantial morbidity and mortality. Early recognition is vital. Patients with arteritis (n=106) were studied and divided into five groups. Two of these were subgroups of giant cell arteritis classified by site into either cranial —arteritis (66), or upper limb arteritis (7). Three other groups were identified; chronic periaortitis (with or without inflammatory aortic aneurysm) (7), polyarteritis nodosa (14), and small vessel arteritis (12). Clinicians are not sufficiently aware of arteritis and its many atypical presentations. Delay in management is associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. In this district serving 200 000 people at least one patient per month is seriously at risk from the disease. Improved outlook depends on early recognition of the clinical syndromes and rapid appropriate treatment.


This poem arose out of a New Yorker article on sleep hygiene, insomnia, and the body's sensitivity to light. I was struck by the notion that changes in light or dark help our bodies predict the futurefor instance, dusk signals that it will be time to wind down and eventually sleep. But the little blue-light-emitting devices we carry around distort and disrupt these natural signals. Sleep becomes elusive and frayed. This led me to meditate on time's drift, futuristic anxiety, and our state of being in an increasingly technical, frenetic, disconnected, and maybe even dystopian society.


In 21 children with weakened immune response++ (18 patients after immunosuppression and/or after radiotherapy because of neoplastic disease, 1 patients with diagnosed hepatitis chronica persistens, 1 patient with streptococcal septicemia and one infant with protein deficiency and severe anemia) Zovirax was applied in treatment of Varicella virus infection. Clinical observation showed a positive effect of Zovirax in treatment of VZV infection which was manifested by a milder course of the infection and disappearance symptoms. Better effects were obtained when the treatment was started in the first 72 hours of infection.


In practice of construction in Russia in case of plastic soils bedding, the cast-in-place foundations are used, constructed in a compacted base in kind of tamping in the soil of the 2-4 m depth pyramidal holes with the subsequent ballast tamping into the hole bottom and placing concrete in the said hole. Such foundations are advisable under the columns of framed buildings and structures. They are significantly more effective comparing to the pile foundations with a cast-in-place raft, as without a raft the volume of excavation works and formwork decreases significantly. While design of such foundations for the framed buildings and structures, the horizontal load and bending moment calculation is of great importance. According to the above calculation, the horizontal displacements of a foundation and its reinforcing are evaluated. The aim of the given paper is to solve this problem. The complex of the experimental – theoretical investigations has been carried out by a special program and included the horizontal load static tests of the foundations in tamped holes with the parallel CPT. By results of site experiments the rules of deformation of the stressed-deformed state are obtained and the criteria of achieving the limit state of a system "foundation-soil" are revealed. In particular, it was stated that the tamped in ballast creates a zone of an increased strength in a foundation base that prevents its horizontal displacement due to the horizontal load. Based on experimental data, a design scheme was constructed and a method of such foundations horizontal load calculation was worked out including CPT.


Results of numerical simulations of the air flow including the heat transport and the thermal radiation as well as the thermal comfort of passengers in a train cabin are presented. The computations have been performed by coupling flow simulations conducted with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code OpenFOAM with finite-element simulations of the heat transport within the passengers using the code THESEUS-FE. With the latter the bodies of passengers were modelled based on various layers with different heat transport characteristics to account for effects like blood flow, heat transfer through the skin and the clothing as well as activity levels and ambient humidity. With these computations we simulated and analysed the thermal comfort of passengers in the cabin of DLRs concept train called next generation train (NGT).


Introduction Hepatic abscess is the commonest extraintestinal manifestation of Entamoeba histolytica, the agent of amoebiasis. Mannar is a district of Northern Province in Sri Lanka where resettlement is in progress, following end of the conflict. Locally fermented sap of Palmyrah (Toddy) is a popular alcoholic drink here. Method A retrospective case series was of all patients with confirmed amebic liver abscess over 15 months from 2009 July at District General Hospital Mannar. All available inpatient records were reviewed. Age, sex, address, chief complaint, vital signs, physical and laboratory findings, ultrasonography findings and the toddy consumption of the patients were considered. Results 50 patients were reviewed: mean age was 46.5 years, no female cases were reported. Toddy consumption was reported by 96% of patients. The most common complaint was fever (100%) and then abdominal pain (90%) often located in the right upper quadrant and chest pain on right side (26%). The majority (92%) had symptoms for <2 weeks. Commonest physical finding was right hypochondriac tenderness (88%). The WBC count was the most consistent laboratory abnormality (88%), whereas the liver enzyme levels were often normal. Ultrasonography shows 85% of the abscesses on right and 19% on left side. Ampicillin and Metronidazole were the drugs of choice (88%). Conclusion The Palmyra toddy has been suggested as a vehicle of transportation of the amoeba.


Background: The aim of the study was to estimate health expectancy - that is, the average lifetime in good health - in never smokers, ex-smokers, and smokers in Denmark. Material and methods: A method suggested by Peto and colleagues in 1992 for estimating smoking-attributable mortality rates was used to construct a life table for never smokers. This table and the relative risks of death for ex-smokers and smokers versus never smokers were used to estimate life tables for ex-smokers and smokers. Life tables and prevalence rates of health status were combined and health expectancy was calculated by Sullivan's method. Results: The expected lifetime of a 20 year-old man who will never begin to smoke is 56.7 years, 48.7 of which are expected to be in self-rated good health. The corresponding figures for a man who smokes heavily are 49.5 years, 36.5 of which are in self-rated good health. A 20 year-old woman who will never begin to smoke can expect to live a further 60.9 years, with 46.4 years in self-rated good health; if she is a lifelong heavy smoker, her expected lifetime is reduced to 53.8 years, 33.8 of which are in self-rated good health. Health expectancy based on long-standing illness is reduced for smokers when compared with never smokers. Discussion: Smoking reduces the expected lifetime in good health and increases the expected lifetime in poor health.


A new liquid-crystal phase-grating mode has been found. The grating is formed by the application of a spatially periodic electric field to a uniformly aligned liquid-crystal layer with dielectric and optical anisotropy. The fundamental diffraction characteristics of this liquid-crystal phase grating were measured by using a Schlieren optical system, and analyzed based on Fraunhofer diffraction theory with the assumption that the refractive indices vary periodically in the liquid-crystal layer. The incident light is diffracted under the electric field in particular directions determined by the spatial frequency of the periodic electrode, and the intensity of the diffracted light increases abruptly or gradually above the threshold depending on the cell thickness. The applicability of this liquid-crystal phase grating to a light valve in a projection display system is also considered.


C-reactor disassembly basin is being prepared for deactivation and decommissioning (D and D). D and D activities will consist primarily of immobilizing contaminated scrap components and structures in a grout-like formulation. The disassembly basin will be the first area of the C-reactor building that will be immobilized. The scrap components contain aluminum alloy materials. Any aluminum will corrode very rapidly when it comes in contact with the very alkaline grout (pH > 13), and as a result would produce hydrogen gas. To address this potential deflagration/explosion hazard, Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) reviewed and evaluated existing experimental and analytical studies of this issue to determine if any process constraints are necessary. The risk of accumulation of a flammable mixture of hydrogen above the surface of the water during the injection of grout into the C-reactor disassembly area is low if the assessment of the aluminum surface area is reliable. Conservative calculations estimate that there is insufficient aluminum present in the basin areas to result in significant hydrogen accumulation in this local region. The minimum safety margin (or factor) on a 60% LFL criterion for a local region of the basin (i.e., Horizontal Tube Storage) was greater than 3. Calculations alsomore » demonstrated that a flammable situation in the vapor space above the basin is unlikely. Although these calculations are conservative, there are some measures that may be taken to further minimize the risk of developing a flammable condition during grouting operations.« less


The current study aimed at developing a teacher handbook on preschool-aged children's aggressive behavior and its solution. The study was conducted in Kindergarten in Turi Subdistrict, Sleman, Yogyakarta. The subjects of the study were Kindergarten teachers, students, and parents. The data collection method consisted of interview, observation, and questionnaire. The present study was categorized as Research and Development (R&D). The study was conducted in six phases. Phase I involved survey and preliminary study, phase II involved prototyping of teacher handbook, phase III was initial evaluation, phase IV was product tryout, phase V was product revision, phase VI was the final product. The data were analyzed using quantitative analysis. Then it was converted into qualitative data by percentage formula in order to point out the product quality. The data were then analyzed using qualitative and quantitative descriptive method. The result of the study showed that the use of teacher handbook significantly affects the decrease in preschool-aged children's aggressive behavior. The result of paired sample t-test on the questionnaire score before and after the use of the teacher handbook was sig. (2-tailed) 0.000 < 0.05


This study aimed to evaluate the effect of ultra high-pressure homogenisation (UHPH) on natural-occurring micro-organisms in bovine milk. Whole raw milk was standardised at 3.5% and was processed using a Stansted High Pressure Homogeniser (model FPG11300, Stansted Fluid Power Ltd., Essex, UK). The microbiological quality of raw, high pasteurized (90°C, 15 s) and pressure treated (200 and 300 MPa at inlet temperatures of 30 and 40°C) milks was studied by enumerating total bacteria, psychrotrophic bacteria, coliforms, lactococci, lactobacilli and enterococci. UHPH treatments were as efficient (99.99%) as high-pasteurization treatment in reducing the total bacterial population, reaching important reductions (3-4 log cfu/ml). Lactococci count behaviour was similar to that of total bacteria count, reaching the same reductions. Psychrotrophic bacteria counts were not detected in high-pasteurized milks and were reduced by 3-4 logs and on some occasions up to undetected levels in UHPH-treated milks. Coliforms, lactobacilli and enterococci were completed destroyed by both UHPH and heat treatments.


I cannot say when I was chosen by the word, 'nothing', but I felt it first in Phuket, southern Thailand. It was in the New Year of 1990 and I was visiting the abbot of a Buddhist monastery called Wat Mongkolnimit. I had been taken there by my friend, Stephen Fahey, a disciple of the abbot's. According to Stephen, the abbot was an extraordinary person: wise, compassionate, detached, unpretentious and humorous. I can remember going up the stairs to the monk's room clutching my spiritual insights, hoping that I would not say anything too banal and that I might receive at least one little nod of approval. And the abbot gave us tea and never spoke tome.


Rape is a worrisome epidemic that is becoming problematic in contemporary Nigeria due to many factors that are already inherent in the Nigerian society such as myths, culture of silence associated with rape, modernizing influences and peer group pressure among several others. This article is essentially library researched while incorporating internet sources using expository and phenomenological designs. It is discovered that the perpetrators of rape in Nigeria cut across all age brackets involving security personnel, close associates, and even relations all caught up in the crime. The paper submits that the responsibility of eradicating this evil in Nigeria lies with the parents. Churches, Civil Societies, Non Governmental Organizations and Government at all levels.


This paper is devoted to the study of the crystal families with cubic symmetries and to the mathematical construction of all their point-symmetry groups. The mono cubic crystal families of n-dimensional space (E(n)) are defined and a list of these families is given for spaces E4, E5, E6 and E7 with the Weigel-Phan-Veysseyre (WPV) symbols of their holohedries. The cubic and iso cubic crystal point-symmetry groups of space E(n) are also defined together with their properties and their WPV symbols. Some examples of these point groups are given. The 16 point groups of the three isomorphic mono cubic crystal families, the cubic-al family of space E4 (No. 19), the cube oblique (or cube parallelogram) family of space E5 (No. XVIII) and the triclinic cubic family of space E6 (No. 21) are listed. All the WPV symbols of the point-symmetry groups of all the mono cubic crystal families of space E5, i.e. the cube rectangle family (No. XXII), the cube square family (No. XXVI) and the cube hexagon family (No. XXVII), are given together with an explanation of the mathematical construction of these point-symmetry groups. All the di cubic crystal families of spaces E6, E7 and E8 are predicted and the symbols of their holohedries are given. Finally, some tri cubic crystal families of spaces E9, E10 and E11 are listed.


It is shown that if a representation of a *-algebra on a vector space V is an irreducible *-representation with respect to some inner product on V, then under appropriate technical conditions this property determines the inner product uniquely up to a constant factor. Ashtekar(1991) has suggested using the condition that a given representation of the algebra of quantum observables is a *-representation to fix the inner product on the space of physical states. This idea is of particular interest for the quantization of gravity where an obvious prescription for defining an inner product is lacking. The results of this paper show rigorously that Ashtekar's criterion does suffice to determine the inner product in very general circumstances. Two versions of the result are proved: a simpler one which only applies to representations by bounded operators and a more general one which allows for unbounded operators. Some concrete examples are worked out in order to illustrate the meaning and range of applicability of the general theorems.


After a discussion of the pathomechanism of frontobasal cranial injury with a consecutive chiasmal lesion and diabetes insipidus due to a fracture of the basis of the skull, a personal observation of bitemporal hemianopia with a transient diabetes insipidus after a frontal motorcycle crash is recorded. A short survey of the literature shows the controversial opinions on traumatogenic lesions of the chiasma, which may be injured directly or the bitemporal hemianopia is due to a posttraumatic vascular disturbance. For the case described by the author primary tearing of the chiasma due to sudden applanation of the skull in the frontal region with burstfractures in the anterior cranial fossa is assumed.


The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether viable bacteria could be transferred from gloves to laboratory cards in dental records and, if so, to determine whether bacteria could survive on the paper. The thumbs and forefingers of two types of glove (Biogel D and Microtouch) were inoculated with Streptococcus sanguis and left for various periods of time. A sterile dental laboratory card was then held with the gloves and the number of bacteria surviving on the card determined after various periods of incubation of the card at room temperature. Bacteria were transferred to the laboratory cards and remained viable for up to 72 h. More viable bacteria were transferred from the Microtouch gloves than from the Biogel D gloves, and this was attributable, in part, to the latter gloves exerting a bactericidal effect. The results demonstrated that bacteria can be transferred from gloves to laboratory cards and that these organisms can remain viable for long periods of time. Dental records may, therefore, represent a possible route of cross-infection.


The use of Wireless Access in Vehicular Environ- ments (WAVE) technology for exchanging information between vehicles can positively influence the drivers behavior towards safer driving by reducing road accidents and improving driving performance. These exchanged information are more relevant to safety applications if presented as a real-time and high quality video stream. In this paper, we demonstrate the low latency video streaming as a safety application for platoon and reverse parking scenarios. The use of streaming safety application provides an additional tool to the platoon drivers to see the road traffic conditions. It helps the driver to make safer decision and reduce the overtaken risks during a manual overtaking maneuver for instance (i.e platoon output).


This paper examines some neglected Chrysippean fragments on insecure apprehension (κατάληψις). First, I present Chrysippus' account of how non-Sages can begin to fortify their insecure apprehension and upgrade it into knowledge (ἐπιστήμη). Next, I reconstruct Chrysippus' explanation of how sophisms and counter-arguments lead one to abandon one's insecure apprehension. One such counter-argument originates in the sceptical Academy and targets the Stoic claim that insecure apprehension can be acquired on the basis of custom (συνήθεια). I show how Chrysippus could defend the possibility of custom-based apprehension, while also denying that there is custom-based knowledge.


This study reflects on theories and practices of scented/smelly books as a fact which could give new perspectives in writing for children and creating children's books. This impact can be an alternative methodological tool for children's learning at school. Smell has very high retention rate in the learning process that influences the memory of a story and the impact to children's imagination and experience in the world around. This forgotten value at school textbooks can be re-examined from specialists. Scented books as a teaching strategy and a methodological tool reveal how children can represent memories and express themselves effectively in a language class with the help of using smelly books. In our study, we expected children to remember the main or essential points as a bottom-line of story plots when scents were involved between the child and the book. Perfume literacy in children's book and the e-book industry refer as theoretical components in our study and are described in detail. It is true that civilization has cost people a valuable sense. A nose alphabet could also arrange things in different perspectives for young children.


In sufficiently large schools, lessons are given to classes in sections of various sizes, depending on the subject taught. Consequently, classes have to be split into various given numbers of sections. We focus on how to subdivide a class in subgroups, so as to be able to reproduce all required sections by merging subgroups together, while minimizing the number of edges in the resulting course conflict graph. As a main result, we show that subdividing the students set in a regular way is optimal. We then discuss our solution uniqueness and feasibility, as well as practical issues concerning teacher assignments to sections.


This paper studies about the assessment of thermal performance between wet ondol system and electric ondol system. Electrical ondol systems shows faster warm-up time, higher floor surface temperature distribution and lower power consumption than wet ondol system. However, if we provide heat regularly wet ondol system which has more heat capacity shows greater thermal storage than electric ondol system. Therefore, we could conclude that wet ondol system which keeps temperature regularly by the thermal storage show better energy-efficiency in case of using the central heating and district heating system. However, Electrical ondol system shows better efficiency in case of using the space during short time or individual heating systems which needs to heat quickly. The Experiment says that electric ondol system has more benefits on timing to reach the set temperature and energy-efficiency than wet ondol system.


Abstract:This essay argues that the linguistic and historical connections Joyce draws between Ireland and Great Britain's other conquests tend to position Ireland at the center of a network, primus inter pares in a coalition of the subaltern. Looking especially closely at Joycean references to the Antipodes in Finnegans Wake, this essay asks how the text's assimilation of Māori and other Indigenous people/languages with the Irish people and language instates a complexly defined Irishness as the ur-condition of all colonized people.


The influence of applied electric fields on the absorption coefficient and subband distances in asymmetrical AlN/GaN coupled double quantum wells (CDQWs) has been investigated by solving Schrödinger and Poisson equations self-consistently. It is found that the absorption coefficient of the intersubband transition (ISBT) between the ground state and the third excited state (1odd − 2even) can be equal to zero when the electric fields are applied in asymmetrical AlN/GaN CDQWs, which is related to applied electric fields induced symmetry recovery of these states. Meanwhile, the energy distances between 1odd − 2even and 1even − 2even subbands have different relationships from each other with the increase of applied electric fields due to the different polarization-induced potential drops between the left and the right wells. The results indicate that an electrical-optical modulator operated within the opto-communication wavelength range can be realized in spite of the strong polarization-induced electric fields in asymmetrical AlN/GaN CDQWs.


Determining the genotoxic effects of pollutants has long been a priority in Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) for coastal ecosystems, especially of complex areas such as estuaries and other confined waterbodies. The acknowledged link between DNA damage, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity to the exposure to certain toxicants has been responsible to the growing interest in determining the genotoxic effects of xenobiotics to wildlife as a measure of environmental risk. The comet assay, although widely employed in in vivo and in vitro toxicology, still holds many constraints in ERA, in large part owing to difficulties in obtaining conclusive cause-effect relationships from complex environments. Nevertheless, these challenges do not hinder the attempts to apply the alkaline comet assay on sentinel organisms, wild or subjected to bioassays in or ex situ (from fish to molluscs) as well to standardise protocols and establish general guidelines to the interpretation of findings. Fish have been regarded as an appealing subject due to the ease of performing the comet assay in whole blood. However, the application of the comet assay is becoming increasingly common in invertebrates (e.g. in molluscan haemocytes and solid tissues such as gills). Virtually all sorts of results have been obtained from the application of the comet assay in ERA (null, positive and inconclusive). However, it has become clear that interpreting DNA damage data from wild organisms is particularly challenging due to their ability to adapt to continuous environmental stressors, including toxicants. Also, the comet assay in non-model organisms for the purpose of ERA implies different constraints, assumptions and interpretation of findings, compared with the in vitro procedures from which most guidelines have been derived. This paper critically reviews the application of the comet assay in ERA, focusing on target organisms and tissues; protocol developments, case studies plus data handling and interpretation.


In this paper we present an energy management approach for an isolated PV-battery hybrid system. The studied system is composed of a lifepo4 battery pack coupled to a BMS, a PV module and an inverter controlled with a load management device. We aim to provide sufficient energy to different loads and decrease the energy deficit and the loss of power supply probability (LPSP) factor. The simulation results were performed with Matlab/Simulink to evaluate the performance of the proposed management algorithm on the PV-Battery hybrid system. A comparative study between the system without and with the management system shows a 40% reduction of the system energy deficit. Furthermore, the LPSP factor was minimized to 4%.


Periodic photonic lattices based on Guided-Mode Resonance (GMR) enable the manipulation of the incident light, making them essential components in a plethora of optical elements including filters, sensors, lasers, and polarizers. The GMR is regarded as a resonance phenomenon in the resonant-subwavelength regime of periodic lattices. We present a method that homogenizes these periodic structures in the subwavelength regime and provides an appropriate analytical interpretation of the resonance effect. Here, we propose a technique based on utilizing the dispersion relation for homogenization, which can be applied to multi-part period lattices under oblique incidence. The effect of asymmetry and emergence of the odd/even modes, not considered in previous methods, will also be taken into account and discussed. As a result of this analytical procedure, resonance lines are obtained, which are useful in designing optical elements such as wideband/narrowband reflectors and polarizers.


Aims
The predictive value of induction studies after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) is still debatable. To date, these studies have not been implemented in patients after cryoballoon (CB) ablation. Our aim was to analyse the clinical value of AF induction in patients treated by second generation CB for paroxysmal AF.

Methods and results
Seventy patients underwent at first an isoproterenol challenge after pulmonary vein (PV) isolation to assess AF induction and early PV reconnections (EPVR). Patients without EPVR were evaluated for premature atrial contraction (PAC) induction; atrial ectopy was considered frequent (PAC+) if >1/10 cycles or >6/min. After restitution of baseline heart rate, rapid atrial pacing (RAP) was performed on all patients. AF induction by isoproterenol occurred only in 3/70 (4%) patients of whom 2/3 (66%) patients with an EPVR of a triggering vein. In the 62 patients without EPVR, PAC+ occurred in 17 patients (27%). RAP could induce AF in 23/70 (33%) patients. At a mean follow-up of 13.5 months, there were 11/70 (16%) AF recurrences. There was no significant difference in the AF recurrence rate between RAP inducible vs. non-inducible patients (log-rank P = 0.33). A 41% recurrence rate (7/17 patients) was seen in the PAC+ group with significantly different AF-free survival for PAC+ vs. PAC- patients (log rank P < 0.0001). PAC+ was the only independent determinant to predict AF recurrence after multivariate analysis.

Conclusion
PAC occurrence in response to isoproterenol could predict AF recurrence after PV isolation by CB, while RAP showed no prognostic implication.


At the end of 2019 the world arrives with a very dangerous virus, namely the Corona or COVID-19 virus. This virus is a new name given by the World Health Organization for patients with the 2019 corona novel virus infection which was first reported from the city of Wuhan, China. The spread of this virus is very fast and has become a new problem. Because this virus also spread to Indonesia in March 2020. The spread in Indonesia is also very fast and the number of patients continues to increase, so that people are starting to be aware of this virus. Then with a lot of news in the media about the dangers of COVID-19, the public was afraid so that many COVID-19 patients experienced discrimination in society. Patients or ex-patients with COVID-19 receive discrimination in society because of the lack of credible and excessive information obtained from television and online media. So that the public views that patients or ex patients with COVID-19 are easy to transmit the virus and are very dangerous. As for the discrimination that is obtained by labeling, stereotypes, the existence of exclusion because they are considered to still carry the COVID-19 virus. This research method is a descriptive qualitative research method because it is to see in detail the problems faced by patients with COVID-19 or ex patients. The data source of this study used interview data taken from 5 ex COVID-19 patients and supported by literary studies. The results show that there is indeed discrimination experienced by ex COVID-19 patients in the community. Then this discrimination was also experienced by the families of ex COVID-19 patients. Then the social impact faced by ex patients with COVID-19 is due to community discrimination, namely disruption of mental health, reducing social contact with the community, hiding the illness they suffer.


Photoreflectance (PR) spectra have been measured at room temperature for single crystals of CuAlxGa1-xSe2 alloys grown by the chemical vapor transport method. Exciton transition energies related to valence-to-conduction bands at room temperature (EA, EB and EC in eV) have been determined as a function of composition as EA =2.654x + 1.674(1-x)-0.22x(1-x), EB =2.767 x + 1.749(1-x)-0.17x(1-x) and EC=2.923x+1.972(1-x)-0.32x(1-x). The PR results are discussed in terms of PL spectra.


Abstract With the increase in global trade and warming patterns, the movement, introduction, and establishment of non‐native insect species has increased. A rapid and effective early detection biosurveillance program to identify species of concern is needed to reduce future impacts and costs associated with introduced non‐native species. One of the challenges facing insect surveillance trapping methods is the sheer volume of individual specimens in the collections. Although molecular identification methods are improving, they currently have limitations (e.g., destructive processing of specimens) and a protocol addressing these limitations can support regulatory applications that need morphological evidence to corroborate molecular data. The novel protocol presented here uses a metabarcoding approach to amplify environmental DNA from a saturated salt solution trap fluid, which retains trap specimens for downstream morphological identifications. The use of a saturated salt solution to preserve specimens in traps addresses issues with the high evaporation rate of ethanol in traps, and public safety concerns with other fluid preservation options with unattended traps in public settings. Using a metabarcoding approach, a 407‐nucleotide segment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) animal barcode region was successfully amplified from Lindgren funnel trap collection fluids. These traps were placed in forested areas to survey for wood‐boring beetles of regulatory concern. Our results displayed successful amplification of target taxa, including the molecular identification of the Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica, a species regulated in Canada. A second species, Anisandrus maiche, recently introduced to North America, was identified in every trap. The genus Lymantria, which contains numerous species of concern to North American woodlands, was also detected. Also, there were six other species identified of interest due to their potential impacts on native and crop flora and fauna. Our results show how this protocol can be used as an efficient method for the surveillance of insects using a trap with a saturated salt solution and eDNA metabarcoding to detect species of regulatory concern.


Sentiment analysis has been instrumental in developing artificial intelligence when applied to various domains. However, most sentiments and emotions are temporal and often exist in a complex manner. Several emotions can be experienced at the same time. Instead of recognizing only categorical information about emotions, there is a need to understand and quantify the intensity of emotions. The proposed research intends to investigate a quantum-inspired approach for quantifying emotional intensities in runtime. The inspiration comes from manifesting human cognition and decision-making capabilities, which may adopt a brief explanation through quantum theory. Quantum state fidelity was used to characterize states and estimate emotion intensities rendered by subjects from the Amsterdam Dynamic Facial Expression Set (ADFES) dataset. The Quantum variational classifier technique was used to perform this experiment on the IBM Quantum Experience platform. The proposed method successfully quantifies the intensities of joy, sadness, contempt, anger, surprise, and fear emotions of labelled subjects from the ADFES dataset.


Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), consisting of Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), is a chronic intestinal disorder that arises due to the damaged intestinal epithelium tissue, which most often leads to relapsing. Major treatment options range from dietary intervention at an early stage of the disease, to the use of steroids or antiinflammatory drugs for most severe conditions. However, the side effects and associated comorbidities which bring disease recurrences points towards the unmet needs of the existing treatment options, which are limited to their non-holistic mechanistic functionality. Among them, many drugs work specifically by acting locally on the gut tissue, in other words at the site of the disease, both to exert maximal efficacy as well as to avoid undesired side effects. Here we have reviewed the recent interests in the gut restricted therapeutic approaches for new IBD therapies.


Freestanding flexible microstructures fabricated from deposited thin films become mechanically unstable when internal stresses exceed critical values. A series of structures with varying geometries is used to determine the critical geometry at which buckling occurs. Observation with an optical microscope quickly reveals qualitative and quantitative information about the internal strain in the film. Strain values between +or-1.5% can be measured for a 2.0 mu m thick film using doubly-supported beams for compressive strain fields, and ring and beam structures for tensile strain fields. Parametric formulae are developed for diagnostic structure response with selected verification by finite element computations.


The development of portable and wearable electronics has aroused the increasing demand for flexible energy-storage devices, especially for the characteristics of high energy density, excellent mechanical properties, simple synthesis process, and low cost. However, the development of flexible electrodes for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) is still limited due to the intricate production methods and the relatively high-cost of current collectors such as graphene/graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. Here, the hierarchical 3D electronic channels wrapped large-sized Na3 V2 (PO4 )3 is designed and fabricated by a simple electrospinning technique. As flexible electrode material, it exhibits outstanding electrolyte wettability, together with ultrafast electronic conductivity and high Na-ion diffusion coefficients for SIBs, leading to superior electrochemical performances. A high reversible specific capacity of 116 mA h g-1 (nearly 99% of the theoretical specific capacities) can be obtained at the current density of 0.1 C. Even after a 300-fold current density increased (30 C), the discharge specific capacity of the flexible electrode still remains 63 mA h g-1 . Such an effective concept of fabricating 3D electronic channels for large-sized particles is expected to accelerate the practical applications of flexible batteries at various systems.


The effects of MMHD [(S,E)-2-methyl-1-(2-methylthiazol-4-yl) hexa-1,5-dien-ol], a novel synthetic compound derived from epothilone, was investigated for its effects on the expression of proinflammatory mediators in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV-2 microglia. MMHD attenuated the expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA and protein without affecting cell viability. Moreover, MMHD suppressed nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation via the translocation of p65 into the nucleus. These results indicate that MMHD exerts anti-inflammatory properties by suppressing the transcription of proinflammatory cytokine genes through the NF-kappaB signaling pathway.


In this paper we will study two auctions for fish found in Norway, and compare them applying auction theoretical assumptions. We will use the revenue equivalence theorem as a basis to explain why these two different auction mechanisms are chosen for the sale of fish. It is shown that the issues of risk aversion, common values and inclusion of travel costs may explain the choice of auction institution.


Fully austenitic steels of the Fe-Mn-C system can show extensive deformation twinning (TWIP effect). The deformed microstructure of such steels has been analysed using X-ray diffraction at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). The experimental diffractograms, recorded using a 2D CCD camera, are analysed in terms of Bragg peak profiles (broadening and asymmetry) and position (shift from the reference [undeformed state] position) leading to an estimation of dislocation and stacking faults densities.


While 3-dimensional visualisation methods are now employed in a wide range of humanities contexts to assist in the research, communication and preservation of cultural heritage, it is increasingly recognized that, to ensure that such work is intellectually and technically rigorous, and for its potential to be realised, there is a need both to establish standards responsive to the particular properties of 3D visualisation, and to identify those that it should share with other methods. Numerous articles, documents, including the AHDS Guides to Good Practice for CAD (2002) and for Virtual Reality (2002) and initiatives, including the Virtual Archaeology Special Interest Group (VASIG) and the Cultural Virtual Reality Organisation (CVRO) have underlined the importance of ensuring that 3D visualisation methods are applied with scholarly rigour, and that the outcomes of visualisation-inclusive research should accurately convey to users the status of the knowledge that they represent. There remains, however, a significant gap between theory and practice. Last February, therefore, as part of an AHRC-funded project, King's Visualisation Lab, King's College London, convened a Symposium, jointly sponsored by the AHRC ICT Methods Network and the EU Framework 6 Network of Excellence, EPOCH (Excellence in Processing Open Cultural Heritage), during which over 50 international delegates debated approaches to the issue of "transparency". A smaller expert group then debated a discussion document on which the first draft of The London Charter for the use of 3dimensional visualisation in the research and communication of cultural heritage was subsequently based. "Cultural heritage" domains here encompass museums, art galleries, heritage sites, interpretative centres, cultural heritage research institutes, arts and humanities subjects within higher education institutions, the broader educational sector, and tourism. It is hoped that the Charter, currently in its first draft and being discussed by an international panel of experts, may be adopted as an EU and international benchmark. The Charter aims to define the fundamental objectives and principles of the use of 3D visualisation methods in relation to intellectual integrity, reliability, transparency, documentation, standards, sustainability and access. It does not aim to prescribe specific aims or methods, but rather to establish those broad principles for the use, in research and communication of cultural heritage, of 3D visualisation upon which the intellectual integrity of such methods and outcomes depend. The Charter attempts to establish principles that are sufficiently focussed to have an impact, but sufficiently abstract to remain current as methods and technologies evolve. Therefore, up-to-date guideline documents with specific recommendations about, e.g. technologies, standards, and methodologies, will be needed at subject community level. Categories and Subject Description: H.3.7: Standards


Introduction The use of PROs for assessing the outcomes of emergency hospital admissions requires a means of estimating patients' pre-admission health status. A possible alternative to asking patients to recall how their health was before the incident causing admission is to use estimates derived from matched samples from population surveys. Our aims were to explore the impact of different methods of matching and to compare the results with estimates based on retrospective reporting. Methods First, elective hip arthroplasty patients were matched to respondents to the General Practice Patient Survey using age, sex, socio-economic status and number of comorbidities. The impact of restricting matching for locality and specific co-morbidities was explored. Second, the best matching method was applied to emergency admissions for laparotomy and for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) after acute myocardial infarction. Data were stratified by patient characteristics. Differences in mean EQ-5D scores between the patients and matched population respondents were tested using t tests. Results Modifying the most basic form of matching by also taking locality and the specific comorbid conditions into account made no significant difference to the mean EQ-5D score for hip arthroplasty patients. Even using the most detailed matching possible, patients' mean EQ-5D score was significantly different to that of the general population for all three cohorts. The difference was greatest for elective hip arthroplasty (0.22 v 0.64), less so for emergency laparotomy (0.56 v 0.72) and least for PCI (0.79 v 0.71). This reflects hip arthroplasty patients having a long-standing condition characterised by pain and limited mobility, whereas the other two cohorts may have enjoyed reasonable health until an unexpected acute episode led to their emergency admission. Conclusion Routine PRO data acquired from population surveys cannot be used as an accurate alternative to retrospectively reported PROMs by patients during their emergency admission episode.


One of the aims of QLIF subproject 6 was to provide a better understanding of the supply chain performance and the collaboration system of organic supply chains. A notable finding was that supply chain actors with a high collaboration index outperformed respondents with a lower collaboration in terms of overall, non-financial and financial performance. Also, there is evidence that the higher the perceived risk for quality and safety is, the higher the probability that collaborative practices were in place. Nevertheless, overall, the level of collaboration is still too low. In a second part of QLIF subproject 6, HACCP case studies and training courses have been developed with special reference to organic agriculture. A HACCP approach to food safety management can be applied throughout the food chain, from farm to fork. Although a HACCP approach is not a legal requirement in primary production in the EU, it is recognised as an effective and logical means for food safety control that is equally applicable to agriculture including organic and low-input production systems.


The experimental results on the trapping of the beam NRL modified betatron accelerator are in good agreement with a revised model of resistive trapping and thus it may be concluded that the wall resistivity is responsible for the inward spiral motion of the beam after injection.


In this paper, we derive the non-singular Green's functions for the unbounded Poisson equation in two and three dimensions using a spectral approach to regularize the homogeneous equation. The resulting Green's functions are relevant to applications which are restricted to a minimum resolved length scale (e.g. a mesh size h) and thus cannot handle the singular Green's function of the continuous Poisson equation. We furthermore derive the gradient vector of the regularized Green's function, as this is useful in applications where the Poisson equation represents potential functions of a vector field.


I wish to call attention briefly to a phenomenon which, so far as I am aware, exists to an unparalleled degree about the shores of Western Patagonia, and whose presence there is in a great measure due to the exceptionally wet nature of the climate. I allude to a slippage of the soilcap, which is, I believe, continually taking place over the basement rock wherever the latter presents a moderately inclined surface. Some of the effects of this soilcap-motion are apt to be confounded with those due to glacial action; for the soilcap takes with it in its progress not only its clothing of trees, ferns, and mosses, but also a "moraine profonde" of rocks, stones, stems of dead trees, peat and mud, whereby the hills of this region are being denuded, and the valleys, lakes, and channels, gradually filled up. On arriving at the Patagonian archipelago my attention was directed to this subject on noticing that the lower branches of trees fringing the sea-shore were in many places withering from immersion in the salt water, and that in some cases entire treeshad perished prematurely from their roots becoming entirely submerged.On looking more closely I observed that the soddensnags of dead timber, mingled with stones, were often to be seen at the bottom of the inshore waters, and that the beds of freshwater lakes were plentifully strewn with similar fragments of wood,the remains of forests prematurely destroyed. As the soileap, by its sliding motion, reaches the water, the soluble portions


Human physique have an unsteady bio-medical formation attached with various joints even a normal issue in the lower joints harmfully affects the management of standing position. The projected system includes an observing circuit which is inbuilt and gives footstep count, weight count, walking speed, travel mapping, distance count, Pro-health tips. It is proposed with a load cell pressure sensor which will turn off the system to ignore unwanted usage of battery. This system includes a mobile application that describes overall bio-medical information. This method is enforced by putting GEO locating, real-time cloud server microprocessors for real-time data assortment and health monitoring mobile application into services


This paper examines the influence of Research and Development (R&D) strategy on firm performance controlling for external environment. In this turbulent era, several firms build their competitive advantage on their innovation competence investing on R&D. Drawing upon a sample of 248 firms located in Greece, a structured questionnaire was developed to measure R&D strategy, external environment (dynamism, complexity, munificence, technological) and firm performance (financial, market, innovation, growth and organizational). The importance of R&D strategy in explaining the variance of all performance dimensions is confirmed with innovation performance playing a dominant role. Results indicate that R&D strategy is the most crucial antecedent of firm performance, controlling for business environment. Among environmental dimensions, only dynamism exerts statistical significant relationships. Regarding organizational size, larger firms possess a competitive advantage in the market, enjoying dominant market shares, while smaller firms exhibit supremacy regarding their innovative behavior.


Dorsal column stimulation (DCS) of the spinal cord is emerging as a promising new technology to treat Parkinson's disease (PD). However, optimal stimulation settings that maximize its therapeutic effect on PD symptoms are yet to be determined. Here we demonstrate a closed-loop DCS (CLDCS) paradigm – a substantial advancement from previously tested continuous high-frequency DCS – in a bilateral intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rodent model of PD. Firstly, CLDCS, triggered by corticostriatal beta frequency oscillations facilitated a pro-locomotion brain state that restored locomotion and reduced akinesia. Secondly, CLDCS was better at disrupting ongoing beta oscillations and achieved it with lesser overall charge delivery than continuous open-loop stimulation. These results indicate that CLDCS is markedly better than traditional spinal cord stimulation methods and can potentially be highly effective in treating PD symptoms. We envision that the CLDCS approach can be beneficial in the treatment of other neurological disorders which showcase similar pathological neuronal oscillations.


With the development of new insulation materials, vegetable oil—the best substitute for mineral oil—has gradually been widely used in the liquid insulation of transformers. To investigate the influence of vegetable oil on the thermal aging rate of oil paper, Kraft paper impregnated with mineral oil and vegetable oil underwent thermally accelerated aging at three different temperatures. Degree Polymerization (DP) of Kraft paper was measured to indicate the aging degree of insulation paper. The aging rate of paper in mineral oil and vegetable oil was compared quantitatively, and results showed that vegetable oil retarded paper's degradation rate and extended its useful lifetime. The reasons contributing to such phenomenon were analyzed using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and molecular simulation software. Due to the larger interaction force between water and natural ester molecules, water molecule was easily bonded with natural ester, weakening the hydrolysis process of cellulose. Cellulose was chemically modified by natural ester during thermal aging process, and the reactive - OH (hydroxyl) groups on the cellulose became esterified with fatty acid esters. The water molecule was firmly bounded to the ester groups on glucose produced by esterification. The long-chain fatty acid esterified to cellulose was parallel with cellulose chains and acted as a "water barrier" to further weaken the hydrolysis process.


The development of X-ray-absorbing scintillating nanoparticles is of high interest for solving the short penetration depth problem of visible and infrared light in photodynamic therapy (PDT). Thus, these nanoparticles are considered a promising treatment for several types of cancer. Herein, gadolinium oxide nanoparticles doped with europium ions (Gd2O3:Eu3+) were obtained by using polyvinyl alcohol as a capping agent. Hybrid silica nanoparticles decorated with europium-doped gadolinium oxide (SiO2-Gd2O3:Eu3+) were also prepared through the impregnation method. The synthesized nanoparticles were structurally characterized and tested to analyze their biocompatibility. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the high crystallinity and purity of the Gd2O3:Eu3+ particles and the homogeneous distribution of nanostructured rare earth oxides throughout the fumed silica matrix for SiO2-Gd2O3:Eu3+. Both nanoparticles displayed stable negative ζ-potentials. The photoluminescence properties of the materials were obtained using a Xe lamp as an excitation source, and they exhibited characteristic Eu3+ bands, including at 610 nm, which is the most intense transition band of this ion. Cytotoxicity studies on mouse glioblastoma GL261 cells indicated that these materials appear to be nontoxic from 10 to 500 μg·mL−1 and show a small reduction in viability in non-tumor cell lines. All these findings demonstrate their possible use as alternative materials in PDT.


In fluorescence microscopy imaging, noise is a very usual phenomenon. To some extent, it can be suppressed by increasing the amount of the photon exposure; however, it is not preferable since this may not be tolerated by the subjected specimen. Thus, a sophisticated computational method is needed to denoise each acquired micrograph, so that they become more adequate for further feature extraction and image analysis. However, apart from the difficulties of the denoising problem itself, one main challenge is that the absence of the ground-truth images makes the data-driven techniques less applicable. In order to tackle this challenge, we suggest to tailor a dataset by handpicking images from unrelated source datasets. Our tailoring strategy involves exploring some low-level view-based features of the candidate images, and their similarities to those of the fluorescence microscopy images. We pretrain and fine-tune the wellknown feed-forward denoising convolutional neural networks (DnCNNs) on our tailored dataset and a very limited amount of fluorescence images, respectively to ensure both the diversity and the content-awareness. The quantitative and visual experimentation show that our approach is able to curate a dataset, which is significantly superior to the arbitrarily chosen source images, and well-approximates to the fluorescence images. Moreover, the combination of the tailored dataset with a few fluorescence data through the use of fine-tuning offers a good balance between the generalization capability and the content-awareness, on the majority of considered scenarios.


Firms monitor their employee performance to identify inefficiencies and boost productivity. A form of increased monitoring that firms engage in is the public release of employee performance through a transparency policy. We consider how employees react to the consistent public release of their performance. To do so, we analyze an environment wherein a firm withholds information that was meant to be released publicly. Exploiting omissions in the public reporting of referee evaluations by the National Basketball Association ("NBA"), we analyze how varying degrees of transparency affect agent behavior within the principal-agent relationship. Under full release of their performance, referees significantly decrease their whistle frequency. This effect persists when other variables related public scrutiny, like nationally televised or highly attended games, are included. We find no change in agent behavior in games where the NBA selectively releases referee performance. Our results suggest full monitoring, and not selective monitoring, induces changes to agent behavior.


Summary Statement This work features a new approach to overcome drawbacks of commercial calcium phosphate cements in terms of application by on-site preparation and bone ingrowth by introduction of macropores in the material using a hydrofluoroalkane based aerosol foam.

Introduction The application of calcium phosphate bone cements (CPCs) into a void for example of an osteoporotic bone is very difficult as the cement paste is made outside the application site and subsequently applied into the damaged bone. A common drawback of especially apatitic cements is a very low resorption rate due to small pore size Therefore different approaches have been described to add macropores into the cement2, leading to bone ingrowth and tissue penetration. The aim of this project is the use of two separate formulations in pressurised systems – a suspension and an emulsion – which can be mixed in a specially developed device and can be applied easily and efficiently into a bone directly during surgery leading to a self-hardening macro porous CPC foam. The intention is to fill voids in osteoporotic bones to ensure stability for implants like e.g. screws for femur neck fractures. An increased stability for implants can allow the possibility of a less invasive femur neck preserving therapy in contrast to a femur neck replacement. Other indications for such foam (i.e. kyphoplasty) are under evaluation.

Methods As suggested above two separate formulations for the components are developed to prevent premature hardening. Hydrofluoroalkanes were preferred as propellants to propane, butane or isobutane, due to their superior safety profile. The hardener component was formulated as propellant-in-water emulsion. Several parentally approved emulsifiers (e.g. Poloxamer 188) were tested in view of solubility at the given salt and binder concentration. The stability of resulting emulsions in pressurised containers, the corresponding foams as well as the foam expansion volume was analyzed. Porous hydroxyapatite is formed after addition of tetra-calciumphosphate, di-calciumphosphate dihydrate and tri-sodiumcitrat dehydrate incorporated in the suspension component. To overcome quick sedimentation of these solids, particle size was reduced by dry or non-aqueous wet milling, respectively. Changes in particle size distribution and enthalpy changes during processes were analyzed. Hardening properties of both components were tested particularly with regard to compressive strength. In order to apply the components, a suitable application system was developed and the hardened product analyzed using x-ray diffraction.

Results The optimised Ca2+/(PO4)3− component is a submicron-sized suspension in a mixture of ethanol and HFA 134a. The development of the suspension led to new knowledge with regard to milling effects on the Ca2+/(PO4)3− components. The optimised hardener component contains an aqueous solution of sodium phosphates, Povidone 90 and Poloxamer 188 emulsified in HFA 227. Both components are formulated in pressurised cans.

Discussion/Conclusion A two component bone foam for stabilisation in osteoporotic bones including a new mixing / application system, which allows actuation of the components and leads to a hardening process that results in hydroxyapatite in a suitable test setup, was developed. The new application system.

Further steps i.e. proof of concept (in-vitro and in-vivo) are being taken.


The contributions of this report are twofold. First, we will give the intuition of how programs can be represented in the rewriting calculus. We will compare with the lambda-calculus and take many examples of OCaml programs. Secondly, we propose, study and exemplify a rewriting calculus with explicit constraint handling. In this calculus, matching and application of substitutions become explicit. The approach is really modular, allowing extension to arbitrary matching theories. We will also prove that the calculus is powerful enough to deal with errors. We will afterwards prove the confluence of the calculus and the termination of the ``explicit'' part of the calculus, some non trivial proofs. We conclude by an other extension of the calculus to handle composition of substitutions.


ECOLOGY/EVOLUTION
Macroecology aims to explain the broad-scale geographical patterns exhibited by living organisms, such as the distribution of vegetation types or species richness with latitude. Documentation of the patterns themselves, however, is often far from straightforward, impeding progress to mechanistic understanding. Reich and Oleksyn have completed a global survey of the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) content of leaves of more than 1000 plant species. The availability of these two elements generally set the limits to plant growth, and their availability is thus a key determinant of vegetation structure and ecosystem properties. Even so, the complexity of interactions between temperature, soil nutrient content, soil age, and plant physiology makes it hard to predict what might be the geographical correlates of leaf nutrient stoichiometry. The findings suggest that at lower latitudes, where temperatures are higher, leaf N and P content declines and N:P ratios increase—consistent with the observation that P is the limiting nutrient in older tropical soils. In contrast, in younger temperate soils N is limiting. — AMS

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.0403588101 (2004).


Three problems connecting functional identities to the recently introduced notion of a zero Lie product determined Banach algebra are discussed. The first one concerns commuting linear maps, the second one concerns derivations that preserve commutativity and the third one concerns bijective commutativity preserving linear maps.


Glass-ceramic superconductors in the Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O system were prepared by melt-quenching method in the presence of some additives (Pb, B). The studied glasses were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (DTA/TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). On the crystallized ceramics obtained by the annealing the glasses, transport resistance and XRD measurements were also done. The glass transition temperatures (Tg) was found to range in the 380-430 oC domain, followed by a set of exothermal effects that could be assigned to the crystallization of the superconducting phases. The nucleation and growth of the crystals is influenced by both the nature of the oxides used as additives and by their ratio. So, the samples doped with low amount of B (x=0.1 and 0.2) present obvious transitions at about 110 K, highlighting the presence of the 2223 phase in highest amount and well interconnected.


OBJECTIVE
To prepare anti-human IgG-dextran-adriamycin conjugate for immunotargeting of S180 sarcoma and assess its effects on the tumor weight and survival time of the tumor-bearing mice.

METHODS
Anti-human IgG-dextran- adriamycin was synthesized by conjugating dextran and adriamycin with anti-human IgG. The immunoactivity of anti-human IgG-dextran-adriamycin was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the cytotoxicity of anti-human IgG, adriamycin, and the IgG-dextran-adriamycin conjugate against the tumor cells in vitro was evaluated using MTT assay. In mice bearing S180 sarcoma, the agents were tested for their effects against tumor cell growth and the survival time of mice.

RESULTS
The molar ratio of anti-mouse IgG, dextran, and adriamycin was 1:2.5:38 in the conjugate. The conjugates were shown to retain the immunoactivity of anti-human IgG, and possessed cytotoxicity to S180 cells in vitro. Administration of the conjugate and intratumor injection of human IgG resulted in a tumor suppression rate of 17.72%in mice bearing S180 sarcoma, but did not prolong the survival time of the mice.

CONCLUSION
The anti-human IgG-dextran-adriamycin conjugate shows targeted antitumor effect against S180 sarcoma in mice.