Mitochondrial DNA has been studied in a number of eukaryotic organisms. Differences in inter- and intraspecies mitochondrial DNA restriction patterns have been shown to be due to differences in nucleotide sequences and have been used to study evolutionary relationships and the mode of inheritance of the mitochondrial genome. A relatively rapid and efficient method for the extraction of mitochondrial DNA from Candida parapsilosis and other Candida species was developed. Zymolyase was used to induce yeast protoplasts and mitochondrial DNA was extracted from DNase I-treated mitochondrial preparations. Digestion with the restriction endonucleases Eco RI, Hind III and Bam HI yielded the most definitive restriction patterns. The results of the restriction endonuclease analysis were in agreement with the current identification of these organisms. Candida parapsilosis, Candida albicans and Candida kefyr showed different restriction patterns. Eight Candida parapsilosis strains were compared and all had identical fragment patterns. The molecular size was approximately 30 kilobase pairs and the GC content was 33.2%. The results of these experiments demonstrate the potential of a simple molecular technique for the differentiation of yeast species.


For the consolidation of soil mass and the construction of the stability works for roads infrastructure it was studied the evolution of these kinds of works from classical retaining walls - common concrete retaining walls, to the utilization in our days of the modern and competitive methods - mechanically stabilized earth walls. Like type of execution the variety of the reinforced soil is given by the utilization of different types of reinforcing inclusions (steel strips, geosynthetics, geogrids) or facing (precast concrete panels, dry cast modular blocks, metal sheets and plates, gabions, and wrapped sheets of geosynthetics).


The therapy of integrated traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine (TCM-WM) on lupus nephritis (LN) was explored. There were 74 and 66 cases in the TCM-WM group and WM group respectively. The results showed that in TCM-WM group the effective rate and recurrence rate were 95.9% and 4.1% respectively, while in WM group they were 80.3% and 21.2% respectively. The occurrence rate of side effect was 37.9% and 77.3% in TCM-WM group and WM group respectively. It indicated that the therapy of TCM-WM could significantly enhance curative rate and reduce recurrence and side effect rate.


ABSTRACT Silva, R.; Mendoza, E., Mariño-Tapia, I.; Martínez, M.L., and Escalante, E. 2016. An artificial reef improves coastal protection and provides a base for coral recovery. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 467-471. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In 2007, Hurricane Dean caused extensive damage along the coast of Riviera Maya, exceptionally large mass of wind-transported sand was deposited on the beach front and gardens of the former NH Hotel in Puerto Morelos. Due to the chaotic sea state and the debris carried by the storm, the sand was contaminated with various pollutants, including terrigenous materials and biogenic matter. As an emergency measure, this sand was used to create an artificial dune in the grounds of the hotel. Given the high probability of future storms of such magnitude, it was decided that some form of sediment transport control was needed to protect the beach so an artificial reef was constructed 120 m off the shore. The structure, made of prefabricated concrete elements, has been effective as a coastal defense barrier and has also provided a habitat for several reef species. Five years after the placement of the structure the beach front, which had previously registered erosion problems, had returned to its natural cycle of summer growth and winter retreat and a large number of fish and coral species were using the habitat provided by the structure. However, the coral reef growing on this prefabricated structure was not long-lasting. The massive and persistent occurrence of Sargassum in 2015 brought oxygen depletion, reduced pH, an excess in nutrients and less water transparency on the Caribbean coast, leading to the decline of the reef habitat. Further studies are necessary to test whether reef species recolonize the prefabricated substrate.


AIM
To evaluate the initial safety and efficacy of combination therapy using miriplatin plus low-dose epirubicin for transarterial chemoembolisation (TACE) of unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients who underwent TACE using miriplatin plus epirubicin (n=48) and control patients who underwent TACE using miriplatin-alone (n=51) were included in this study.

RESULTS
The objective response rate in the miriplatin plus epirubicin group (91%) was significantly higher than that in the miriplatin group (74%, p=0.024). Concomitant use of miriplatin and epirubicin was an independent factor associated with higher objective response rate (hazard ratio=0.18; p=0.012). Overall incidence adverse events was not significantly different between the miriplatin plus epirubicin group (50%) and the miriplatin group (49%, p=0.575).

CONCLUSION
TACE using miriplatin plus low-dose epirubicin was associated with an increased objective response rate and comparable adverse effects compared to TACE using miriplatin-alone.


Fifteen primigravid patients with severe pregnancy-induced hypertension were studied by catheterization of the right side of the heart. A hemodynamic protocol was implemented that required maintaining colloid osmotic pressure above 17 millimeters of mercury, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure below 15 millimeters of mercury and the mean arterial pressure in a very narrow range throughout labor and delivery and for 48 hours postpartum. The initial colloid osmotic pressures and pulmonary capillary wedge pressures were 18.0 +/- 2.6 and 10.5 +/- 4.0 millimeters of mercury, respectively, and remained essentially unchanged throughout the post partum period. The only benefit derived from volume expansion in these patients appeared to be the absence of acute fetal distress after the initiation of antihypertensive therapy. Six of 15 patients had late fetal stress develop during labor, suggesting that aggressive volume repletion and colloid osmotic pressure correction in pregnancy-induced hypertension does not effect the over-all incidence of fetal distress. We recommend that correction of colloid osmotic pressure be restricted to instances in which extremely low values (less than 12 millimeters of mercury) or a prolonged negative colloid osmotic pressure to pulmonary capillary wedge pressure gradient are identified. Finally, the benefit of volume expansion in pregnancy-induced hypertension appears to be the prevention of sudden and profound drops in blood pressure with antihypertensive therapy--not the prevention of fetal distress during labor.


AIM
The aim of this paper is to consider the process of ageing, the effects of ageing and research related to ageing.

BACKGROUND
In most countries of the world, the UK being no exception, the population is ageing in terms of the absolute numbers of and relative proportion of older people. This has resulted from economic, scientific and medical progress. However, it poses challenges for health and social services.

METHOD
Selective review of the literature.

CONCLUSION
Ageing is an inevitable part of life and, while not in itself debilitating, can be accompanied by a range of debilitating physical and mental conditions which lead to frailty and dependency. There is limited evidence that the ageing process can be alleviated, as such, but there is some evidence that choices and circumstances in early life can influence the extent to which we age successfully.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Nurse managers have two responsibilities with regard to age: they are increasingly engaged in organizing care for older people in acute and long-term settings and in nursing homes and the more they need to understand the process of ageing. They also have responsibilities towards their workforce and can facilitate lifestyle choices which may help their workforce to age successfully.


The preparation of a series of diastereoisomeric tetracamphorsulfonates derived from racemic tetramethoxyresorcin[4]arenes was achieved by reactions with an excess of (S)(+)-10-camphorsulfonyl chloride in pyridine followed by isolation using flash chromatography. Tetradeprotonation of a number of tetramethoxyresorcin[4]arenes using n-butyllithium in tetrahydrofuran, followed by reactions using (S)-(+)10-camphorsulfonyl chloride, gave the same tetracamphorsulfonates. Mono-, di- and tricamphorsulfonates were also prepared following selective deprotonation. In the reactions with tetraisopropyloxy- and tetracyclopentyloxyresorcin[4]arenes, only the mono- and dicamphorsulfonates were formed. X-ray crystallographic analysis established the absolute configurations of three diastereoisomerically pure tetracamphorsulfonates, including a diastereoisomer prepared from 6,12,18,24-tetramethoxy-2,8,14,20-tetrakis(2-methylpropyl)resorcin[4]are ne. An additional pair of diastereoisomers was also prepared using (R)-(-)-10-camphorsulfonyl chloride and 6,12,18,24-tetramethoxy-2,8,14,20-tetrakis(2-methylpropyl)resorcin[4]are ne, for one of which the structure was confirmed by an additional X-ray structure determination. Hydrolytic removal of the camphorsulfonyl residue(s) from the various diastereoisomers gave enantiomers of known absolute configurations. In some cases, the chiral nonracemic tetraalkoxyresorcin[4]arenes were converted into known tetrabenzoxazine derivatives by using N,N-bis(methoxymethyl)[(S)-(-)-(a-methylbenzyl)]amine in thermal or microwave - assisted reactions. (c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006.


PURPOSE
A suggestion for a graduated diagnostic and therapeutic approach for patients with a suspected infection with non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) of the hand and wrist is made.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between March 2003 and February 2007, 2 women and 3 men with an average age of 64 years were treated for an NTM infection of the hand and wrist. 4 patients had a tenosynovitis of the wrist. In 1 patient both wrists were involved. 1 patient had a granuloma of the index finger. The patients' charts, the operation reports, histological and bacteriological findings and the antibiogram were evaluated.

RESULTS
An inoculating trauma was identified in four patients. Intraoperatively rice bodies were present in the 4 patients with a tenosynovitis of the wrist. Histological findings showed acid-fast bacilli in 2 patients and chronic inflammatory reaction with/without granuloma (3/2) in 5 patients. Species identification was based on PCR and microbiological culture and revealed in three patients slow growing species (M. malmoense, M. nonchromogenicum, M. szulgai) and in two patients M. marinum (intermediate growth rate). Therapy consisted of immediate postoperative empirical combined drug treatment followed by antibiogram-based therapy. All patients showed healing of the infection at the final follow-up at an average of 25.2 months (range: 15-44 months) postoperatively.

CONCLUSION
Consideration of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in the differential diagnosis in cases of localised tenosynovitis is paramount for diagnosis. Treatment based on graduated diagnostic steps, surgery and drugs (empirical followed by directed drugs) can achieve favourable clinical outcomes.


Notes on Contributors. 1. Access and Property: A Question of Power and Authority ( Thomas Sikor, University of East Anglia and Christian Lund, Roskilde University, Denmark ). 2. Property, Authority and Citizenship: Land Claims, Politics and the Dynamics of Social Division in West Africa ( Sara Berry, Johns Hopkins University ). 3. Rubber Erasures, Rubber Producing Rights: Making Racialized Territories in West Kalimantan, Indonesia ( Nancy Lee Peluso, University of California, Berkeley ). 4. Ruling by Record: The Meaning of Rights, Rules and Registration in an Andean Comunidad ( Monique Nuijten, Wageningen University and David Lorenzo, Roskilde University, Denmark ). 5. Authority over Forests: Empowerment and Subordination in Senegal's Democratic Decentralization ( Jesse C. Ribot, University of Illinois ). 6. Recategorizing 'Public' and 'Private' Property in Ghana ( Christian Lund, Roskilde University, Denmark ). 7. Land Access and Titling in Nicaragua ( Rikke B. Broegaard, Danish Institute for International Studies ). 8. Negotiating Post-Socialist Property and State: Struggles over Forests in Albania and Romania ( Thomas Sikor, University of East Anglia Johannes Stahl, University of California, Berkeley and Stefan Dorondel, Humboldt University Berlin ). 9. Property and Authority in a Migrant Society: Balinese Irrigators in Sulawesi, Indonesia ( Dik Roth, Wageningen University ). Index.


This paper provides an overview of a research project that assessed the long-term impact of three antipoverty interventions in Bangladesh – the introduction of new agricultural technologies, educational transfers, and microfinance – on monetary and non-monetary measures of well-being. It begins by setting out the conceptual framework, methodology, and empirical methods used for the evaluation of long-term impacts. It discusses the context of the evaluations and the longitudinal data used. Key findings from the papers are then presented, followed by an indicative analysis of the cost-effectiveness of these interventions. The overview concludes with implications for programmes and policy.


Sport is nowadays perceived as beneficial for children with haemophilia, as good muscle strength supports joints and may reduce bleed frequency; by contrast psychological benefits are less known. This study introduces the impact of sport on health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) and physical performance in children with haemophilia. A cross‐sectional, multi‐site, study of boys aged 6–17 years with haemophilia A or B of any severity, current or past inhibitor, which assessed physical performance, sporting activity and HRQoL using age appropriate questionnaires including KINDL, Haemo‐QoL and HEP‐Test‐Q. Eighty‐four haemophilic boys (23 mild, 19 moderate, 42 severe) with a mean age of 11.52 years (SD = 3.4) were enrolled from two haemophilia centres in the United Kingdom. 28.4% were overweight/obese according to their BMI/age and had a good orthopaedic status (M = 1.55, SD = 3.3). Boys watching < 1–2 h of TV/PC/day had fewer days lost (M = 3, SD = 3.2) than those with a more sedentary lifestyle (M = 9.40, SD = 7.1) (P < 0.032). 90.5% participated in regular sporting activity; 79.9% at least twice a week. HRQoL in children was generally good, with highest impairments in boys aged 8–12 years. Boys aged 8–16 years reported good physical performance (M = 80.0, SD = 16.0) with highest impairments in the dimensions 'endurance' and 'mobility'. Boys doing sport had a significant better physical performance and HRQoL than boys not doing sport. Sedentary life styles had a negative impact on the subjective physical performance and number of days lost of children. Encouraging haemophilic boys to participate in sport will have a direct impact on their overall HRQoL.


Satellite-based measurements of atmospheric trace gases loading give a realistic image of atmospheric pollution at global, regional, and urban level. The aim of this paper is to investigate the trend of atmospheric NO2 content over Romania for the period 1996–2010 for several regions which are generally characterized by different pollutant loadings, resulting from GOME-1, SCIAMACHY, OMI, and GOME-2 instruments. Satellite results are then compared with ground-based in situ measurements made in industrial and relatively clean areas of one major city in Romania. This twofold approach will help in estimating whether the trend of NO2 obtained by means of data satellite retrievals can be connected with the evolution of national industry and transportation.


In this paper, a novel Dynamic State Estimation–current feedback with STATCOM control scheme is proposed for the mitigation of voltage fluctuation of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) power station connected to the complex power grids during electrical faults. The proposed control scheme is compared to two existing control strategies and shows its superiority in alleviating voltage flickers and deviations as well as protecting the internal membranes of the fuel cells. Since SOFC internal dynamic states are able to closely reflect the transience and dynamic behavior of SOFC, using them in controller designs can generate better regulations of the state-related internal voltage of SOFC than other methods. STATCOM is also utilized in this study to mitigate the voltage oscillations induced by unavoidable voltage fluctuations during electrical faults. The power system with proposed control strategy is proven to be stable through linear analysis. The acquisition of the useful internal dynamic states is realized using unscented Kalman filter algorithm based state estimator. The success of incorporating estimated states into the development of control strategies is conducive to the designs and implementations of new control schemes for power systems and also the applications of interdisciplinary control theories.


This paper presents the evaluation of permanent deformation of rubber-reinforced SMA asphalt mixtures by using dynamic creep test. The effect of trans-polyoctenamer as a cross-linking agent in permanent deformation of rubberized mixtures was also evaluated. Dynamic creep test was conducted at different stress levels (200 kPa, 400 kPa) and temperatures (40°C, 50°C). Permanent deformation parameters such as dynamic creep curve, ultimate strain, and creep strain slope (CSS) were used to analyse the results. Finally, the creep behaviour of the specimens was estimated by the Zhou three-stage creep model. The results show that crumb rubber and trans-polyoctenamer significantly affected the parameters especially at high stress and temperatures. Consistent findings were observed for all permanent deformation parameters. Moreover, based on Zhou model, it was concluded that resistance to permanent deformation was improved by application of crumb rubber and trans-polyoctenamer.


This study sheds light on the issues in which Sibawayh made a mistake in the book ``Ea'arab of the Qur'an'' for An-Nahas, a grammatical study, where I enumerated these issues and edited them by presenting and discussing the evidence and then concluded them with the opinion of the researchers, with a clear statement of misleading. All this stems from justice and truth, far from fanaticism or inclination toward one scholar without another. The research was divided into an introduction and a preface that included a brief translation of Mark Al-Nahas and a definition of confusion both linguistically and idiomatically, then the issues that Al-Nahas made mistakes in Sibawayh and the issues in which other scholars were mistakenly transferred to Sibawayh. Finally, a conclusion that included the most important results extracted from the research and a list of the most essential approved sources.
Keywords: Al-Nahas, Sibawayh, mistake, mubrad, Basroun, Kufic


ETS variant transcription factor 4 (ETV4) is a common cancer-promoting transcription factor and its expression has been found to be significantly upregulated in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), as determined via analysis of the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. In addition, our previous study demonstrated that ETV4 expression was highly positively correlated with epithelial membrane protein 1 (EMP1). The present study aimed to determine whether ETV4 could influence the activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway to affect the autophagy and apoptosis of GBM cells by regulating the transcriptional activity of EMP1. In addition to the analysis of the GEPIA database, the expression levels of ETV4 were also investigated in several different GBM cell lines. After interfering with the expression of ETV4, western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of autophagy- and apoptosis-related proteins, and a TUNEL assay was used to detect the levels of cell apoptosis. Dual luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays were used to verify the potential binding site of ETV4 on EMP1. Western blotting was also used to analyze the expression levels of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway-related proteins. The results of the current study revealed that the expression levels of ETV4 were significantly upregulated in GBM cell lines compared with those in normal glial cells. In the GBM cell line, LN-229, ETV4 was discovered to bind to the EMP1 promoter and positively regulate the expression of EMP1. The knockdown of ETV4 expression inhibited the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway activity to promote autophagy and apoptosis, and this effect could be partially reversed by overexpressing EMP1. In conclusion, these findings indicated that the knockdown of ETV4 in GBM cells may reduce the transcriptional activation of EMP1 and thereby inhibit PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway activity to promote autophagy and apoptosis. This provides a novel insight into potential strategies for the treatment of GBM via the induction of autophagy-dependent apoptosis.


The match between supply and demand for services or equipment for children with disabilities is not easy to determine because, on the one hand, the distribution of disability is not homogeneous across the territory, and on the other hand there is a diversity of databases that does not allow a real estimate of demand. We propose first a discussion on the available data sources to approximate the geographical distribution of children with disabilities. In a second step, we propose a distribution model based on a spatial statistical analysis of the determinants of disability. Our goal is to understand in which ways the available data can be, by assessing their convergence, indicative of the distribution of the population of children with disabilities in the territory. A critical discussion is needed on gaps in disability measurement and assessment systems to improve the link between population estimation and service provision.


Testicular tumors are very rare in boys, approximately 1.5% of these are Leydig cell tumors. The authors present a 4.5 year-old boy with Leydig cell tumor of left testis, which was associated with increased sex steroid production that caused precocious puberty. These tumors are benign processes in prepubertal children. Beyond the rarity of this case the authors would like to report about its diagnostic difficulties and testis-sparing remove of it. The plasma 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels provide the distinction between congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Leydig cell tumor in patient with precocious puberty.


PURPOSE
The treatment of patients with follicular lymphoma has changed with the introduction of high-dose therapy (HDT) with autologous stem-cell transplant then with rituximab. The effect of these two strategies on the outcome of relapsing patients with follicular lymphoma has never been compared.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We analyzed two cohorts of patients treated in two successive randomized studies with the same treatment, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, teniposide, and prednisolone plus interferon, to evaluate the role of rituximab and HDT in salvage therapy after first disease progression or relapse.

RESULTS
Of the 364 patients included in these two studies, 254 progressed or relapsed and constitute the population of this analysis. Among them, 98 had been treated with HDT, including 33 of them after rituximab-containing salvage regimen, and 69 with rituximab alone or combined with chemotherapy but without HDT. Patients' characteristics at diagnosis were similar in all subgroups. If event-free survival was identical for patients treated within Groupe d'Etude des Lymphomes Folliculaires (GELF) -86 or GELF-94 studies, overall survival was longer in GELF-94 study. HDT was associated with a statistically significant benefit in terms of event-free survival from relapse and survival after relapse (SAR). Rituximab was associated with a greater benefit than HDT for these two end points. When both treatments were combined, patients treated with rituximab-containing salvage regimen followed by HDT had 5-year SAR more than 90%.

CONCLUSION
In follicular lymphoma, for patients treated with first-line chemotherapy the combination of a salvage regimen containing rituximab with or without HDT leads to a dramatic improvement of long-term outcome.


ABSTRACT The biota of the brackish-water Lake Pannon in the Pannonian Basin is characterised by remarkable endemism due to the isolated evolution of the lake for 8 myr after the last Miocene marine connection ceased (∼11.6 Ma). A conspicuous feature of this endemism is the large, probably ecophenotypic variation in the morphology of brackish-water dinoflagellate cysts that challenges taxonomy and complicates biostratigraphical and ecological interpretations. We conclude that a widely debated Lake Pannon genus, Pontiadinium, includes several proximate dinoflagellate cyst species with prominent apical and antapical protuberances, and we show how the genus differs from the morphologically similar gonyaulacacean cyst genera Impagidinium, Leptodinium, Cribroperidinium and Komewuia. The generic description of Pontiadinium is emended together with the species descriptions of Pontiadinium inequicornutum, Pontiadinium obesum and Pontiadinium pecsvaradanesis. A new species is described as Pontiadinium szentaiae sp. nov. from Našice (northern Croatia) that is characterised by unique trabeculate sutural septa formed from a beaded tegillum supported by columellae or rod-like luxuriae. The dinoflagellate cyst assemblages of the long-lived brackish-water Lake Pannon clearly demonstrate that dinoflagellate cysts in low-salinity, isolated epicontinental seas display greater morphological plasticity than their normal-marine relatives. The development of an antapical horn appears to be a previously undocumented example of phenotypic morphological features that developed in response to subnormal salinities within at least two dinoflagellate cyst genera endemic to Lake Pannon and the Post-Paratethyan seas of the Ponto-Caspian realm. This ecophenotypic variation resulted in a higher level of morphological adaptation, leading to the evolutionary development of new dinoflagellate cyst species and genera.


BACKGROUND
Suicide is a pervasive and complex issue that can challenge counselors through the course of their careers. Research and practice focus heavily on crisis management and imminent risk rather than early intervention strategies. Early intervention strategies can assist counselors working with clients who have suicidal ideation, but are not at imminent risk, or with clients whose risk factors identify them as having a stronger trajectory for suicidal ideation.

AIMS
This systematic literature review examines the current literature on working with clients with suicidal ideation who are not at imminent risk, to ascertain the types of information and strategies available to counselors working with this client group.

METHOD
An initial 622 articles were identified for analysis and from these 24 were included in the final review, which was synthesized using a narrative approach.

RESULTS
Results indicate that research into early intervention strategies is extremely limited.

CONCLUSION
It was possible to describe emergent themes and practice guidelines to assist counselors working with clients with suicidal ideation but not at imminent risk.


Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a wide spread affliction in industrialised countries. OSA has to be distinguished from simple snoring which is socially annoying but physically harmless, since it does not harm the physical health. Patients with OSA complain about disruptive snoring, daytime sleepiness, and loss of intellectual power. OSA is associated with increased mortality. It is possible to distinguish between complete respiratory pauses or apnoea and periods of too shallow breathing or hypopnoea. History taking, clinical examination, recording of daytime sleepiness, and cardio-respiratory sleep studies are necessary to make a proper diagnosis. OSA should primarily be treated, not so the simple snoring. In sleep apneics the treatment focuses on the removal of the sleep-related breathing disturbances and their health-related consequences. Therefore adjuvants or minimally invasive surgical techniques are favoured. Gold standard treatment of OSA is nasally applied continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP). Alternative treatment modalities are also used. As conservative approaches oral appliances and conditioning (to avoid supine sleeping position) show promising results. Surgical treatment complies with the severity of the disease and with the anatomical findings. A variety of surgical approaches to the soft palate, the base of tongue, the tonsils, and the upper and lower jaws have been described.


Spatially patterned ion beam implantation of 190 keV Co+ ions into a SiO2 thin film on a Si substrate has been achieved by using nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide with a pore diameter of 125 nm as a mask. The successful synthesis of periodic embedded Co regions using pattern transfer is demonstrated for the first time using cross-sectional (scanning) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in combination with analytical TEM. Implanted Co regions are found at the correct relative lateral periodicity given by the mask and at a depth of about 120 nm.


The objective of this case series was to describe surgical approaches that can be used to efficiently and effectively treat peri-implantitis as measured by positive changes in clinical parameters. A total of 32 patients with 45 implants were treated surgically to eliminate peri-implantitis. Baseline clinical parameters measured prior to surgery were compared to those made 6 months postsurgery to evaluate the efficacy of each procedure. Implants demonstrating signs of peri-implantitis were treated by one of three approaches: (1) regenerative surgery, (2) osseous resective surgery, or (3) apically repositioned flap surgery. In all instances, the exposed implant surfaces were debrided and decontaminated. Relative to baseline values, regenerative surgery yielded statistically significant changes in probing depth (PD) (7.21 ± 0.27 mm to 4.09 ± 0.14 mm) and percentage of sites exhibiting bleeding on probing (BoP) (100.0% ± 0.0% to 10.6% ± 3.3%) as measured at the 6-month recall visit (P ≤ .05). The decrease in probing depth was not dependent on the type of graft material used (P ≤ .05). Resective surgery yielded statistically significant changes in PD (5.86 ± 0.23 mm to 3.63 ± 0.14 mm) and the percentage of sites exhibiting BoP (100.0% ± 0.0% to none) (P ≤ .05). Finally, the implants treated via apically repositioned flap surgery demonstrated statistically significant decreases (P ≤ .05) in both PD (6.79 ± 0.27 mm to 4.32 ± 0.16 mm) and BOP (100.0% ± 0.0% to 14.3% ± 6.7%) (P ≤ .05). Regenerative, resective, and apically positioned flap surgery can be utilized to successfully treat peri-implantitis.


Occupational Stress in workplace occurs when the job demands that are required by the individual cannot be fulfilled at a given time, which in turn leads to adverse effect on individual. Teaching has been identified as one of the most stressful occupations in many countries. The Purpose of this research was to measure the Sources of Occupational Stress and its Consequences among Private and Government Teachers of Pre- University College of Shillong, Meghalaya. The sample of the study consisted of 60 participants from Shillong city, Meghalaya, where 16 male and 44 female teachers and the participants between the age group of 20-51 years and above who are working in Private and Government institutions were considered for the study. The data was collected using structured, open and close ended questionnaire which was mailed to some participants and personally distributed to 70 participants out of which only 60 participants responded from Private and Government institution using Purposive Sampling. The Objectives of the study were, to study the demographic details of the teachers, to identify the sources of occupational stress, to study the consequences among teachers; to compare government and private teachers in terms of sources of occupational stress and its consequences. The Tools used were demographic details, Teacher Stress Inventory (Fimian & Fastenau, 1990). The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS) 17.0 version. Frequency and Percentage: was used to interpret the demographic characteristics, sources of occupational stress and its consequences. T-test: was used for the comparison between two groups. Pearson's chi-square test was used to discover if relationship exist between two categorical variables. One way ANOVA was used for the comparison between three groups. The results shows that there were no significant differences found between private teachers and government teachers on sources of occupational stress and its consequences. Significant differences were found between male and female teachers on sources of occupational stress and its consequences.
Keywords: Occupational Stress, Higher Secondary Teachers, Consequences of Stress


For over fifty years relations between the United States and Cuba have been antagonistic, with each side blaming the other for the continuing impasse. This Caribbean Cold War has seen an unsuccessful armed invasion of Cuba (popularly known as the Bay of Pigs invasion), the threat of nuclear war between the US and the USSR (the 'Cuban missile crisis'), and an intensifying series of measures by the US government to reverse the Cuban social and political revolution of the 1960s. Since the early nineteenth century Washington has sought to control Cuba; and the US conditions for relaxing its pressure on present-day Cuba continue this tradition, itself part of a broader ideology (often short-handed as the Monroe Doctrine) which sees the western hemisphere as America's legitimate and exclusive 'sphere of interest'. This article examines a number of recent works dealing both with the US–Cuban relationship, placing this relationship in historical and geopolitical contexts, and with the impact on Cuban society of the economic crisis of the 1990s caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union.


This paper reports the design of a multiband metamaterial (MM) absorber in the terahertz region. Theoretical and simulated results show that the absorber has four distinct and strong absorption points at 1.69, 2.76, 3.41 and 5.06 THz, which are consistent with 'fingerprints' of some explosive materials. The retrieved material parameters show that the impedance of MM could be tuned to match approximately the impedance of the free space to minimise the reflectance at absorption frequencies and large power loss exists at absorption frequencies. The distribution of the power loss indicates that the absorber is an excellent electromagnetic wave collector: the wave is first trapped and reinforced in certain specific locations and then consumed. This multiband absorber has applications in the detection of explosives and materials characterisation.


Mathematics courses are a major source of engineering student attrition. Many engineering students drop out before even taking an engineering course. While the mismatch between mathematics content and following engineering coursework is already a concern, it is often studied heuristically by talking to engineering faculty. Few rigorous studies empirically document when students actually need to use calculus knowledge in their coursework. We mapped how foundational calculus concepts are used to solve assigned problems in topics covered in the widely required Engineering Statics course. To create this mapping, we used the mathematics-in-use technique of Czocher et al. We present preliminary evidence of the match, or mismatch, between what calculus is taught and learned in mathematics courses and what is expected of students in following engineering coursework. For this work-in-progress, we focused on presenting the alignment between calculus concepts/skills and topics taught in Statics.


In this paper, a two-time-scale neural controller applied to tile tracking control of rigid manipulators is introduced. Several fast learning rules and slow learning strategies are proposed. The stability properties of the closed loop system with the proposed two-time-scale neural controller are analyzed. The results show that the tracking error will be uniformly bounded and converge to a bounded region. If a sufficiently large leakage term is used in the fast learning rule, the ultimate bound of the tracking error depends only on the accuracy of the slow learning. Moreover, the feasibility of the proposed neural controller is demonstrated through the simulation of a two-link rigid robot manipulator. >


Neonatal genital prolapse is a rare condition seen early in life, often in conjunction with spinal cord anomalies. We present a case of a 38-week gestational age female in whom urinary obstruction and bilateral hydronephrosis resulted from genital prolapse. We suggest that although a serious urologic outcome can potentially result from this condition, cure for both can be achieved swiftly and without major complications.


Real-world time series data are rich in sequential and structural patterns. Music, for example, often have a multi-level organization of musical events, with higher-level building blocks made up of smaller recurrent patterns. For computers to understand and process such time series data, we need a mechanism to uncover the underlying structure. Toward this goal, we propose and formulate a number of music puzzle games to test the ability of contemporary neural network models to mine sequential patterns. In essence, these games require a model to correctly sort a few multisecond, nonoverlapping music fragments, either from the same song or not. In the training stage, we learn the model by sampling multiple fragment pairs from the same songs and seeking to predict whether a given pair is consecutive and is in correct chronological order. As no manual labels are needed, it is an unsupervised (more specifically, self-supervised) learning problem. On the basis of state-of-the-art Siamese convolutional network, we propose an improved architecture that learns to embed frame-level similarity scores computed from the input fragment pairs into a common space, where fragment pairs of different types can be more easily distinguished. Our experiments show that the resulting model, dubbed as the similarity embedding network (SEN), performs better than competing models across different games, including music jigsaw puzzle, music sequencing, and music medley.


We consider a ratinonal map $\phi$ from m-dimensional projective space to n-dimensional projective space that is a parameterization of m-dimensional variety. Our main goal is to study the (m-1)-dimensional fibers of $\phi$ in relation with the m-th local cohomology modules of Rees algebra of its base ideal.


Large differences in national price levels exist across countries. In this paper, I develop a general equilibrium model predicting that these differences should be related to countries' exchange rate regimes. My empirical findings confirm that countries with fixed exchange rate regimes have higher national price levels than countries with flexible regimes. At the disaggregate level, the relationship between exchange rate regimes and national price levels is stronger for nontraded goods than for traded goods. I also find that measuring the misalignment in national price levels around times of regime shifts without considering a break in its equilibrium value results in the overestimation of the true misalignment.


Objective The Fas-Fas ligand (FasL) pathway of apoptosis contributes to immune tolerance at the feto-maternal interface and has been ascribed a role in implantation and placental development. We aimed to investigate concentrations of soluble Fas (sFas) and soluble FasL (sFasL) in maternal, fetal and neonatal serum from intrauterine-growth-restricted (IUGR, associated with impaired maternal-fetal tolerance, increased trophoblast apoptosis and uteroplacental vascular insufficiency) and appropriate-for-gestational-age-(AGA) pregnancies. Methods Circulating sFas and sFasL concentrations were measured in 40 mothers and their 20 IUGR and 20 AGA singleton full-term fetuses-neonates on postnatal day 1-(N1) and 4-(N4). Results No significant differences in sFas and sFasL concentrations were observed between groups. However, maternal sFas concentrations were marginally elevated in the IUGR group (p = 0.054). In both groups, maternal sFas concentrations were increased compared to fetal, N1 and N4 ones (p⩽0.005 in AGA and p Conclusions The elevated maternal sFas concentrations in the IUGR cohort may reflect maternal immune intolerance, leading to increased trophoblast apoptosis and abnormal placentation. Furthermore, the results of this study imply an acceleration of Fas-FasL-mediated apoptosis during delivery and a respective decrease postpartum in both normal and IUGR pregnancies.


In this chapter the attitude of mothers to the use of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in their children's language learning was investigated. 118 Iranian mothers were selected based on convenient sampling. Their attitude towards CALL was assessed by a 12-item questionnaire. The result of data analysis revealed that generally mothers have roughly positive attitudes towards CALL. Significant differences were reported when mothers with higher education were compared with those mothers who did not have university degrees. However, gender, age, and mother's profession did not have any role in their attitudes towards CALL.


The implementation of service oriented architecture (SOA) has proven to be one of the main initiatives for organizations in gaining necessary agility in the area of information technology. However, in one particular area this process has presented a significant challenge: the implementation of a service catalog. Ontologies have been used to organize services in repositories, as proposed by of OWL-S (Ontology Web Service Language) and WSMO (Web Service Modeling Ontology). Meanwhile, these ontologies have two broad restrictions: they are used on runtime only, and deal only with Web Service technology for the implementation of services. This study proposes an ontology for SOA with an emphasis on the implementation of a service catalog in the development phase, and considering any type of service implementation technology. This ontology was created based on the existing ontologies and literature. The resulting ontology was instanced with services of a large multinational organization.


Spring 2006 experienced two very different understandings of copying. First, Daavya Viswanathan, a Harvard College student who had enjoyed a certain fame for landing a half-million dollar publishing deal while still in high school, was revealed to have copied significant language from another novel. This sparked an intense, if short-lived, media blitz. As a result, her publisher withdrew the book from circulation and canceled the contract. At approximately the same time, the Michigan Law Review published a symposium issue on the use of "boilerplate" - standard language or precedents copied from other sources - in contracts. Although the participants raised numerous interesting issues, none of them questioned the propriety of copying per se. Those writing about the Viswanathan kerfuffle presumed that it proved that copying language penned by another is morally reprehensible. Nevertheless, the Michigan symposium proved that lawyers copy all the time. That plagiarism is "wrongful" is a truism - the word is a pejorative. What we need to ask is why only some forms of copying are tarred with the epithet "plagiarism", while others are completely respectable.


The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of bismuth subgallate on wound healing. In 40 Wistar rats, two standard wounds (3.5 mm x 2 mm) were made using a biopsy punch on the back of each animal. Test wounds were filled with bismuth subgallate and control wounds with 0.9% saline. At 1, 4, 7, 11 and 18 days, the qualitative evolution of the granulation tissue morphology was observed and digitalized histologic images were evaluated. There were no significant histological differences between test and control. Histometrically, there were statistically significant differences between test and control (ANOVA--days 1 and 4; Student t test, p < 0.05--days 7, 11 and 18) in terms of the following parameters: area of ulceration--day 1; distance between epithelial edges--day 4; area of granulation tissue--days 7, 11 and 18. It was concluded that bismuth subgallate is biocompatible to the healing tissue, and did not interfere with the normal development of wound healing.


Acute GVHD is a rare complication after liver transplantation that has a high mortality rate. We experienced an infant case complicated with acute GVHD. An 8‐month‐old infant with biliary atresia underwent LDLT with a graft obtained from his mother. Their HLAs showed a donor‐dominant one‐way match, not at HLA‐DR but at HLA‐A, HLA‐B, and HLA‐C (recipient; A 31/33, B 51/54, C 1/14, DR 9/11, donor; A 31/‐, B 51/‐, C 14/‐, DR 8/11). The patient exhibited a high fever, skin rash, and diarrhea, and was diagnosed with acute GVHD based on the blood chimerism test. Despite immunosuppression treatment with prednisolone and tacrolimus, plasma exchange, blood transfusion including cord blood transplantation, and antibiotics, the child died on postoperative day 126. Donor‐dominant one‐way matching at HLA class 1 can be a high‐risk factor for acute GVHD despite HLA class 2 mismatching.


Correction for 'Chemical synthesis of human trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) and its homodimer provides novel insights into their mechanisms of action' by Nayara Braga Emidio et al., Chem. Commun., 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0CC02321C.


Robots are widely utilized in many fields, and various demands need customized robots. This study proposes an optimal design method based on swarm intelligence for selecting the kinematic parameter of a manipulator according to the task space trajectory desired by the user. The optimal design method is dealt with herein as an optimization problem. This study is based on swarm intelligence-based optimization algorithms (i.e., ant colony optimization (ACO) and particle swarm optimization algorithms) to determine the optimal kinematic parameters of the manipulator. The former is used to select the optimal kinematic parameter values, whereas the latter is utilized to solve the inverse kinematic problem when the ACO determines the parameter values. This study solves a design problem with the PUMA 560 when the desired task space trajectory is given and discusses its results in the simulation part to verify the performance of the proposed design.


Throughout the tropics, regenerating secondary forests occupy vast areas previously cleared for agriculture and cattle ranching. However, despite the importance of regenerating forests in mitigating the pervasive negative consequences of forest loss and fragmentation on forest-associated biodiversity, longitudinal studies on species' phylogenetic responses to matrix regeneration are rare.
We surveyed bats in continuous primary forest, primary forest fragments and in the regenerating secondary forest matrix of a whole-ecosystem Amazonian fragmentation experiment, ~15 and ~30 years after forest clearance, to investigate how changes in matrix quality through forest recovery affect phylogenetic α- and β-diversity.
We found that temporal changes in phylogenetic α-richness were more marked in the secondary forest matrix than in forest fragments and continuous forest, evidencing a significant increase in total evolutionary history over time. However, when the effects of species richness were accounted for, the phylogenetic structure of each assemblage was reduced close to zero, evincing a random pattern of lineages in all habitat types. Temporal differences in phylogenetic β-diversity were driven mainly by βreplacement in secondary forest and continuous forest ~30 years after forest clearance. Both habitats also clustered together in terms of βrichness, indicating similar levels of evolutionary heritage. Consequently, regenerating secondary forest showed a reduction in the extinction probability of lineages over time.
Synthesis and applications. Approximately 30 years of secondary forest regeneration were sufficient for phylogenetic richness to recover to levels similar to those observed in continuous forest. Promoting forest succession on degraded land through a combination of natural and active restoration, while ensuring the long-term protection of secondary forests regardless of their age, is of key importance for conserving tropical bat diversity and their associated ecosystem services. Such restoration measures would stimulate the recolonization of fragments and matrix habitats by evolutionarily distinct bat species, safeguarding phylogenetically diverse assemblages and ecological functions. Our study suggests that forest restoration in tropical degraded areas should be encouraged and secondary forests be protected by law, especially in countryside ecosystems with high primary forest cover, and in the surroundings of protected areas.


In this paper, I summarize some of the current trends in quantitative anthropological investigations of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and political–economic systems. I first provide an overview of the quantitative studies of TEK, focusing on the various research methods commonly employed in ethnoecology. Anthropologists use techniques such as freelists, pile sorts, objective tests, and semi-structured interviews with key informants to elicit TEK. Indices or cultural consensus models are constructed from the data to identify patterns of distribution of TEK in cultural groups. Key variables that are associated with the patterns of distribution of TEK include gender, age, social class, and mode of subsistence. Next, I contextualize current understandings of the nature and distribution of TEK in the context of political–economic systems. Ways of studying market participation and market integration of indigenous people are discussed in relationship to explaining patterns in TEK. Finally, I suggest some possible connections between TEK, economic market integration, and biodiversity conservation.


OBJECTIVE
Cytogenetic abnormalities are increased in schizophrenia, suggesting a possible etiologic contribution. However, their clinical and pathophysiologic roles in the disorder are unknown. To investigate this, a group of children and adolescents participating in a comprehensive study of childhood-onset schizophrenia were screened for chromosomal abnormalities, and their clinical and neurobiological correlates were examined.

METHOD
Cytogenetic screening with the use of high-resolution banding, fluorescent in situ hybridization for chromosome 22q11 deletions, and molecular fragile X testing was undertaken in a group of 47 children and adolescents with very early onset of schizophrenia. Clinical, neurobiological (including brain morphometry), and risk factor measures of the subjects with cytogenetic abnormalities were compared with those of the remaining patients without cytogenetic anomalies.

RESULTS
Five patients had previously undiagnosed cytogenetic abnormalities. Lower performance IQ and more pronounced premorbid developmental impairments were seen in this subgroup. Rates of obstetric complications, familial schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and familial eye tracking dysfunction were similar for the patients with and without cytogenetic abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS
Cytogenetic abnormalities appear to be increased in childhood-onset schizophrenia, suggesting an association with a very early age at onset. The data from the subgroup of patients with cytogenetic anomalies are consistent with a model in which a childhood onset of schizophrenia is due to a greater impairment of neurodevelopment secondary to the interaction of a number of factors, particularly genetic ones.


Objectives Depression complicates chronic pain in 30–50 percent of patients. Our objectives were to determine the 12-month clinical outcomes in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain and the effects of comorbid depression. Methods A cohort of 377 primary care patients with low back, hip, or knee pain for at least three months were enrolled, including 127 with depression of at least moderate severity [Patient Health Questionnaire-9 score ≥ 10] and 250 without depression. Telephone assessments were done at baseline, three, and 12 months by interviewers blinded to group status. Outcomes included pain severity, pain self-efficacy, disability, and pain-specific health care use, as well as depression, anxiety, somatization, stress, and quality of life. Results Patients with comorbid depression had moderately greater pain severity and substantially worse pain-related disability as well as greater impairment across multiple symptom and health-related quality of life domains. This adverse effect of depression persisted at three- and 12-month follow-up. Rates of improvement in pain were low and did not differ between groups [16.5 versus 19.8 percent], but depressed patients were significantly more likely to report worsening of pain at 12 months [35.0 versus 18.5 percent, P < 0.0001]. Development of incident depression was uncommon. Self-reported pain-specific treatments and healthcare use were similar in the two groups. Conclusions Patients with chronic pain and comorbid depression have substantially worse disability and health-related quality of life, which persists over long-term follow-up. Diligent efforts to identify and treat depression could potentially improve pain.


Abstract To evaluate the possibilities and limitations of using white-blood-cell (WBC) counts to characterize investment in immune-system function, we compared the prevalence and intensity of malaria infections and concentrations of WBCs in the American Robin (Turdus migratorius) in Michigan and Missouri and in the Clay- colored Robin (T. grayi) in central Panama. We ascertained infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening and quantified infection intensity and WBC concentrations by visual inspection of blood smears. Because few parasites were observed on smears, we assumed that most cases of malaria represented chronic, rather than acute, infections. Prevalence of haemosporidian infection (Panama 41%, Missouri 57%, Michigan 63%) did not differ significantly between locations. However, most infections in Panama were undetected on blood smears, whereas more than half were apparent on smears in Michigan and Missouri. Among WBCs, lymphocytes were the most abundant type, followed by heterophils; eosinophils and lymphocytes were more common in the North American sample than in Panama, and their numbers in Michigan were significantly higher in infected than in noninfected individuals. Tropical T. grayi apparently maintained infections at lower intensities but appeared to accomplish this in spite of lower abundances of immune-system cells. Furthermore, analyses of blood smears of Turdus spp. from elsewhere in the tropics revealed a wide range of prevalence, which suggests that either the regional presence of haemosporidians or the ability of hosts to control infections cannot be learned from limited samples. Additional species surveyed in Michigan and Panama revealed no consistent pattern in either infection intensity or WBC concentrations. Infection and response appear to be highly idiosyncratic. In agreement with other authors, we caution that blood parameters are difficult both to interpret and to sam- ple adequately in tests of regional or other effects. Prevalencia de Malaria y Respuesta de Glóbulos Blancos a la Infección en un Zorzal de la Zona Tropical y Uno de la Zona Templada


It is increasingly important to maximize the productivity of our agricultural land. As concern for efficient food and fiber production increases, the importance of the application of operations research to agricultural problems increases. During the past decade, there has been much effort to combine mathematics and agriculture. This paper presents the role that operations research has played in integrated pest management for the agricultural industry. An effort is made to present the state-of-the-art in biological modeling for agriculture pest management and to provide an understanding of the type of mathematical techniques utilized.


Video anomaly detection is a challenging task because of diverse abnormal events. To this task, methods based on reconstruction and prediction are wildly used in recent works, which are built on the assumption that learning on normal data, anomalies cannot be reconstructed or predicated as good as normal patterns, namely the anomaly result with more errors. In this paper, we propose to discriminate anomalies from normal ones by the duality of normality-granted optical flow, which is conducive to predict normal frames but adverse to abnormal frames. The normality-granted optical flow is predicted from a single frame, to keep the motion knowledge focused on normal patterns. Meanwhile, We extend the appearance-motion correspondence scheme from frame reconstruction to prediction, which not only helps to learn the knowledge about object appearances and correlated motion, but also meets the fact that motion is the transformation between appearances. We also introduce a margin loss to enhance the learning of frame prediction. Experiments on standard benchmark datasets demonstrate the impressive performance of our approach.


Biological materials have developed hierarchical and heterogeneous material microstructures and nanostructures to provide protection against environmental threats that, in turn, provide bioinspired clues to improve human body armor. In this study, we present a multiscale experimental and computational approach to investigate the anisotropic design principles of a ganoid scale of an ancient fish, Polypterus senegalus, which possesses a unique quad-layered structure at the micrometer scale with nanostructured material constituting each layer. The anisotropy of the outermost prismatic ganoine layer was investigated using instrumented nanoindentations and finite element analysis (FEA) simulations. Nanomechanical modeling was carried out to reveal the elastic-plastic mechanical anisotropy of the ganoine composite due to its unique nanostructure. Simulation results for nanoindentation representing ganoine alternatively with isotropic, anisotropic, and discrete material properties are compared to understand the apparent direction-independence of the anisotropic ganoine during indentation. By incorporating the estimated anisotropic mechanical properties of ganoine, microindentation on a quad-layered FEA model that is analogous to penetration biting events (potential threat) was performed and compared with the quad-layered FEA model with isotropic ganoine. The elastic-plastic anisotropy of the outmost ganoine layer enhances the load-dependent penetration resistance of the multilayered armor compared with the isotropic ganoine layer by (i) retaining the effective indentation modulus and hardness properties, (ii) enhancing the transmission of stress and dissipation to the underlying dentin layer, (iii) lowering the ganoine/dentin interfacial stresses and hence reducing any propensity toward delamination, (iv) retaining the suppression of catastrophic radial surface cracking, and favoring localized circumferential cracking, and (v) providing discrete structural pathways (interprism) for circumferential cracks to propagate normal to the surface for easy arrest by the underlying dentin layer and hence containing damage locally. These results indicate the potential to use anisotropy of the individual layers as a means for design optimization of hierarchically structured material systems for dissipative armor.


This article investigates the relationship between the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus in Brazil in an exploratory and statistical study over the period from 2000 to 2013. For that purpose, the explanatory variables considered were the following: Access to improved water; Access to electricity and Average protein supply. Furthermore, it was introduced some brief facts about WEF nexus security in Brazil. With such explanatory variables, it was performed descriptive statistics, ensuring the assumption of data normality approach, and consequently calculating the descriptive statistics and correlation. The results of correlation showed that the quantitative relation between the three factors was extremely strong. These data allowed to understand the relation between these indicators and its status as a nexus in Brazil. Therefore, it is concluded that pursuing an active policy to manage demand in WEF nexus could lead sustainability processes.


It's well known that raw oil deposits would cause various health impacts particularly upon those occupationally exposed workers ranging from mild to lethal health influences. This study therefore was designed to probability of finding any prior health symptoms that may act as early indicators of such sever health syndromes which can assist in prediction and expectation of such problems well before being occurred. A total of 50 workers from Al-Dora oil refinery and 10 individuals from well away sites to act as control samples were subjected to this study. All samples were interviewed individually using personal questionnaire, and subsequently examined for total blood content vanadium. Further examination, consisting clinical blood test, was carried out. The current study has found that most occupationally exposed workers suffering various physiological syndromes such as digestive, dermal, and respiratory dieses. Furthermore, it was found several health symptoms such as hair fallen, teeth decay, vision impairment and weight fluctuation, in addition to other clinical symptoms relating to blood components such as packed cell volume (PCV), lymphocytes and eosinophile (WBC) since all these variables have been found significantly (P≥ 0.05) regarding exposure period, blood vanadium content and the number of health troubles that workers displayed and insignificantly (P≥ 0.05) in case of the worker age. Also, it has been found that the most examined workers were suffering from psychological problems such as depression, stress and malaise. The current work may present a steep of needed researches towards finding out of various health signs occurring prior sever


An important application of sequential mining technique is maximal frequent traversal pattern mining, since users' traversal pattern and motivation are latent in session sequence at some time segment. In this paper, a Frequent Traversal Pattern Tree structure with dwell time (FTP-Tree) is designed to store, compress the session database, and simplify the configuration of dwell time thresholds during mining. A novel algorithm based on bidirectional constraints, called Maximal Frequent Traversal Pattern Mining (MFTPM) is presented, which traverses quickly FTP-Tree and discovers maximal frequent traversal patterns from the session sequences. Experimental results show that MFTPM can significantly reduce the average execution time and the storage space for mining maximal frequent traversal patterns. Our performance study shows that MFTPM performs muth better than previous approaches in the time constraint environment.


In recent years, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was shown to have promising effect on ablating both malignant and benign tumors. Despite its unique advantages such as minimal invasiveness and radiation free, the size of the ablation lesion is small and thus the duration for complete tumor ablation is usually too long. In this study, the effect of using ultrasound contrast agent (UCA) to enhance the ultrasound thermal effect, and thus enlarge the lesion size, was studied. Different concentration of UCA ranging from 0% (control), 0.001% to 0.1% (v/v) was mixed evenly with polyacrylamide gel phantoms containing egg white as a temperature indicator. A 1.85-MHz HIFU transducer was used to form thermal lesions inside the 2 cm*2 cm*4 cm phantoms. For the electric power of 50W and 70W, 'cigar' and 'tadpole' shaped lesions were formed inside the control phantoms, respectively. The volume enlargement ratio (VER), defined as the ratio of volume formed in experimental groups (adding UCA or increasing power) to the volume of controlled the sample, was used to evaluate the effect of UCA on thermal ablation. When the concentrations of UCA were 0.001%, 0.005%, 0.01% and 0.015%, the VER were 10.58, 39.11, 55.08, 64.65 at 50W, and 2.27, 5.29, 12.09, 10.61 at 70W, respectively. The administration of UCA significantly increased the lesion size up to 65 times! UCA also reduced the necessary power to form a lesion of a certain size. For example, 0.001% of UCA at 50W produced a lesion close to controls at 70W in size. Same concentration of UCA at 70W formed lesions equivalent in size for phantoms without UCA at 100W. 30% reduction of the power level was achieved. However, the shift of the most heating position also increased with the concentration of UCA. investigated. For example, at UCA concentration of 0.015%, the shift could be 2.16 cm from the geometric focus. For concentration higher than 0.1%, the lesion was basically formed at the surface of the phantom. The mechanism of lesion formation and transformation was also investigated. For samples without UCA insonified by high intensity ultrasound, the tadpole-shaped lesion was formed due to boiling effect. The larger lesion formed in samples with UCA was because of the generation of inertial cavitation and bubbles which scattered sound waves and evenly distributed energy absorption in a larger volume. In conclusion, UCA could increase the size of lesion by enhancing scattering. However, the most heating center also moved toward the transducer when UCA concentration increased. A lower concentration (0.001%) of UCA and lower power (50 W) were enough to produce a lesion 39 times larger, and produced a minimal lesion movement (0.65 cm). *Corresponding author: wen


VSP1 is a defence protein in Arabidopsis thaliana that may also be involved in control of plant development. The recombinant protein has been overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized using the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystal diffracted to 1.9 A resolution and a complete X-ray data set was collected at 100 K using Cu Kalpha radiation from a rotating-anode X-ray source. The crystals belonged to space group C2. As there are no related structures that could be used as a search model for molecular replacement, work is in progress on experimental phasing using heavy-atom derivatives and selenomethionine derivatives.


In this paper, I discuss how Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) have enabled new modes of software development that complicates traditional distinctions between developers and users. Coders can build bots, scripts, scrapers, extensions, aggregators, and other tools that change how software applications, platforms, and protocols operate – all without requiring privileged access to software codebases. In Wikipedia, user-authored bots and tools perform a staggering amount of the work required to keep the collaborative encyclopedia project operating in the manner that it does. Bots remove vandalism and spam, alert administrators to conflicts, harmonize linguistic standards, and enforce discursive norms. In reddit, bots have recently emerged to provide new functionalities to the news aggregation and discussion site. I report on an ethnographic study of bot development and bot developers in Wikipedia and reddit, demonstrating the various ways in which the rise of automated software agents has enabled new forms of both power and resistance.


The banking systems of the EU-15 countries presents varied characteristics, including features from the Anglo-Saxon market based system and more bank-based system, prevalent in most of continental Europe. The pluralistic structure of EU banking systems, the varied nature of corporate governance arrangements and different business models represent a strength of the EU banking sector but also a factor that may hinder further integration and the emergence of a truly European banking model. This paper presents a survey of the corporate governance features of banking institutions in the EU-15 countries. Working on the notion that corporate governance is influenced by cultural values, we presented an analysis clustering EU countries on the basis of their legal system, language family and proximity as indicators of cultural differences. Our results highlight that cultural and legal differences are still strongly embedded in national cultural identities and these seem to drive the majority of difference in corporate governance arrangements.


This study aims to describe the information literacy ability of Indonesian language education students at the University of HKBP Nommensen Pematangsiantar on the subject of critical and scientific writing skills. This study analyzes the information literacy ability using the Seven Pillars Model created by the Standing Conferences of National and University Libraries (SCONUL) which consists of: (1) Identify (understand information needs, (2) Scope (determine the type of information, characteristics, challenges), (3) Plan (determine the search strategy), (4) Gather (do a search, access information), (5) Evaluate (Relevance, accuracy, comparison, (6) Manage (manage information, quote, compile a bibliography, know ethics using information , and (7) present (compile information products in the right form and present) .This type of research uses descriptive research.The method used in this study is a qualitative research method. The data collection techniques in this study are interviews and observation.Keywords: writing, critical and scientific, information literacy


For the problem that gradient-based algorithms cannot well guarantee the richness of the information of an image, a new wavelet-based image fusion method was proposed. The method uses gradient for decision-making when the high-frequency coefficient of the source image varies substantially and uses energy for decision-making when the high-frequency coefficient changes moderately, and consequently the method can keep an eye on both the changes in the image's high-frequency component and the richness of the high-frequency component. Experiments indicate that the algorithm enhanced the richness of the image's information while maintaining the definition of the image.


This extension note is the eighth in a series of eight that describes a set of tools and processes developed to support sustainable forest management planning and its pilot application in the Arrow Timber Supply Area (TSA). It summarizes the criterion and indicators used to evaluate quality-of-life opportunities for the sustainable forest management (SFM) pilot basecase analysis of the Lemon Landscape Unit. The management of forests has broadened to include various social values and amenities that were considered during the development of criteria and indicators for the Arrow Innovative Forestry Practices Agreement. The quality-of-life criterion was assessed through indicators that addressed outdoor recreation opportunities and visual quality of the managed landscape. This assessment was informed by public input from area residents and stakeholders. Measurable quality-of-life indicators allowed trade-offs with other resources in the SFM pilot basecase analysis; protection of these quality-of-life values did not overly constrain other values modelled in the project.


Teams of robots are increasingly deployed in real world applications. One of the key challenges in building such teams is to automate the control of teamwork, such that the designer can concentrate her efforts on the taskwork to be done. This paper presents steps towards a novel framework addressing this challenge in teams of behavior-based agents. The framework provides a rich representation that facilitates management of teamwork knowledge, and separates behaviors that govern a robot's interaction with its task from behaviors that govern a robot's interaction with its team- mates. In addition, the paper presents a set of algorithms that control the execution and communication of behaviors, to automate synchronization and allocation of behaviors to sub-teams. We describe our implementation of the framework in the BITE architec- ture, a distributed behavior-based architecture providing automated coordination and collaboration services in a team of Sony AIBO robots.


Large scale loosely coupled PCs can organize clusters and form the grid computing on sharing each processing power; power of PCs and code migration characterize the performance of distributed systems. This paper describes the performance evaluation of large scale loosely coupled distributed systems. The prototype of the middleware which migrates objects for computing is implemented, and the trade-off of the migration against computing was observed. Based on these experiments, several simulations for large scale loosely coupled PC clusters were performed, and the properties of the PC clusters for object migration are derived. These results will well be applied to design the grid computing systems to continuously maintain the proper performance.


Hydroxylamine oxidoreductase (HAO) from Nitrosomonas europaea normally catalyzes oxidation of NH(2)OH to NO(2)(-). This paper reports experiments in which HAO was thermodynamically poised to catalyze reduction of NO(2)(-) to NH(4)(+). HAO was found to catalyze the reduction of NO(2)(-) by methyl viologen monocation radical (MV(red)), displaying a hyperbolic dependence on NO(2)(-) concentration, with a k(cat1) of 6.8 ± 0.3 s(-1) and a K(m1) of 7.6 ± 0.9 mM. HAO also catalyzed the reduction of NH(2)OH by MV(red), with a hyperbolic dependence on NH(2)OH concentration, and a k(cat2) of 245 ± 3 s(-1) and a K(m2) of 6.8 ± 0.2 mM (k(cat1) and k(cat2) reflect the maximum number of electrons transferred from MV(red) per second). We had previously demonstrated that HAO catalyzes the reduction of NO by MV(red) to yield first NH(2)OH and then NH(4)(+). Thus, overall, HAO is seen to act like a cytochrome c nitrite reductase, which catalyzes the six-electron reduction of NO(2)(-) to NH(4)(+) by MV(red). In the presence of Ru(NH(3))(2+) (Ru(II)) and Ru(NH(3))(3+) (Ru(III)) at ratios exceeding 200:1, HAO exhibited no detectable Ru(II)-NO(2)(-) oxidoreductase activity, though such activity is thermodynamically favored. On the other hand, HAO could still catalyze the oxidation of NH(2)OH to NO by Ru(III) under these conditions. The oxidative process exhibited a hyperbolic dependence on NH(2)OH concentration, with a k(cat3) of 98 ± 3 s(-1) and a K(m3) of 5.2 ± 0.8 μM. Finally, HAO was found not to catalyze the disproportionation of NH(2)OH, despite the thermodynamic favorability of such a process, and the apparent opportunity presented by the HAO structure. Mechanisms are proposed to explain all the kinetic data.


This paper presents a rapid and easy-to-use approach for change detection of NDVI time series using wavelet transform. Wavelet transform has a long history in signal and image processing field. However, the research on the large-scale remote sensing images by wavelet transform is rarely. The method in this paper is practical by using wavelet analysis on the large scale remote sensing time series. The time series based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are fundamental to analyze the dynamic nature of the vegetation. The trend of NDVI time series is extracted by using wavelet transform. For more accurate results, a seeded region growing algorithm is used for the detailed study on the certain areas. Results from the Tibetan Plateau show the wavelet transform in combination with the region growing procedure provides a efficient approach to estimate the areas where vegetation changed.


Due to the high stiffness of the biomaterials used in total knee arthroplasty, stress shielding can lead to decreased periprosthetic bone mineral density and bone resorption. As different materials and 3D-printed highly porous surfaces are available for knee femoral components from the industry nowadays, this study aimed to compare the effects of two same-design cruciate-retaining femoral components, made with CoCr and titanium alloy, respectively, on periprosthetic bone stresses through a finite element model of the implanted knee in order to evaluate the induced stress shielding. Moreover, the effect of the cementless highly porous surface of the titanium implant was analyzed in comparison to the cemented interface of the CoCr implant. The von Mises stresses were analyzed in different periprosthetic regions of interest of the femur with different configurations and knee flexion angles. The titanium component induced higher bone stresses in comparison with the CoCr component, mostly in the medial compartment at higher knee flexion angles; therefore, the CoCr component led to more stress shielding. The model was revealed to be effective in describing the effects of different femoral component materials on bone stress, highlighting how a cementless, highly porous titanium femoral component might lead to less stress shielding in comparison to a cemented CoCr implant with significant clinical relevance and reduced bone resorption after total knee arthroplasty.


D channel processing in an ISDN exchange termination is very expensive using commercially available serial communications devices. This is because semiconductor manufacturers understand ISDN from the perspective of a terminal which is different from that of a network: the former sees one D channel, whereas the latter must deal with many. Consequently, commercially available devices are designed to support a small number of channels, whereas exchange terminations must cost-effectively support a large number of channels. This paper describes an innovative VLSI architecture that uses multiplexing to allow many channels to share serial communications circuitry as well as external message buffering. This capability will greatly reduce the hardware cost and complexity of D channel processing in ISDN exchange terminations.


Abstract Dry grassland ecosystems are highly fragmented in Ukraine and increasingly threatened from intensification of farming practices. Evaluation of the habitat conservation importance based on multitaxon studies allows for optimizing selection of priority sites. Botanical research of xerothermic habitats in the Kryvorizkyi Iron Ore Basin has been conducted since 2012, while spiders were investigated for the first time in 2017. In the four study sites, we recorded 265 vascular plant species (23 under protection) and 95 spider species (19 are rare). Both vegetation and spider communities of the site Zelena Gully are well preserved and rich in rare and threatened species (18 plant and 11 spider species), which confirms its value as a priority site of the Emerald Network. Chervona Gully and the Slate Rocks should be included in the network. Frequent fires and intensive grazing in Khrystoforova Gully affect the spider diversity, decreasing the number of specialist and rare species, while early flowering plants benefit from this disturbance. Nevertheless, its vegetation is poorer than in Zelena and Chervona gullies. Inclusion in the Emerald Network is critically important to the investigated sites, since expansion of mining activities is constantly threatening natural habitats in industrial regions.


The family of readability toposes, of which the effective topos is the best known, was discovered by Martin Hyland in the late 1970's. Since then these toposes have been used for several purposes. The effective topos itself was originally intended as a category in which various recursion-theoretic or effective constructions would live as natural parts of the higher-order type structure. For example the hereditary effective operators become the higher types over N (Hyland [1982]), and effective domains become the countably-based domains in the topos (McCarty [1984], Rosolini [1986]). However, following the discovery by Moggi and Hyland that it contained nontrivial small complete categories, the effective topos has also been used to provide natural models of polymorphic type theories, up to and including the theory of constructions (Hyland [1987], Hyland, Robinson and Rosolini [1987], Scedrov [1987], Bainbridge et al. [1987]). Over the years there have also been several different constructions of the topos. The original approach, as in Hyland [1982], was to construct the topos by first giving a notion of Pω-valued set. A Pω-valued set is a set X together with a function =x: X × X → Pω. The elements of X are to be thought of as codes, or as expressions denoting elements of some "real underlying" set in the topos. Given a pair (x,x′) of elements of X, the set =x (x,x′) (generally written ) is the set of codes of proofs that the element denoted by x is equal to the element denoted by x′.


Determining the shortest path is one problem that is much discussed using some algorithm like Djikstra, Floyd Warshall and in this research an algorithm Breadth First Search are used, Breadth First Search algorithms in this study is used to determine the shortest route and optimal from a Cartesian field, the best and optimal route search experiment of cartesian areas using Breadth First Search algorithm can be perform very well and gets some route options from the best to the longest route.


Director Jean Pisani-Ferry and Senior Fellow Andre Sapir provide an in-depth examination of the the banking crisis in the European Union, starting with a discussion of the pre-crisis banking landscape and including an assessment of the management of the crisis and the lessons learned going forward. The authors argue that the EU was institutionally ill-prepared to manage the crisis, with the response characterised by ad hoc actions and a lack of transparency. They say, however, that coordination has remarkably not been impeded by a divide within the euro area and policy performance has been better than expected given the sub-optimal nature of EU financial institutional arrangements.


Two anorectic drugs which stimulate serotonin neuronal activity by releasing serotonin from nerve terminals, d-fenfluramine and CM 57 277 (4-amino-[6-chloro-2-pyridyl]-1-piperidine HCl), were studied in rats. Both drugs, when given for 5 days at doses of 15 mg of d-fenfluramine per kg/day and 20 mg of CM 57 277 per kg/day, decreased body weight gain and increased content of Met5-enkephalin and beta-endorphin in hypothalamus, but not in frontal cortex or pituitary. The increase in the hypothalamic content of the two opioid peptides elicited by d-fenfluramine was reversed by metergoline and p-chlorophenylalanine, suggesting that it is mediated by serotonin. The content of two other hypothalamic neuropeptides, cholecystokinin and substance P, were not affected by d-fenfluramine. Although Met5-enkephalin content in striatum was increased transiently by d-fenfluramine, this was not a serotonin-mediated effect because it was not abolished by metergoline. The decrease in body weight gain was prevented by metergoline, but not by i.p. injection of p-chlorophenylalanine. The effect of p-chlorophenylalanine on intestine may contribute to its failure in reversing the anorectic effect of d-fenfluramine. Naltrexone, an antagonist of opiate receptor, decreased body weight gain but exerted no effect on hypothalamic Met5-enkephalin or beta-endorphin content. Taking into consideration that the increase in Met5-enkephalin and beta-endorphin may have resulted from accumulation due to decreased utilization, the anorectic effects of serotonin releasing drugs may be mediated by a reduction in the functional role of hypothalamic opioid peptides.


Random forest has proven to be a successful machine learning method, but it also can be time-consuming for handling large datasets, especially for doing iterative tasks. Machine learning iterative imputation methods have been well accepted by researchers for imputing missing data, but such methods can be more time-consuming than standard imputation methods. To overcome this drawback, different parallel computing strategies have been proposed but their impact on imputation results and subsequent statistical analyses are relatively unknown. Newly proposed random forest implementations, such as ranger and randomForestSRC, have provided alternatives for easier parallelization, but their validity for doing iterative imputation are still unclear. Using random-forest imputation algorithm missForest as an example, this study examines two parallelized methods using newly proposed random forest implementations in comparison with the two parallel strategies (variable-wise distributed computation and model-wise distributed computation) using language-level parallelization from the software package. Results from the simulation experiments showed that the parallel strategies could influence both the imputation process and the final imputation results differently. Different parallel strategies can improve computational speed to a variable extent, and based on simulations, ranger can provide performance boost for datasets of different sizes with reasonable accuracy. Specifically, even though different strategies can produce similar normalized root mean squared prediction errors, the variable-wise distributed strategy led to additional biases when estimating the mean and inter-correlation of the covariates and their regression coefficients. And parallelization by randomForestSRC can lead to changes in both prediction errors and estimates.


RECOGNITION of the importance of humoral balance in the body originated in the work of Claude Bernard (1855) and was developed later mainly by Cannon (1915) and Selye (1950). Recent myocardial infarction (MI) has been reported to elicit humoral disturbances which, a little more than a decade ago, were not considered of importance. The recognition that they may influence the clinical course of the disease came in recent years as a consequence of better understanding of the complex character of MI and the nature of its complications. In this review I intend to show briefly the accumulated data on the pattern of humoral, mainly hormonal, disorders accompanying MI which have been relatively well elucidated. Their interrelations and the mechanism of their possible influence on the clinical course of the disease also will be outlined. The therapeutic implications of this knowledge will be discussed briefly and some areas which require further research will be suggested.


: This survey deals with the 5 most important internal problems of old aged people undergoing surgery: chronic emphysematous bronchitis, geriatric heart, Diabetes mellitus, bleeding tendency during operation and venous thromboembolism.


Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) promotes unregulated platelet activation in dyslipidemic disorders. Although oxLDL stimulates activatory signaling, it is unclear how these events drive accelerated thrombosis. Here, we describe a mechanism for oxLDL-mediated platelet hyperactivity that requires generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Under arterial flow, oxLDL triggered sustained generation of platelet intracellular ROS, which was blocked by CD36 inhibitors, mimicked by CD36-specific oxidized phospholipids, and ablated in CD36(-/-) murine platelets. oxLDL-induced ROS generation was blocked by the reduced NAD phosphate oxidase 2 (NOX2) inhibitor, gp91ds-tat, and absent in NOX2(-/-) mice. The synthesis of ROS by oxLDL/CD36 required Src-family kinases and protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent phosphorylation and activation of NOX2. In functional assays, oxLDL abolished guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP)-mediated signaling and inhibited platelet aggregation and arrest under flow. This was prevented by either pharmacologic inhibition of NOX2 in human platelets or genetic ablation of NOX2 in murine platelets. Platelets from hyperlipidemic mice were also found to have a diminished sensitivity to cGMP when tested ex vivo, a phenotype that was corrected by infusion of gp91ds-tat into the mice. This study demonstrates that oxLDL and hyperlipidemia stimulate the generation of NOX2-derived ROS through a CD36-PKC pathway and may promote platelet hyperactivity through modulation of cGMP signaling.


Four patients with metastatic ovarian mixed Müllerian sarcoma (2 homologous, 2 heterologous) were treated with mesna, doxorubicin, ifosfamide, and dacarbazine (MAID) chemotherapy. Two of four patients had optimal debulking. Three of four patients responded to chemotherapy, with two complete responses of 34- and 46-month duration. The MAID regimen appears to be active in patients with ovarian sarcoma.


In the paper, the design of a linear motor as an actuator in vehicle active suspension systems will be presented. The attention is focused on several interesting design aspects of a non-traditional actuator (a linear synchronous permanent magnet motor with electronic commutation) controlled to obtain a variable mechanical force for a car active suspension. The main advantage of such a solution is the possibility to generate desired forces acting between the unsprung (wheel) and sprung (car body) masses of the car, providing good insulation of the car sprung mass from the road surface disturbances. In addition, under certain circumstances it is possible to reduce or even eliminate the demands concerning the external power source.


The tertiary structures of proteins have been solved in an increasing pace in recent years. To capitalize the enormous efforts paid for accumulating the structure data, efficient and effective computational methods need to be developed for comparing, searching, and investigating interactions of protein structures. We introduce the 3D Zernike descriptor (3DZD), an emerging technique to describe molecular surfaces. The 3DZD is a series expansion of mathematical three-dimensional function, and thus a tertiary structure is represented compactly by a vector of coefficients of terms in the series. A strong advantage of the 3DZD is that it is invariant to rotation of target object to be represented. These two characteristics of the 3DZD allow rapid comparison of surface shapes, which is sufficient for real-time structure database screening. In this article, we review various applications of the 3DZD, which have been recently proposed.


Nyx is a nearby, prograde, and high-eccentricity stellar stream physically contained in the thick disk, but its origin is unknown. Nyx could be the remnant of a disrupted dwarf galaxy, in which case the associated dark matter substructure could affect terrestrial dark matter direct-detection experiments. Alternatively, Nyx could be a signature of the Milky Way's disk formation and evolution. To determine the origin of Nyx, we obtained high-resolution spectroscopy of 34 Nyx stars using Keck/HIRES and Magellan/MIKE. A differential chemical abundance analysis shows that most Nyx stars reside in a metal-rich ([Fe/H] > −1) high-α component that is chemically indistinguishable from the thick disk. This rules out the originally suggested scenario that Nyx is the remnant of a single massive dwarf galaxy merger. However, we also identify 5 substantially more metal-poor stars ([Fe/H] ∼ −2.0) whose chemical abundances are similar to those of the metal-weak thick disk. It remains unclear how stars that are chemically identical to the thick disk can be on such prograde, high-eccentricity orbits. We suggest two most likely scenarios: that Nyx is the result of an early minor dwarf galaxy merger, or that it is a record of the early spin-up of the Milky Way disk—although neither perfectly reproduces the chemodynamic observations. The most likely formation scenarios suggest that future spectroscopic surveys should find Nyx-like structures outside of the solar neighborhood.


The primary goal of this thesis is to make simple approaches to implement selfmanagement functions based on the regular administration tools as a way to simplify tedious tasks for the system administrators. In order to improve the efficiency of system administration, this work mainly focuses on how to combine ideas from the area of selfmanaging with the more well-established concepts from virtualization technology. A fully functioning self-management system was developed for two essential administration tasks in this project: service optimization and system integrity. In these scenarios, each virtual machine can make its own decision when and where to live migrate itself between the physical nodes in order to reach the predefined policies. This method minimizes the maintaining tasks for the system administrators, only leaving the high-lever administration policies for the users to decide. From a higher point of view, this project can be used as an example for other system administrators, showing how to optimize the regular administration tools for different self-management purposes.


Waste products have recently been used as one of the techniques in soil stabilization. The material is not just environmentally friendly, but also cheap. In this study, two different types of soil stabilizer—lime and alkaline activator (AA) with the inclusion of treated coir fibre as soil reinforcement in marine clay soil—were examined. The inclusion of fibre in the treated soil has had a positive impact in increasing the strength of the soil. Therefore, to assess the effectiveness of the soil treatment, mechanical tests such as indirect tensile strength, flexural test and unconfined compressive strength test were performed at three different curing periods (7, 28 and 90 days) on both untreated and treated soil. From the results, the inclusion of fibre in both lime and alkaline activation indicates an enhancement on post-peak behaviour from brittle to more ductile. Microstructural analyses of Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) were also conducted after shearing to evaluate the changes of the soil before and after the treatment. Overall, results indicate that the treatment transformed the structure of the soil to become denser where it filled the large pores compared to untreated soil.


IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is a very important field in the network development. Comparing to the traditional television, the IPTV combines the digital contents like media. The communication and the advertisement with the interaction serve into the emerging business model to provide the users to watch television service. Because the IPTV contains many merits; therefore, the world holds the high interest to develop of the IPTV. IPTV application scope is quite big, not only include wired and wireless, but also unify the telecommunication entrepreneur to provide the handset service, mobile device service and so on. It will be possible to affect the traditional television in the future, and even to displace it. If the user can use the IPTV effectively, it could be an enormous market. Generally, because the users' identities are easily exposed when Internet Protocol Television authenticate them, the best way to secure information security is to hide the identities of users. This paper will design the internet authentication system which is anonymous and secured. It can apply to solve the smart card duplication and the data resending attack problems. Session key and time-stamp of cryptography are used in the technique to achieve security and anonymous of the authentication process. Simultaneously, how to authenticate more efficiently by encryption in smart card authentication process is also our research objective. Further, this paper will contribute to how to build a security mechanism to prevent from the attacks. Based on those researches, this project plans to propose a new efficient and safe Internet Protocol Television. This new mechanism improves the security, efficiency and usability in the authentication process. More complete studies on Internet Protocol Television will be needed.


In this brief, a sensorless voltage estimation approach for total harmonic distortion (THD) calculation is proposed to reduce number of voltage sensors in the microgrids. The intelligent proposed method provides a cost-effective and reliable voltage estimation and THD calculation of the desired bus in the multi-bus microgrid based on the artificial neural networks (ANNs). In the proposed method, the output voltage and current of distributed generation units along with the voltage of the desired bus are used to train the ANN offline. The trained ANN is then used to estimate the voltage and calculate both harmonic components, and THD online at the desired bus. The Simulation results show that the proposed approach can effectively estimate the voltage and calculate THD of buses in the multi-bus islanded microgrids.


In this study, the pro-oxidant activities of 15 tea extracts were determined by the hydroethidine (HE) oxidation method. The results showed that order of the pro-oxidant activities of the tea extracts decreases in the order of black tea > oolong tea > green tea. Hence there is evidence that the pro-oxidant activity of the tea extracts at pH 7.4 increases with the degree of fermentation. Results indicated that theaflavins are better pro-oxidants than tea catechins. However, it was found that the total pro-oxidant activities of each tea sample correlates poorly with the sum of the weighted pro-oxidant activities of the phenolic compounds quantified in the tea extract. It was observed that the pro-oxidant activities of tea catechins were inhibited by superoxide dismutase (SOD), while theaflavins were not inhibited. A reaction scheme was proposed.