Location tracking with global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), such as the GPS, is used in many applications, including the tracking of wild animals for research. Snapshot GNSS is a technique that only requires milliseconds of satellite signals to infer the position of a receiver. This is ideal for low-power applications such as animal tracking. However, there are few existing snapshot systems, none of which is open source. To address this, we developed SnapperGPS, a fully open-source, low-cost, and low-power location tracking system designed for wildlife tracking. SnapperGPS comprises three parts, all of which are open-source: (i) a small, low-cost, and low-power receiver; (ii) a web application to configure the receiver via USB; and (iii) a cloud-based platform for processing recorded data. This paper presents the hardware side of this project. The total component cost of the receiver is under $30, making it feasible for field work with restricted budgets and low recovery rates. The receiver records very short and low-resolution samples resulting in particularly low power consumption, outperforming existing systems. It can run for more than a year on a 40 mAh battery. We evaluated SnapperGPS in controlled static and dynamic tests in a semi-urban environment where it achieved median errors of 12 m. Additionally, SnapperGPS has already been deployed for two wildlife tracking studies on sea turtles and sea birds.


A series of epoxy systems with tunable rigid-flexibility were prepared by the curing reaction of bisphenol F diglycidyl (DGEBF), a single-ended amine with alkyl chains (n-butyl, octyl, dodecyl), 4,4′-diaminodiphenylmethane (DDM) and 4,4′-diaminodicyclohexylmethane (H-DDM). By means of adjusting the composition of the curing agent (the molar ratio between H-DDM and DDM), nano- and submicron-sized phase separations were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). And diffraction peaks were not observed in the wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) characterization which revealed that there was no crystallization in the modified epoxy resin. Besides, the result of nanoIR characterization proved that the aggregation of aliphatic chains led to the microphase separation structure, which can remarkably improve the mechanical properties of epoxy resins. The effects of side chains on the mechanical and thermal properties of epoxy networks were investigated. Especially, the EC8-5′ (the molar ratio between H-DDM and DDM was 45/55, the mass ratio of the n-octyl amine to DGEBF was 5 : 100) sample exhibited splendid mechanical properties with an attractive tensile strength of 88.4 MPa, an elongation at break of 6.6% and a tensile modulus of 3.5 GPa.


The resolution of focused electron beam induced processing techniques is limited by electron scattering processes. General wisdom holds that using a membrane, this can be effectively improved due to a cutoff of the electron interaction volume and thus diminished proximity effects. Recently, we demonstrated that in contrast to the expectation, proximity effects can be indeed larger on a 200 nm silicon nitride membrane than on the respective bulk substrate, due to charging-induced surface activation. Herein, we expand these investigations on proximity effects in electron beam-induced surface activation to other substrates and to electron beam-induced deposition followed by autocatalytic growth.


Among adolescents and young adults, the mechanism relating substance use and risky sexual behavior remains ambiguous. Conducting a selective review of related literature, this article examines the association between substance use and sexual risk-taking. In particular, this article explores potential mechanisms through which substance may impact risky sexual behaviors. Given the inconsistency in the literature, important, often omitted factors such as mental health and social networks may play a crucial role in mediating this relationship. The article concludes by discussing the practice and policy implications of these considerations.


The authors report on experiments performed on the fractional quantum Hall effect under hydrostatic pressure. At roughly comparable carrier concentrations the application of pressure results in a significant enhancement of the 4/3 state in the three AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs samples studied. As the variation in disorder with pressure is different in the three samples the authors are able to establish that the 4/3 activation energy has a pressure dependence in addition to that due to the change with disorder. They propose that the observed enhancement of activation energy is due to a reduction in the value of the modulus of the Lande g-factor in the GaAs with increasing hydrostatic pressure and to the 4/3 state being spin unpolarized.


This study analysed the role of both sociocultural background and exposure to a crèche on children's development of cognitive competence in Switzerland. Data were derived from a survey on children's cognitive proficiency after enrolment to primary school. Correlations and multiple linear regressions indicate that crèche experience was not related to children's cognitive proficiency when sociocultural background characteristics were held constant, irrespective of duration and intensity of exposure. However, social and cultural background variables were related significantly to children's competence, suggesting that sociocultural disparities begin to affect children's skills early in life. The results are contextualised within the field of early childhood care and education research, and a number of explanations concerning the absence of effects of crèche are discussed. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for policy. They might encourage policymakers to supply socially disadvantaged children growing up in impoverished learning environments with enriched services and special interventions.


Translation and adaptation play an essential role in Irish contemporary theatre. Irish playwrights have turned to continental writers, such as Federico García Lorca, to rewrite their culture through another culture. Frank McGuinness has followed this tradition but, while his rewritings of Euripides or Sophocles have been widely discussed by scholarship, his version of Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba (1991) remains an unpublished text and, consequently, has not been the object of critical attention. This article intends to engage in close analysis of the play, addressing the strategies used by McGuinness to accommodate Lorca in the Irish context, and how the Lorquian themes voice the situation of women in the Northern Ireland of the 1990s, where McGuinness's play was first produced.


In Benders decomposition approach to mixed integer programs , the optimization is carried in two stages: key first-stage decision variables are optimized using a polyhedral approximation of the full-blown problem projection, then a separation problem expressed in the second-stage variables is solved to check if the current first-stage solution is truly feasible, and otherwise, it produces a violated inequality. Such cutting-plane algorithms suffer from several drawbacks and may have very bad convergence rates. We review the battery of approaches that have been proposed in the literature to address these drawbacks and to speed-up the algorithm. Our contribution consists in explaining these techniques in simple terms and unified notations, showing that in several cases, different proposals of the literature boil down to the same key ideas. We classify methods into specific initialization mode, stabilization techniques, strategies to select the separation point, and cut generation strategies. Where available, we highlight numerical benchmarks that have resulted from such enhancements.


This paper addresses the question of whether the Italian Lega Nord pursues functional policies in spite of its postfunctional rhetoric (politics of simulation) or pre-material policies that are in line with its dominant postfunctional discourse (politics of identity). The analysis focuses on fiscal federalism because this is an area that links together both economic issues – fiscal autonomy is seen as highly functional to the economy of those regions of Italy which form the Lega Nord's strongholds – and identity matters – federalism is claimed and justified on the basis of the existence of a distinct territorial community with its own cultural values and social cohesion. The paper concludes that the Lega combines postfunctional rhetoric and 'formal' policies on the one hand, with functional 'actual' outcomes on the other. This combination, which hitherto appeared to be a winning electoral formula, has recently run into difficulties.


In this presentation we will give a demonstration of an innovative, new teaching/learning tool "Developing through Play". is a stand alone multi-media teaching and learning package which is intended for use by early years practitioners and students of speech and language therapy and psychology. It comprises a series of reusable learning objects (RLO) on the subject of play and how children develop cognitively, perceptually and linguistically through play. RLO is based on video material which illustrates a different type of play, for example sensorimotor play, pretend play, deep risky play, and play context; solitary play, child/child interaction or adult/child interaction. Through guided observation, students learn how to enrich children's play experiences and how to both assess and support children's learning and development using play as a medium. reference is made to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and activities are structured to support students understanding of this framework and how it can be applied in their professional practice.


Microbial resistance represents a challenge for the scientific community to develop new bioactive compounds. In the present study antibacterial effect of TiO2 nanoparticles (<25nm) on Escherichia coli strain was investigated. The MIC50 value for the TiO2nanoprticles was found to be 200 μg/ml for E. coli, which was confirmed by the Colony-forming unit (CFU) of the culture with and without TiO2 nanoparticles inoculated on agar plate. The Inhibition was further confirmed using Disc diffusion assay. It is evident from the zone of inhibition that TiO2 nanoparticles possess potent bactericidal activity. Further, growth curve study of E.coli in the presence and absence of TiO2 nanoparticles has been done, which shows effect of sub-inhibitory and inhibitory concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles against E. coli till 20 hours of incubation. Nanomaterials are known to inactivate cellular enzyme and DNA by binding to electron donating groups such as carboxylates, Amides, Indoles, Hydroxyles, Thiols etc. They cause little pores in bacterial cell walls leading to increased permeability and cell death.


The formation energies and the binding energies of divacancies in bcc Li are calculated using the ab initio electron theory in a supercell approach. The results show that the activation energy for self-diffusion via divacancies should be much larger than that for self-diffusion via monovacancies. This is in contrast to the case for an analysis of the experimental self-diffusion data from the nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation rates in terms of a combined monovacancy-divacancy mechanism which would yield similar activation energies for monovacancies and divacancies. It is therefore concluded that a contribution from divacancies cannot explain the observed curvature of the Arrhenius plot for the self-diffusion data for Li at high temperatures.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Hepatitis B virus induces mitochondrial damage via the production of reactive oxygen species and concomitant with deregulation of calcium homeostasis. The current study evaluates the potential of antioxidant and calcium modulators for inhibition of hepatitis B virus-induced mitochondrial damage using in vitro cell culture models.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Hepatitis B virus-induced mitochondrial fragmentation was observed by immunofluorescence confocal micros- copy in hepatitis B virus-infected cell lines (HepG2 and HepAD38). Differential protein expression of mitochondrial fragmentation mark- ers, dynamin-related protein 1 and phospho-dynamin-related protein 1, were evaluated both pre- and posttreatment with antioxidant N-acetyl-l-cysteine and calcium modulators like 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid tetrakisacetoxymethyl ester, ethylene-bis (oxyethylenenitrilo) tetraacetic acid glycol ether diamine tetraacetic acid-acetoxymethyl ester, and ruthenium amine complex by western blot analysis.

RESULTS
A slight reduction in mitochondrial fragmentation in both cell lines was observed post-antioxidant treatment with a partial prevention observed with calcium modulators. The expression of phospho-dynamin-related protein 1 was significantly upregulated (P = .0007, P = .003) in both hepatitis B virus-infected cell lines compared to uninfected cells. In line with these observations, the expres- sion of dynamin-related protein 1 and phospho-dynamin-related protein 1 was found to be significantly downregulated with N-acetyl- l-cysteine treatment in both cell lines (P = .003, P = .002), respectively. A nonsignificant trend was observed in the case of calcium modulators treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Current study indicates that the mitochondrial fragmentation induced by hepatitis B virus infection can be reduced after antioxidant treatment pointing toward exploring better drug targets for the prevention of hepatitis B virus-induced mitochondrial frag- mentation and associated liver damage.


This study compared utilized coefficient of friction (COF) measured during nonslip pedestrian gait to estimated utilized COF values calculated using anthropometric (i.e., leg length) and stride characteristic data (i.e., impact angle, step length). Twenty healthy adults walked at slow, medium, and fast speeds with kinematic and kinetic data recorded simultaneously. Estimated and measured impact angle varied with walking speed, with greater angles evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). The estimated impact angle was greater than the measured impact angle (p < 0.05). Estimated and measured peak utilized COF values varied with walking speed, with higher utilized COF values evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Estimated utilized COF values were 86, 118, and 131% greater than measured peak utilized COF values for slow, medium, and fast speeds, respectively (p < 0.001). Higher estimated utilized COF values varied moderately with increased measured peak utilized COF values (r = 0.522; p < 0.001). These data suggest that impact angle and step length alone cannot be used to accurately assess the utilized COF on level walking surfaces.


Pulmonary insulin delivery is steadily emerging as a promising solution for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The large as well as thin absorptive area of the lungs has not been explored until now for the treatment of systemic disease like diabetes. With an understanding of the lung anatomy and physiology and the transport mechanism of insulin through lungs, diabetic treatment through the pulmonary route may well become the reality of the 21(st) century. Though the transport of insulin through the lungs itself appears quite encouraging, potential problems concerning the formulation of a peptide like insulin in the form of an aerosol seem to be the most challenging. Stability aspects, stringent control of Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter, antigenicity, insulin losses due to the device and impaction, sedimentation and diffusion in the nonabsorptive areas of the airway system (especially in the oropharynx) emerge as major concerns. This is in addition to the problems of lack of reproducibility of dose delivery by an inhaler where individual variations due to inspiratory differences and method of use of device come into play. Lung diseases and smoking may alter lung mechanisms and dose alterations are to be studied in such cases. Though almost equally effective, if not more, than the subcutaneous insulin route, even with proved short-term efficacy, insulin delivery through lungs is a potential but not a wholly proven means for blood glucose control.


A comparative analysis of the surface-layer microstructure of a tungsten-based cemented carbide modified with pulsed high-energy electron beams generated by gas-discharge plasmas and of the tool life of metal-cutting plates prepared from this alloy is performed. The choice of a plasma-forming gas providing for the emission of electrons out of the plasma-filled cathode is shown to have a profound influence both on the formation process of nano-sized structural-phase states in the surface layer of the cemented carbide and on the tool life of the metal-cutting plates prepared from this alloy.


Gene regulatory network gives the idea about the nature of interaction among the genes present in the DNA of a living species. Recently detection of gene regulatory network from gene expression data is of prime interest to the researchers. This paper considers modelling of the Gene regulatory network identification problem using a fuzzy recurrent neural network, and obtains the interaction weights among the neuron using differential evolution algorithm. A cost function is designed, the minimization of which yields the solution to the problem. In order to improve the solution further, a heuristic based local search is proposed. Computer simulation of the proposed inference algorithm revels that it is able to predict the signs of all the existing weights accurately.


In the light of Italy's current economic stagnation, characterized by mass unemployment, especially in the south, the development of effective energy policies should be seen as an opportunity of reducing energy dependency, so as to increase competitiveness and sustainability. However, due to imbalances in development in the country, focus at the national level does not reveal particular characteristics of the different regions. In this context, the definition of specific energy actions should be based on information and analyses that refer to integrated and multi-level perspectives, such as regional and sectoral levels. Here we investigate, by applying a multi-scale integrated analysis of societal metabolism approach, the imbalanced nature of development, coupled with energy consumption, of two Italian regions, Veneto (northern Italy) and Abruzzo (southern Italy). Changes over time (1995–2007), related to both socio-economic and biophysical indicators, are analysed at multiple levels: region, economic sectors, and production and consumption. The results show that different structural changes and challenges are needed to meet energy efficiency, depending on the diverse level of regional development. They provide support for the future development of effective Regional Energy Plans, as well as to identify potential local barriers to achieving regional competitiveness and sustainability. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


An 8-year-old caiman (Caiman crocodilus crocodilus) was presented, its history being given as absence of bowel movements and anorexia after ingestion of a rubber toy. Radiologic examination of the abdomen revealed no abnormalities. On gastroscopic examination many radiolucent foreign bodies were detected and removed. Five days after the removal of the foreign bodies from the stomach the caiman was alert and active and showed a normal appetite.


Background Cathepsin K is a protease expressed by osteoclasts that plays an important role in osteoclastic mediated bone resorption. It degrades organic bone matrix, primarily type 1 collagen. Postmenopausal osteoporosis is characterised by an increase in bone resorption that manifests as elevation of bone remodelling makers. This phenomenon starts in the peri-menopausal period. The potential role of cathepsin K levels as markers of bone remodelling in postmenopausal osteoporosis is being evaluated, but there is paucity of data. There is increasing interest in identifying markers able to differentiate the number and activity of osteoclasts to clarify the mechanism of action of current anti-osteoporotic therapies. It is also suggested that such markers might help in the development of more specific novel treatments. Objectives To evaluate the role of cathepsin K as bone remodelling marker in females with postmenopausal osteoporosis. Methods Cross sectional study. Two groups were evaluated: postmenopausal females and healthy controls (this group was subdivided into pre and postmenopausal females). Cathepsin K levels in sera were determined by polyclonal antibody ELISA (BI-20432). Data were analysed with STATA10. Differences in cathepsin K levels between groups were determined. A quantile regression model was built to assess cathepsin K leves for the median, first and third quantile according to the variables of interest. A p value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results Cathepsin K levels were higher in postmenopausal osteoporotic females than in healthy controls (X2=17.54 y 2 g.l, p<0.01) with a clear dose response gradient (p<0.001). Conclusions Cathepsin K is a bone remodelling marker in females with postmenopausal osteoporosis. There is a dose response gradient on bone mineral density independently of postmenopausal status, which is maximal in females with postmenopausal osteoporosis and minimal in females with normal bone density. References Dodds RA, James IA, Rieman D et al.: Human osteoclast Cathepsin K is Processed Intracellulary Prior to Attachment and Bone Resorption. J of Bone and Miner Res 2001; 16 (3): 478-486 Garnero P, Borel O, Byrjalsen I et al.: The collagenotic activity of cathepsin K is unique among mammalian proteinases. J Biol Chem 1998; 273:32347-32352. Meier C, Meinhardt U, Greenfield JR et al.: Serum cathepsin K concentrations reflect osteoclast activity in women with postmenopausal osteoporosis and patient with Paget's disease Muñoz Torres M, Reyes García R, Mezquita Raya P, et al.: Serum Cathepsin K as a marker of bone metabolism in postmenopausal women treated with alendronate. Maturitas 2009, doi: 10.1016/j.maturitas.2009.09.011. Reyes García R, Muñoz Torres M. Cathepsin K: Biological aspects and therapeutic possibilities. Med Clin (Barc). 2008 Jul 12:131(6):218-20. Tezuka K, Tezuka Y, Maejima A et al.: Molecular cloning of a posible cysteine proteinasa predominantly expressed in osteoclast. J Biol Chem 1994; 269:1106-1109 Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3416


Variability in bed load sediment transport is investigated for a bend of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park. Data from 190 bed load samples taken at 50 to 125% bankfull flow at a large number of locations throughout the reach indicate that the fine and coarse fractions of the load are differentially routed, such that fine grains are swept inward over the point bar, while coarse grains are routed outward toward the pool. At bankfull flow, all size fractions of the available sediment are transported throughout the bend, but the median grain size of the bed load increases with distance toward the outer bank. This differential routing decreases slightly with increasing discharge beyond bankfull, as indicated by a shift in the locus of coarse particle transport from the outside of the bend inward to the channel center. Furthermore, while fine sediments are fully mobile throughout the bend, partial mobility of the coarse fractions of the load transitions to full mobility toward the bend's outer region. These patterns are flow dependent; with increasing discharge the distribution of excess Shields stress becomes more uniform, resulting in reduced variability in bed load transport rates across the channel. These variations in transport intensity lead to a volumetric balance of transported sediment between the inner and outer regions of the channel, which thereby promotes the geomorphic stability of the bend.


In this study I compare the donor portraits on wallpaintings in Scanian churches from the 12th and the 15th century and relate them to medieval society.

I find that women were equally capable of owning and donating land during the entire period. The image of the ideal woman changed during the 14th century from a married woman to the unreachable mistress of the chivalrous culture and the holy virgin. Women had a natural place beside their husbands in 12th century donor portraits, while single male donors are more frequent in the 15th century. While 12th century donors were supposed to show their position in society by offering plentiful donations directly to God, donors in the 14th century instead strived to present themselves as humble and pious. The individualisation of late medieval society meant that people had to depend on themselves to achieve salvation.


This paper proposes a new Simulink modeling technique for an SD kind of modulator. In fact the system analysis for this kind of design cannot use the standard tools used to design classical analog transmitters. In this solution the digital section is predominant on the analog one, but the analog behavior of the TX path has to be evaluated as a function of different analog and digital parameters. In particular the model has been used to study the impact of the analog transfer function of the PLL on a GMSK modulation. The model allows us to find the right pre emphasis filter and implementation. Different kinds of Sigma Delta have been analyzed and a 1-1-1 Mash structure has been selected. This model has been used to study and define a direct Sigma Delta modulator for 2.5 G applications and the measurements on the implemented TX section show very good agreement with the model results.


Automation of high-performance manufacturing processes such as prepreg composite layup has been gaining a lot of interest lately. Reliable and accurate defect detection methods play a crucial role in the automation of such processes to maintain the desired quality. The composite prepreg layup process involves manipulation of sheet-like material. Traditional machine vision-based defect detection techniques are inept in detecting defects for such complex processes due to the nature of the defects. Advanced defect detection techniques enabled by deep learning are the key for such applications. However, Deep learning usually requires an enormous amount of physical images of the process which is infeasible in high-mix manufacturing applications. In this paper, we resolve the data generation problem for deep learning by presenting an approach where with a combination of finite element-based simulation and advanced graphics techniques we generate a dataset of photorealistic images of the defects. Approximately, 10000 synthetic images are generated and combined with around 1000 images of real sheets to train a ResNeSt-based deep learning model. We have also devised an efficient 2-stage methodology for training the deep learning network to detect wrinkle-like defects. With the trained model and data augmentation techniques, our method can achieve a mean Average Precision (mAP) of 0.98 on actual production data for detecting defects. The code and the entire dataset are available at: https://github.com/RROS-Lab/DeepSynthDefectDetector.


Recently, the alarming decrease of insect populations has received much attention, especially since the publication of a German study that showed strong decline of insects in nature reserves. Similar declines may be expected in the Netherlands, but many knowledge gaps exist about what we already know about the current situation and what influences the species composition of insects. This report aims to use information from an existing dataset to explore the species composition of insects in Dutch peat marchlands. The influence of habitat types and other environmental factors such as land use on the species composition was analyzed. Furthermore, the three different trapping methods used in this study were evaluated. This report thereby contributes to filling some of the existing knowledge gaps about Dutch insect populations and provides a number of recommendations for future monitoring of insects.


A credit risk model for determining aggregated portfolio losses is suggested. Beside the common macrostructural dependencies between asset and recovery value, we incorporate possible inter-firm relations among the obligors of the portfolio. Through this channel we also establish related default probabilities and correlation between probability of default and loss given default. Proposing a recursive approximation we obtain explicit representations for the asset value. We compare the model with the IRB approach of Basel II with respect to the implied asset correlation and comparative statics of the conditional expected loss. Due to this analysis of the dynamics we realize that the regulatory framework neglects many important relations, e.g., among obligors and also between risk components. An adequate risk assessment is consequently not possible.


This study investigates the impact of different plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) charging strategies in grid-connected microgrid containing PV generation system. Two different coordinated charging strategies with constant and variable power rates are proposed to increase the utilization of PV energy in the microgrid and decrease the undesired peaks due to PEV charging loads on the grid. First, based on forecasted base load and PV generation data, a microgrid central controller (MGCC) performs an offline operation to determine a charging zone. Then, in real time operation, it updates the charging zone and determines the charging profiles for each PEV by considering the base load and PV generation data instantly. The performance of the proposed strategy is assessed through a part of Cornell University microgrid with real data, and compared with other charging methods in terms of PV system energy usage percentage, energy supplied and peak demand from the grid by presenting numerical results. The results show that the proposed charging strategy can achieve increased PV utilization and reduced peak demand from the grid substantially.


BACKGROUND
Cleft lip, or CL, and cleft palate, or CP, are common congenital abnormalities. Birth prevalence ranges from one in every 500 to 1,000 in the white population and one in every 2,000 births in the African-American population. Etiologic and genetic factors contributing to CL and CP development are unknown though extensive research has been conducted. The authors conducted this pilot study to investigate a study design that could allow for an evaluation of such etiologic factors by providing the required estimate of the projected magnitude of differences between cases and controls.

METHODS
The authors obtained pregnancy history data from the mothers of 137 consecutive patients at the University of Pittsburgh Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Center. The authors investigated the differences between sex or cleft status and family history of clefts, birth order, maternal age at birth and first-trimester maternal smoking and alcohol consumption.

RESULTS
None of the factors showed any significant differences by sex or cleft type (P > or = .07) in the pilot data. Power estimates ranged from 12 to 71 percent. The sample size needed to obtain power of 80 percent would be 250 for variables with two categories and 480 for variables with three categories.

CONCLUSIONS
There is no evidence that the factors contribute to either sex or cleft status differences. Further investigations are needed, and they should include a larger, more diverse sample of at least 250 cases, a matched control group and a focus on mothers of newborns.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
This study lays the groundwork for a better understanding of the etiology of CL and CP-common birth defects that present challenges for long-term dental management.


Rationale: Two clinical cases are reported of envenomation by the nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes ammodytes) venom of a 9-year-old boy and of an 84-year-old woman. Patient concerns: Both patients had been bitten on their extremities by such a snake in August near Split, a town in southern Croatia. Diagnoses: Clinical manifestation of envenomation was severe in the case of the boy, being characterized by a severe coagulopathy. This was only just apparent in the case of the elderly woman, who suffered extensive local edema and hematoma at the site of the bite, together with a neurotoxic effect—bilateral ptosis. This was the first occasion of thrombocytopenic purpura being observed in patients envenomed by nose-horned viper venom. This unexpected clinical finding was characterized by an unusually profound thrombocytopenia of 5 and 10 × 109/L platelets of the respective patients on their admission to the hospital, together with purpura, observed on the face and thorax of both individuals. In the most serious cases, such pathology can be life threatening if not promptly recognized and treated. Interventions: The patients recovered quickly on receiving the specific antivenom along with all the usual supportive treatments. Outcomes: No serious sequels were noticed at the moment of discharge. Lessons: Our finding constitutes an important message to clinicians to consider the possibility of such complications in the case of nose-horned viper envenomation.


Age-related brain changes are the main cause of cognitive decline. Active cognitive task performance as well as resting-state activity might be a sensitive index for studying differences in aging. We investigated age-related changes in the spontaneous neuronal activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a resting-state condition. To evaluate differences in aging, we analyzed functional connectivity between resting-state networks in two groups of older and younger healthy volunteers. Seven resting-state networks were isolated, and cross-correlation matrices were computed for the time courses. Older subjects showed decreased activity of the auditory, visual, sensory-motor networks, frontoparietal and salience networks accompanied by increased coupling of the salience network with the sensorimotor and default mode network compared to younger subjects. The age-related differences in functional connectivity may be due to aging impairment of the prefrontal cortex leading to a loss of activation in the salience, sensorimotor and visual networks in older subjects compared to the younger subjects. However, the default mode network was more prominent in the left hemisphere and showed more coupling with the salience network in older subjects than in younger subjects, indicating possible compensatory engagement of cognitive control regions in resting-state cognition. The results show that independent of task design and performance the functional connectivity method reflects neural changes in the aging brain.


Multi-sided platforms (MSPs) are becoming increasingly important in contemporary economies. This special issue of California Management Review aims to stimulate collective discussion among researchers and practitioners on advancing diverse types of MSPs and on better understanding their future development. This article analyzes five contributions to this special issue and explores the growth trajectories of MSPs. There are three types of platforms: born-platform, platform-born adjacent, and incumbent-born. And they rely respectively on three market entry strategies: market creation, market broadening, and market deepening. This article also spotlights the coopetition dynamics of the platforms.


The objective of this work was to investigate the relationships of productive life with changes in bull evaluations for yield traits. Two datasets were analyzed. In the first, predicted differences for change in milk yield from first to second lactation of daughters of artificial insemination (AI) Holstein bulls used widely in the southeastern United States were available from a previous study. These were correlated with predicted transmitting abilities (PTA) of productive life from May 2000 USDA sire evaluations. Based on bulls with at least 10 daughters (n = 560) the correlation of PTA productive life with predicted differences for the change in milk yield was 0.30. The correlation increased to 0.36 for bulls with at least 50 daughters (n = 319) and to 0.40 for bulls with at least 75 daughters (n = 284). The second analysis included data on 1831 AI sampled Holstein bulls evaluated by USDA between July 1989 and May 2000. Changes in PTA yields were calculated as PTA from evaluations based on first and second records of daughters minus those from first-record evaluations. Correlation analyses showed that PTA yields from first-record evaluation and changes in PTA yields were positively associated with productive life. Regression coefficients on changes in PTA yields were all positive indicating that increases in PTA for yield traits as daughters aged corresponded with longer productive life. Using changes in AI bull evaluations for yields could improve prediction of productive life for little cost.


In this paper, the progress in the synthesis of thiazole[3,2-a]pyrimidine compounds in the field of medicine and pesticide were reviewed. The main synthetic routes include: (i) synthesis of thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidines, spiro thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidines and pyrazolo[3,4-d]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidines by multicomponent reactions (MCRs). (ii) synthesis of thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidines by condensation of pyrimidine-2-thiones, which were obtained by Biginelli reaction between aromatic aldehydes and thiourea, with substituted 2-bromo-1-phenylethanone or chloroacetic acid. (iii) synthesis of pyridothieno-fused thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidinones via Pictet–Spengler reaction. (iv) synthesis of pyrido[4,3-d]thiazolo[3,2-a]pyrimidine by reacting 2-aminothiazole with the α, β-unsaturated ketones.


BACKGROUND AND AIM
Acute or chronic liver failure is associated with numerous complications and patients may require intensive care treatment, which is complex, time-consuming and often highly resource-intensive. Thus, it is necessary to identify clinical parameters that allow quick risk stratification.

METHODS
In 117 patients with acute or chronic liver failure requiring ICU admission, the clinical parameters, risk scores and results of microbiological examinations were documented and correlated with the outcome (survivor vs. non-survivor).

RESULTS
Predictors of outcome were: Child-Pugh-Score (p < 0.01), MELD-Score (p < 0.01), SAPS-II-Score (p < 0.05), bilirubin (p < 0.01), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) (p < 0.02), urine output (p < 0.01), requirement of catecholamine administration (p <0.004), serum creatinine (p < 0.01). The strongest predictors of outcome were in a multivariate model GCS (p = 0.006) and MELD-score (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Risk stratification in our patient collective was feasible. Apart from parameters to assess kidney function and circulation, various scoring systems that had previously not been evaluated for this kind of patient collective seem to be the main predictors of outcome.


The analysis of Microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) is an emerging research field with huge impact in the fields of medical & agricultural biotechnology, Microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) are being considered as imminent eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides and fertilizers in sustainable agriculture. In this study, we characterized the effect of volatiles emitted from Shewanella algae (Sg8) isolated from a marine ecosystem in promoting plant growth, in controlling the activity of Fusarium oxysporum through mVOCs and its antagonistic activity against other phytopathogenic fungus. Sg8 also inhibited the growth of four other agronomically important foliar and soil plant pathogens: Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Magnoporthae oryzae and Macrophomina sp. The effect of microbial volatiles (mVOCs) produced by the bacterium Sg8, on plant growth were investigated on tomato plants under in vivo conditions. The VOCs emitted from Sg8 up regulated the Thaumatin-like antifungal (PR-5) gene (9-fold) and Glutamine synthetase (GS) gene (0.96-fold) in tomato plants. Sg8 effectively inhibited the growth of F. oxysporum and possessed plant growth promoting (PGP) activity. Our results show that Sg8 generates bioactive volatiles that induces the regulation of Pathogenesis related (PR) genes, & stimulation of the growth of the plants and also suppresses the growth of other agriculturally important foliar and soil phyto-pathogenic fungus.


The study aims to develop colligative properties of solution chemistry ebook
based science process skills (SPS) approach with 4S TMD. Today, school
facilities have supported the implementation of digital-based learning. However,
teaching materials are digital based, one of which is that the e-book is not yet
available in the learning process. Then, teaching materials available are less
associated with phenomena, less emphasis on the learning process. It is expected
that teaching materials can facilitate students to experience meaningful learning
especially in the material of colligative properties of solutions. Meaningful learning
processes can be supported by a process-based approach that allows students to
learn scientific phenomena with insight and understanding through SPS. Then we
need teaching materials that contain content that can develop SPS. Development
Research (DR) was used as method of the study by Richey and Klein that consists of
design, development, and evaluation. The design step is analyzing and designing the
types of developed teaching materials. 4S TMD models consists of selection,
structuring, characterization, and didactic reduction. There are 2 basic
competencies that exist in the curriculum based on the selection steps, the
interrelationships between subject matter and indicators, the relationship between
certain skills and subject matter. The structuring step produced concept maps,
macro structures, and many representations were compiled to become the first
concepts of teaching materials used to develop instruments for the characterization
step. This research only to structuring step, characterization and didactic reduction
steps will be carried out.Introduction.


Dualized program for building Public Administration scholarship in Korea has been, in a sense, a result of theoretical tension between the two positions, politics/administration dualism vs. politics/administration monism. The program has maintained its integrity by its dependence on a foundational question, "Is administration a different field of action from politics?" Korean community for the study of public administration has maintained its oneness by internally asking this question even though the two external philosophical positions were relatively indubitable. Strating from the well-known changes in the community, this brief outline for the future full exegesis tries to read carefully one point shown in the second chapter of one of the most seminal proposals for foundation of modern Public Administration, one paragrahp in the second chapter of "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson. What was the contemporary meaning of Wilson's classic distinction made in 1887? Keeping this research question in our mind, we will attempt to prepare for the full understanding of a kind of internal distinction Wilson explicitly draws between the constitutional and the administrative.


A time series representation, piecewise trend approximation (PTA), is proposed to improve efficiency of time series data mining in high dimensional large databases. PTA represents time series in concise form while retaining main trends in original time series; the dimensionality of original data is therefore reduced, and the key features are maintained. Different from the representations that based on original data space, PTA transforms original data space into the feature space of ratio between any two consecutive data points in original time series, of which sign and magnitude indicate changing direction and degree of local trend, respectively. Based on the ratio-based feature space, segmentation is performed such that each two conjoint segments have different trends, and then the piecewise segments are approximated by the ratios between the first and last points within the segments. To validate the proposed PTA, it is compared with classical time series representations PAA and APCA on two classical datasets by applying the commonly used K-NN classification algorithm. For ControlChart dataset, PTA outperforms them by 3.55% and 2.33% higher classification accuracy and 8.94% and 7.07% higher for Mixed-BagShapes dataset, respectively. It is indicated that the proposed PTA is effective for high dimensional time series data mining.


Abstract Exotic invasive species are nonnative species that thrive outside of their native habitat, and while it is difficult to determine which exotic plants will become invasive, successful invaders often share a wide range of traits including high growth rate and reproductive output, vegetative reproduction, high population growth rates, early reproductive age, phenotypic and physiological plasticity, and high resource use efficiency. Here we report on the response of pampasgrass, an important exotic invasive plant of the western United States, to experimental variations in soil nitrogen (N) and water availability. Given its ability to invade a wide variety of ecosystems in southern California, we hypothesized that pampasgrass would have higher water and N use efficiency under conditions of low water and N availability but rapid growth and resource use under conditions of high water and N availability. Our data support this hypothesis and indicate that pampasgrass exhibited large variations in growth, carbon allocation, morphology, and N and phosphorus (P) nutrition to variations in N availability and water table depth. Many of these traits are highly correlated with invasive performance, and the high N and P use efficiency observed under low soil N (control) and water table, coupled with the large increase in physiological performance and resource use under high N and water table, indicate that pampasgrass is highly flexible to soil resource levels that are typical for coastal sage scrub and riparian ecosystems of southern California. Such flexibility in resource use could allow pampasgrass to persist in low-resource environments and expand as resource levels increase. Nomenclature: Pampasgrass, Cortaderia selloana (Schultes) Asch. & Graebner.


We propose and evaluate a family of methods for converting classifier learning algorithms and classification theory into cost-sensitive algorithms and theory. The proposed conversion is based on cost-proportionate weighting of the training examples, which can be realized either by feeding the weights to the classification algorithm (as often done in boosting), or by careful subsampling. We give some theoretical performance guarantees on the proposed methods, as well as empirical evidence that they are practical alternatives to existing approaches. In particular, we propose costing, a method based on cost-proportionate rejection sampling and ensemble aggregation, which achieves excellent predictive performance on two publicly available datasets, while drastically reducing the computation required by other methods.


To meet Swedish environmental goals organic farming will play an important role in the development of a sustainable and high quality food production system. However, several conflicts exist, such as the achievement of high yields without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides and the minimization of nutrient losses. In this thesis the effect of organic fertilizers compared to mineral fertilizers on plant product quality was investigated. Tomato yield and quality aspects such as taste and chemical composition were measured. Three greenhouse experiments were performed at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala during 2002 and 2004. Organic fertilizers, based on chicken manure or fresh grass clover mulch, were compared to mineral fertilizer nutrient solutions with ammonium or nitrate as the dominant nitrogen source. In both years yields from the mineral fertilized tomato plants were higher than from the organic fertilized ones. However, plant nitrogen status was similar for all treatments and the limiting nutrient in the organic grass-mulch treatment appeared to be sulphur, as the addition of mineral sulphur increased the yield. The effects on quality appeared to be more complex. While taste test scores and vitamin C contents in 2002 were highest in the organic or ammonium-fertilized tomatoes and lowest in the nitrate-fertilized tomatoes, in 2004 the results were contrary. Taste is a complex quality aspect, affected by sugars, acids and other secondary compounds (aromatic flavour compounds), which apart from nutrient supply are affected by environmental conditions as sunlight and temperature that are beyond the grower's control. It was concluded that organic or mineral fertilizers are not the major factors affecting yield and product quality. A balanced nutrient supply is important for yield and quality, irrespective nutrient source. A combination of organic and mineral fertilizers should be considered in order to achieve a resource saving and balanced nutrient supply and a high quality tomato yield.


In this article, we focus on the utilisation of reactive trajectory imitation controllers for goal-directed mobile robot navigation. We propose a topological navigation graph (TNG) - an imitation-learning-based framework for navigating through environments with intersecting trajectories. The TNG framework represents the environment as a directed graph composed of deep neural networks. Each vertex of the graph corresponds to a trajectory and is represented by a trajectory identification classifier and a trajectory imitation controller. For trajectory following, we propose the novel use of neural object detection architectures. The edges of TNG correspond to intersections between trajectories and are all represented by a classifier. We provide empirical evaluation of the proposed navigation framework and its components in simulated and real-world environments, demonstrating that TNG allows us to utilise non-goal-directed, imitation-learning methods for goal-directed autonomous navigation.


Owing to its inherent modeling flexibility, simulation is often regarded as the proper means for supporting decision making on supply chain design. The ultimate success of supply chain simulation, however, is determined by a combination of the analyst's skills, the chain members' involvement, and the modeling capabilities of the simulation tool. This combination should provide the basis for a realistic simulation model, which is both transparent and complete. The need for transparency is especially strong for supply chains as they involve (semi)autonomous parties each having their own objectives. Mutual trust and model effectiveness are strongly influenced by the degree of completeness of each party's insight into the key decision variables. Ideally, visual interactive simulation models present an important communicative means for realizing the required overview and insight. Unfortunately, most models strongly focus on physical transactions, leaving key decision variables implicit for some or all of the parties involved. This especially applies to control structures, that is, the managers or systems responsible for control, their activities and their mutual attuning of these activities. Control elements are, for example, dispersed over the model, are not visualized, or form part of the time-indexed scheduling of events. In this article, we propose an alternative approach that explicitly addresses the modeling of control structures. First, we will conduct a literature survey with the aim of listing simulation model qualities essential for supporting successful decision making on supply chain design. Next, we use this insight to define an object-oriented modeling framework that facilitates supply chain simulation in a more realistic manner. This framework is meant to contribute to improved decision making in terms of recognizing and understanding opportunities for improved supply chain design. Finally, the use of the framework is illustrated by a case example concerning a supply chain for chilled salads.


Cancer is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, and its development is a result of the complex interaction of genetic factors, environmental cues, and aging. Hormone-sensitive cancers depend on the action of one or more hormones for their development and progression. Sex steroids and corticosteroids can regulate different physiological functions, including metabolism, growth, and proliferation, through their interaction with specific nuclear receptors, that can transcriptionally regulate target genes via their genomic actions. Therefore, interference with hormones' activities, e.g., deregulation of their production and downstream pathways or the exposition to exogenous hormone-active substances such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), can affect the regulation of their correlated pathways and trigger the neoplastic transformation. Although nuclear receptors account for most hormone-related biologic effects and their slow genomic responses are well-studied, less-known membrane receptors are emerging for their ability to mediate steroid hormones effects through the activation of rapid non-genomic responses also involved in the development of hormone-sensitive cancers. This review aims to collect pre-clinical and clinical data on these extranuclear receptors not only to draw attention to their emerging role in cancer development and progression but also to highlight their dual role as tumor microenvironment players and potential candidate drug targets.


It is an important question to find constructions of quantum cryptographic protocols which rely on weaker computational assumptions than classical protocols. Recently, it has been shown that oblivious transfer and multi-party computation can be constructed from one-way functions, whereas this is impossible in the classical setting in a black-box way. In this work, we study the question of building quantum public-key encryption schemes from one-way functions and even weaker assumptions. Firstly, we revisit the definition of IND-CPA security to this setting. Then, we propose three schemes for quantum public-key encryption from one-way functions, pseudorandom function-like states with proof of deletion and pseudorandom function-like states, respectively.


Binary code clone analysis is an important technique which has a wide range of applications in software engineering (e.g., plagiarism detection, bug detection). The main challenge of the topic lies in the semantics-equivalent code transformation (e.g., optimization, obfuscation) which would alter representations of binary code tremendously. Another challenge is the trade-off between detection accuracy and coverage. Unfortunately, existing techniques still rely on semantics-less code features which are susceptible to the code transformation. Besides, they adopt merely either a static or a dynamic approach to detect binary code clones, which cannot achieve high accuracy and coverage simultaneously.  In this paper, we propose a semantics-based hybrid approach to detect binary clone functions. We execute a template binary function with its test cases, and emulate the execution of every target function for clone comparison with the runtime information migrated from that template function. The semantic signatures are extracted during the execution of the template function and emulation of the target function. Lastly, a similarity score is calculated from their signatures to measure their likeness. We implement the approach in a prototype system designated as BinMatch which analyzes IA-32 binary code on the Linux platform. We evaluate BinMatch with eight real-world projects compiled with different compilation configurations and commonly-used obfuscation methods, totally performing over 100 million pairs of function comparison. The experimental results show that BinMatch is robust to the semantics-equivalent code transformation. Besides, it not only covers all target functions for clone analysis, but also improves the detection accuracy comparing to the state-of-the-art solutions.


Mammalian fossil assemblages from Pliocene and Pleistocene sites of southern Africa have recently been seriated in order to establish a relative chronology (McKee et al. 1994). Although an order was inferred for 17 site assemblages of fossil mammals, only ten sites could be seriated at a time. The logistical seriation method has now been modified to handle a greater number of sites at once. Seriations were run on a matrix of Faunal Resemblance Index values for an updated list of time-sensitive mammals of 18 fossil site assemblages. In addition, each assemblage was systematically excluded from analysis in successive seriations to test the robusticity of the method against the influence of individual assemblages. The seriations gave largely consistent results , with the exception of the terminal Pleistocene sites. The most likely chronological sequence inferred from the logistical seriations alone, with corrections for stratigraphic considerations, is: Makapansgat Member 3, Makapansgat Member 4, Taung Hrdlicka deposits, Sterkfontein Member 4, Kromdraai B, Sterkfontein Member 5 (in part), Kromdraai A, Swartkrans Member 1, Swartkrans Member 2, Swartkrans Member 3, Gondolin, Plovers Lake, Cornelia, Elandsfontein Main Site, Florisbad/Equus Cave, Cave of Hearths and Klasies River Mouth.


A 71-year-old woman with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) with IgA-λ monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) showed the acute development of tetraplegia, respiratory failure, and a marked fluctuation of the blood pressure. Intravenous (IV) high-dose steroid therapy (methylprednisolone: 1 g/day × 3 days), followed by oral prednisolone (PSL) (40 mg/day), and IV immunoglobulin (IVIg, 0.4 g/kg/day × 5 days) administrations resulted in the amelioration of these symptoms. However, they soon relapsed, which eventually led to complete tetraplegia and the need for mechanical ventilation. At this time, serum components of IgA-λ and IgM-λ were biclonally positive. Seven courses of plasma exchange and the alternative administration of dexamethasone (12 mg/day) and methtorexate (15 mg/week) were conducted, but with no significant improvement. Nine months after admission, she showed totally-locked in syndrome. Cryo-preserved serum obtained at this time showed high titers of IgM class antibodies against ganglioside (GD3 +++, GT1a ++++, GT1b ++, GQ1b +++, and GD1b +++), which had been negative on admission. Biopsy of the left sural nerve showed moderate reductions of large and small myelinated fibers with no inflammation, no depositions of amyloid, IgG, IgA, or IgM, and teased fiber findings revealed neither myelin ovoids nor segmental demyelination. Alternatively, melphalan at 5 mg and PSL at 32 mg were administered, with no amelioration, while serum IgA-λ monoclonal protein diminished, and IgM-λ M protein positivity was continuously observed. She frequently developed sepsis; therefore, we could no longer continue any immunosupressive therapies, but monthly IVIg administrations were given. Twelve months after admission, her neurological symptoms gradually improved and she was weaned off of mechanical ventilation. Eighteen months after admission, her muscle strength corresponded to 2 on manual muscle testing, and wheelchair transfer became possible. To the best of our knowledge, the present case is the first report of CIDP with MGUS showing an alternating immunoglobulin class.


This two‐part research project examines self‐serving attributions by employees in reaction to supervisor's negative interpersonal behaviors in the workplace. The first study (N = 289) examined internal and external attributions in reaction to negative supervisor's behaviors compared to positive behaviors, and the moderating effect of organizational empowerment. The respondents attributed positive behaviors internally and negative behaviors externally. However, empowerment did not affect the attributions. The second study (N = 252,) examined the relationship of attributions of blame to the victim in relation to being the victim of negative behaviors as compared to being the perpetrator. Again, negative supervisor's behaviors were related to attribution of blame to factors external to the victim. However, the employee's own negative behaviors were positively related to attribution of blame to the victim.


Introduction Any numerical model of a physical process necessarily represents that process by a set of mathematical relations that approximate the underlying physical laws. The level of approximation is determined principally by two factors: (1) knowledge of the physical processes; (2) computational limitations. The latter forces one to view the problem of the evolution of waves on an oceanic scale as a statistical one. The process of global wave evolution encompasses scales as large as the basin (10 7 metres) involving ocean currents, topography and wind variations, and as small as the smallest waves (10 -3 metres) that modify the wind stress – it could be argued that even smaller scales associated with turbulent interfacial couplings play a role in the process. The statistical approach essentially treats the bottom 4/5 of this physical range of ten orders of magnitude as though those scales respond to well-defined physical laws imposed at the nodes of a numerical grid of typical size of one degree of latitude. The task of defining appropriate mathematical expressions that reflect the essential physics of the process is one of synthesizing the results of theoretical calculations and observational programs. As discussed in chapter I, the mathematical framework is based on a statistical description of waves having a range of scales of about one metre to one kilometre. These waves evolve in response to an action balance equation in which the 'physics' is embodied in a set of source functions. In this chapter, we first discuss the source functions individually and then examine the observational evidence of spectral characteristics and wave growth in fetch-limited and in shallow water situations and directional adjustment to turning winds.


Purpose: This research is to examine the determinants of green electronic purchasing decisions of young, educated consumers in Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach: This novel study is a conclusive research and deductive methodology was deployed as the study approach. Primary data were collected from 200 university students living in Southern Province in Sri Lanka based on convenient sampling method through a 23-item self-administered questionnaire.  After feeding data into SPSS 25.0, data were analysed using several statistical tools.  In here, Multiple Regression analysis was used to measure the impact of each of the key determinant on green electronic purchasing decisions of young, educated consumers.
Findings: Results indicated that there is a statistically significant impact of four determinants namely, Environmental Concern, Supporting Environmental Protection, Social Influence and Environmental Friendliness of Businesses, on young, educated consumers' green electronic purchasing decisions in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. Among the four, Environmental Concern is the strongest determinant of purchasing decisions of green household electronics.
Originality: This study contributes to the existing debates on green product purchasing decisions of young consumers.  Although, number of studies are available on green purchasing decisions among young consumers, the determinants of green electronic purchasing decisions of young, educated consumers are not well documented both in Sri Lankan as well as in international contexts.  So, findings of the present study fulfilled that current knowledge gap.
Implications: The current study provides good insights for both practitioners and theoreticians who want to identify the young consumers as environmentally conscious individuals. The paper concludes that marketing professionals need to relate green electronic devices with functional, emotional and experiential needs of consumers.
Keywords: Young Educated Consumers, Green Electronic Devices, Determinants of Green Consumption, Southern Province, Sri Lanka.


Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation has a wavelength range of 280-315 nm. Plants perceive UV-B as an environmental signal and a potential abiotic stress factor that affects development and acclimation. UV-B regulates photomorphogenesis including hypocotyl elongation inhibition, cotyledon expansion, and flavonoid accumulation, but high intensity UV-B can also harm plants by damaging DNA, triggering accumulation of reactive oxygen species, and impairing photosynthesis. Plants have evolved "sunscreen" flavonoids that accumulate under UV-B stress to prevent or limit damage. The UV-B receptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) plays a critical role in promoting flavonoid biosynthesis to enhance UV-B stress tolerance. Recent studies have clarified several UVR8-mediated and UVR8-independent pathways that regulate UV-B stress tolerance. Here, we review these additions to our understanding of the molecular pathways involved in UV-B stress tolerance, highlighting the important roles of ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5, BRI1-EMS-SUPPRESSOR1, MYB DOMAIN PROTEIN 13, MAP KINASE PHOSPHATASE 1, and ATM- and RAD3-RELATED. We also summarize the known interactions with visible light receptors and the contribution of melatonin to UV-B stress responses. Finally, we update a working model of the UV-B stress tolerance pathway.


Results of 10 different methods for determining the maximum horizontal principal stress direction at the DOE's Multi-Well Experiment site in the Piceance Basin, Colorado show remarkable consistency. The methods included surface geological observations (e.g. fracture mapping, lineament analysis, and faulting), analyses of oriented core from the Multi-Well Experiment (e.g. strain relaxation, differential strain analysis, acoustic velocity anisotropy, natural fractures), and computer modeling of expected stresses caused by topographic loads. The mean direction predicted for the maximum horizontal principal stress is N79 X 6/sup 0/W. The very small standard deviation about this prediction of 5 X 5/sup 0/ indicates the extreme consistency among the methods. Similar methods could be utilized in other low permeability reservoirs to determine stress orientation and hence hydraulic fracture propagation direction.


The incidence of fatal poisoning of birds of prey caused by carbofuran has increased markedly in Hungary since 2007. An experimental model with broiler chickens was used to study clinical signs of sublethal carbofuran poisoning in birds and to measure the residue concentrations of carbamate in tissues after exposure. Eight chickens were treated with a carbofuran-containing insecticide orally by gastric tube at a single dose of 2.5 mg/kg body weight, and clinical signs of poisoning were observed. Gas chromatography was used to determine carbofuran concentrations in the blood, muscle, and liver samples, and in stomach contents. Poisoning was characterized by typical muscarinic and nicotinic clinical signs without mortality. Carbofuran in the stomach and edible tissues of acutely poisoned birds may lead to secondary poisoning of predators and may also present risks to human health.


The observed Higgs boson offers an excellent opportunity to look for new physics at the LHC. Selected searches for exotic Higgs boson decays with the ATLAS and CMS experiments are presented. The Higgs boson decays to dark sector vector bosons, the Lepton Flavor Violating decays, the Flavor Changing Neutral Current decays, the decays to a light pseudo-scalar neutral Higgs boson of the NMSSM and the exotic Higgs boson decays to photon and missing transverse momentum signatures are described, and their Run-I results are given from both experiments. All the above searches for exotic Higgs boson decays present an alternative path to discovery of beyond Standard Model physics.


The structure and bonding in [TeM6O24]6- (Anderson) and [PM12O40]3- (α-Keggin) heteropolyanions have been investigated by density-functional methods. Various molecular-orbital and population approaches have been employed in the analysis of the structural and electronic properties. Good agreement between computational and experimental or bond-valence results for bond parameters has been obtained. The M−O interactions have been found to be largely of Md−Op character, whereas the orbital nature of Te−O and P−O bonding can be predominantly characterized as Tesp or Psp and Osp. The interactions between the [TeO6] or [PO4] fragments and the [MpOq] cages have been explored by a decomposition approach to the polyanion structure. The results obtained have suggested that the molecular-orbital structure of the Te−O and P−O bonds is not significantly different in the presence or absence of the metal−oxygen cages but that there is nonetheless some covalent character in the bonding of the [TeO6] and [PO4] fragments to ...


Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH), or secondary hypogonadism, is a clinical condition due to an impairment of the pituitary function, characterized by low testosterone plasma levels associated with normal or low FSH and LH plasma levels. An impairment of gonadotropin secretion and, therefore, a reduced efficiency of spermatogenesis was reported to be frequently associated to conditions different from the classical causes of secondary hypogonadism. These conditions (metabolic, endocrine and eating disorders, physical exercise etc.) have been associated with a non-classical form of HH that could be called "functional" HH (FHH). FHH differs from the classical one by the evidence that gonadotropin levels are in the low-normal range, but are inadequate for the testosterone levels, that often are also in the low-normal range. This commentary aims at reviewing knowledge on the forms of male HH in order to indicate and discuss clinical context, diagnostic and therapeutic approach in the less known non-classical form, i.e. FHH.


We first consider the estimation of the finite rate of population increase or population growth rate, u i , using capture-recapture data from open populations. We review estimation and modelling of u i under three main approaches to modelling openpopulation data: the classic approach of Jolly (1965) and Seber (1965), the superpopulation approach of Crosbie & Manly (1985) and Schwarz & Arnason (1996), and the temporal symmetry approach of Pradel (1996). Next, we consider the contributions of different demographic components to u i using a probabilistic approach based on the composition of the population at time i + 1 (Nichols et al., 2000b). The parameters of interest are identical to the seniority parameters, n i , of Pradel (1996). We review estimation of n i under the classic, superpopulation, and temporal symmetry approaches. We then compare these direct estimation approaches for u i and n i with analogues computed using projection matrix asymptotics. We also discuss various extensions of the estimation approaches to multistate applications and to joint likelihoods involving multiple data types.


We present the generalization of the entanglement of formation for three-party systems in a pure state. For three qubit system we derive out its explicit and closed expression which is a linear combination of the binary entropy functions with various arguments, and these arguments are clearly determined in terms of the components of state vector of three qubits. As a reasonable measure of entanglement, the main behaviors and elementary properties of this generalized entanglement of formation are showed through discussing some important and interesting examples. Moreover, we propose how to extend our definition to a mixed state in according to the familiar idea. Then, we suggest the generalization of the entanglement of formation for multi-party systems which is consistent with the regular definition for two-party systems and our definition for three-party systems.


In this letter, a two-stage 900-MHz CMOS differential power amplifier (PA) is designed and implemented in a 0.18-mum radio frequency CMOS process. A transmission line transformer on a printed circuit board is used as an output power combiner and matching circuits of a class-E power stage. To drive the power stage effectively, cascaded class-D amplifiers are used as driver amplifiers. The PA delivers an output power of 31.7dBm and a power-added efficiency of 62.4% with a power gain of 30.3dB, including the losses of the bond-wires and the output transformer


We examined an eye-hand coordination task where optimal visual search and hand movement strategies were inter-related. Observers were asked to find and touch a target among five distractors on a touch screen. Their reward for touching the target was reduced by an amount proportional to how long they took to locate and reach to it. Coordinating the eye and the hand appropriately would markedly reduce the search-reach time. Using statistical decision theory we derived the sequence of interrelated eye and hand movements that would maximize expected gain and we predicted how hand movements should change as the eye gathered further information about target location. We recorded human observers' eye movements and hand movements and compared them with the optimal strategy that would have maximized expected gain. We found that most observers failed to adopt the optimal search-reach strategy. We analyze and describe the strategies they did adopt.


Social networks can be used to represent group structure as a network of interacting components, and also to quantify both the position of each individual and the global properties of a group. In a series of simulation experiments based on dynamic social networks, we test the prediction that social behaviors that help individuals reach prominence within their social group may conflict with their potential to benefit from their social environment. In addition to cases where individuals were able to benefit from improving both their personal relative importance and group organization, using only simple rules of social affiliation we were able to obtain results in which individuals would face a trade-off between these factors. While selection would favor (or work against) social behaviors that concordantly increase (or decrease, respectively) fitness at both individual and group level, when these factors conflict with each other the eventual selective pressure would depend on the relative returns individuals get from their social environment and their position within it. The presented results highlight the importance of a systems approach to studying animal sociality, in which the effects of social behaviors should be viewed not only through the benefits that those provide to individuals, but also in terms of how they affect broader social environment and how in turn this is reflected back on an individual's fitness.


Answer a# = Bool | Int | Err Abstract answers denote sets of answers (sometimes called "concrete" answers to contrast abstract answers). Their meaning is defined as follows: JBoolK = {True, False} JIntK = {. . . ,−1, 0, 1, . . . } JErrK = {ErrDiv0,ErrIf,ErrPlus,ErrSucc,ErrPlus1, . . . }answers denote sets of answers (sometimes called "concrete" answers to contrast abstract answers). Their meaning is defined as follows: JBoolK = {True, False} JIntK = {. . . ,−1, 0, 1, . . . } JErrK = {ErrDiv0,ErrIf,ErrPlus,ErrSucc,ErrPlus1, . . . } Now let's explore an abstract evaluation relation for B based around the above notion of abstract values. The idea here is that the formulate an alternative relation that operates on abstract values instead of values. There are many abstract evaluation relations. What makes them admissible is if they are sound, i.e. if it possible for an expression to compute a certain kind of answer, that answer is in the (denotation) of the abstract answer. Formally: Claim 5.1. If ρ ⊢ e ⇓ a for some ρ, then there exists an a# such that ⊢ e ⇓ a# and a ∈ q a# y . It's quite easy to make a sound, but useless abstract evaluator: ⊢ e ⇓ Int ⊢ e ⇓ Bool ⊢ e ⇓ Err It's almost always impossible to go the other direction to design an abstract evaluator that is complete, i.e.: 45 Claim 5.2. If ⊢ e ⇓ a#, then there exists an a and ρ such that ⊢ e ⇓ a and a ∈ q a# y . If we wanted to do better than the useless abstract evaluator, one approach is to use the concrete evaluator to guide its design. Let's consider some concrete and abstract cases in tandem: ρ(x) = v ρ ⊢ x ⇓ v ⊢ x ⇓ Bool ⊢ x ⇓ Int On the left is the concrete evaluation relation for variables, which are given meaning in terms of a particular environment. The abstract evaluator must handle all possible environments; since an environment may map a variable to an integer or a boolean, the rule states that a variable occurrence may evaluate to either Bool or Int. This may seem overly conservative; variables range over all possible values, which mean that programs involving variables that are treated as integers will be abstract interpreted as having errors since they variables could stand for booleans. This is necessary for soundness – indeed we could imagine running such programs with environments that don't respect our intentions for how these variables are used. But we will return to this question in a bit and show how we can reason based on assumptions of how variables will be used. Here are the concrete and abstract rules for literals: ρ ⊢ i ⇓ i ρ ⊢ b ⇓ b ⊢ i ⇓ Int ⊢ b ⇓ Bool As you can see, the abstract evaluator is losing information; it "forgets" which particular number or boolean a literal evaluators to and instead just signals the appropriate set of values the literal belongs to. Here are the concrete and abstract rules for Pred (Succ is similar): ρ ⊢ e ⇓ i ρ ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ i− 1 ⊢ e ⇓ Int ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ Int The error propogation and creation rules can likewise be read-off from the concrete rules: ρ ⊢ e ⇓ r ρ ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ r ρ ⊢ e ⇓ b ρ ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ ErrPred ⊢ e ⇓ Err ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ Err ⊢ e ⇓ Bool ⊢ Pred(e) ⇓ Err The Plus and Mult cases follow a similar pattern. Finally, let's consider Div. When a subexpression produces an error or evaluates a boolean follows the same pattern as above, so let's focus soley on the "real" cases for Div. First, the concrete cases: ρ ⊢ e1 ⇓ i ρ ⊢ e2 ⇓ j ρ ⊢ Div(e1, e2) ⇓ ⌊i/j⌋ ρ ⊢ e1 ⇓ i ρ ⊢ e2 ⇓ 0 ρ ⊢ Div(e1, e2) ⇓ ErrDiv0 And now the abstract cases: ρ ⊢ e1 ⇓ Int ρ ⊢ e2 ⇓ Int ρ ⊢ Div(e1, e2) ⇓ Int ρ ⊢ e1 ⇓ Int ρ ⊢ e2 ⇓ Int ρ ⊢ Div(e1, e2) ⇓ Err 46 The thing to notice here is that in the abstract rules the hypotheses are the same in both of these rules. Since our abstraction of integers to Int is too course-grained to distinguish between zero and non-zero integers, there's no way to tell if evaluating a division operation is safe. Consequently any program that includes a division operation will be reported as potentially causing an error. Even obviously error free programs like Div(10, 2).


Among more than 100,000 prisoners captured by United Nations forces in the Korean War, there was just one Japanese prisoner of war (POW). Matsushita Kazutoshi, Prisoner Number 600,001, had served in the Japanese army in China, both Nationalist and Communist armies in the Chinese Civil War, and in the Chinese People's Volunteers in North Korea, and was to end his military career in the ranks of the South Korean army. Using his forgotten story as a prism, this article explores neglected transborder dimensions of the Korean War. It argues the need to pay closer attention to the historical continuities linking the Asia-Pacific War and Chinese Civil War to the Korean War; it reconsiders the nature of Japan's connections to the conflict in Korea and reconceptualizes the UN POW camps as sites of ongoing Chinese and Korean civil wars.


The study Proposes a method to detect the appearance of moon phase in a video serial (AVI) . The proposed algorithm of photographic and videoing treatment presents a method to trace the appearance of moon phases through the analysis of image texture using Co-Occurrence matrix after reading the video file followed by the representation of texture features in the form of histogram followed by the segmentation of image depending on the values of histogram to obtain the detection of the target , i.e. , the moon in order to trace the appearance of moon phases within a video serial and then know the area of the lighted part of the moon surface via sun rays through which the geometric shape of the lighted area of the moon along the video serial can be estimated in each stage . then the moon phase may be expected as it is a ratio of the estimated area of the geometric shape in relation to the total area of the circular disc of the full moon . the purposed method can be applied whenever a video film of the moon is available.


A method that includes the fractal dimension to assess the similarity between retinal vessel segmentation images is presented. We propose that the method can contribute in the iterative refinement of vessel segmentation images. Manual vessel segmentation images are compared against an unsupervised automatic segmentation method. A small relative error is found when using standard metrics for comparison. The differences between segmentation methods are better understood by subdividing the images under study.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Esophageal cancer is a major cause of cancer deaths in most Asian countries, which is so called Asian esophageal cancer belt. Recent studies have demonstrated that, Cortactin (CTTN), a cytoskeletal protein frequently overexpressed in many types of human cancers including esophageal squamous cell carcinomas. Animal studies suggest that CTTN overexpression increases esophagus tumor aggressiveness, possibly through promotion of tumor invasion and metastasis. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C, ligand for the VEGF receptor-3, is critical for cancer metastasis through induces the formation of tumor-associated lymphatic vessels and facilitate the mobility of tumor cells. However, the detail molecular mechanisms involved in VEGF-C/VEGFR-3 axis-mediated tumor progression is not clear yet. Besides, the biological significance of the correlation between VEGF-C and CTTN in cancer cells is completely unknown. In this study, we found CTTN is critical for VEGF-C-mediated migration and invasion of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells. We also found that miR-326, which could target the 3'UTR of CTTN, is involved in VEGF-C-induced CTTN expression and subsequent migration and invasion of ESCC cells through an Src-dependent pathway. Taken together, our results show that VEGF-C up-regulates CTTN protein expression, resulting in enhanced cell invasion, tumorgenesis and metastasis through Src-mediated down-regulation the expression of miR-326.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4950. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4950


The essay is a response to Norman Denzin's call to performance in qualitative research methods and advocates using humor when performing auto/ethnography. I contend that auto/ethnography is too mired in negative and depressing lived experiences, such as death, disease, cruelty, and health problems. If auto/ethnography is meant to be therapeutic, the best medicine is often laughter. The essay calls for using stand-up comedy methods when performing ethnographic texts. Indeed, many comedians are already engaging in auto/ethnography, they simply do not know it or give it that label. Examples of humors performance texts are interwoven with theory, method, and discussion about the the auto/ethnographer's moral responsibilities and ethics.


In this paper applications and requirements of mobile broadband multimedia healthcare services are presented, with the focus on specific research challenges. Such pervasive multimedia healthcare applications include hospital tele-consultation, health monitoring, intelligent emergency management systems, pervasive healthcare data access, and ubiquitous mobile telemedicine. After a survey of the past and undergoing research and demonstration projects in the area, recent challenges and future research directions of comprehensive wireless multimedia health monitoring are presented, including context awareness, content awareness, quality issues, security and reliability, and autonomous and adaptable operation.


This paper examines the problem of designing fixed-rate transform coders for sources whose distributions are unknown and presumably non-Gaussian, under input-weighted squared error distortion measures. As a component of this system, a flexible scalar compander based on Gaussian mixtures is pro- posed. The high-rate analysis of transform coders is reviewed, and extended to the case of input-weighted squared error. An algorithm is developed to set the parameters of the system using a data-driven technique that automatically balances the source statistics, distortion measure, and structure of the transform coder to minimize the high-rate distortion. The implementation of Gaussian mixture companders is explored, resulting in a flexible, low-complexity scalar quantizer. Additionally, modifications to the system for operation at moderate rates, using unstructured scalar quantizers, are presented. The operation of the system for the problem of wideband speech line spectral frequencies (LSF) quantization with log spectral distortion is illustrated, and shown to provide good performance with very low complexity.


https://doi.org/10.30574/wjbphs.2022.10.1.0069 Abstract Nature provides us not just with food in abundance, but also with medicines, such that we could eat our food as medicine. Herbs are becoming more prominent as medicine because synthetic drugs with all their side effects are not completely safe. Herbs are however safer, as they are taken first as food, and in addition have qualities that are medicinal. The medicinal value of a plant lies in the bioactive phytochemical constituents of the plant. Among the most important of these bioactive phytochemicals are alkaloids, tannins, flavonoids, phenolics, saponins and cyanogenic glycosides. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis of four known anti-malarial plants was carried out on some phytochemical parameters of their leaves, namely- Cymbopogon citratus, Carica papaya, Azadirachta indica and Ocimum gratissimum. C. papaya gave the highest values for alkaloids (64.8 mg/g) and flavonoids (104.6 mg/g), followed by A. indica , which also gave the highest value for saponins (82 mg/g) and cyanogenic glycosides (14 mg/g). All the plant samples analyzed contained all five of the secondary metabolites in varying quantities, hence they are used in combination as herbal therapy for malaria. Alkaloid which was present in all four plants is known for its anti-malarial ability to suppress Plasmodium, and same with the other phytochemicals analyzed. The presence of these phytochemicals prove that these plants have great medicinal values and have commercial potential in the pharmaceutical industry. The comparative analysis of the phytochemicals in these plants helps one to combine them in the right way for best therapeutic results based on knowledge of their


Thymus kotchyanus L. is an aromatic plant belonging to Lamiaceae family and has promising traditional uses to treat some rural disorders. This species like other wild species of thyme is an aromatic plant and has been extensively used as an anti-inflammatory, expectorant, spasmolitic, sedative, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-infection agent. The present work concerned with ethnopharmacology as well as the influence of extraction methods on total phenolic contents (TPC), total flavonoids contents (TFC) and antioxidant activity of of Thymus kotchyanus L. extract in Semnan Province, Iran. In this regard, the aerial parts of plant were collected in the blooming period from Tash Mountain (2120 msl) in September 2015. Then, ethanol extracts of the plant were obtained by maceration and ultrasound‐assisted methods. In addition, TPC and TFC were determined through the standard spectrophotometric methods using the Folin-Ciocalteu and AlCl3 approaches, respectively. The antioxidant capacity was evaluated in vitro by the methods basing on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl radical scavenging (DPPH), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and reducing power (RP) assays. The ultrasonic extract of plant was found to have higher amounts of TFC (81.17±1.07 mgQUE/g) and TPC contents (103.14±2.5 mgGAE/g) accounting for its high potential antioxidant activity (IC50=14.12±0.1 mg/mL) especially using the DPPH method. There was a strong positive correlation between influence of extraction methods on TPC, TFC and antioxidant activity of plant indicating that T. kotchyanus posess remarkable antioxidant activity and can be used potentially as a good source of natural antioxidant activities.


This article seeks to determine which transnational spaces are being created and to measure the strength of these spaces. Two studies about Colombian and Ecuadorian transnational communities are analyzed. Four types of quantitative indicators used: those that measure organisational, interactions, levels of information and exchange of financial and consumer goods. Eight years ago, the migratory project of Colombian and Ecuadorian communities in Spain was still uncertain: almost half of the immigrant com- munity had doubts whether to return to their countries or remain in Spain. This is en- dorsed by the fact that, even then, their children were split up at that time, with half of them living in Spain and the other half living in their countries of origin. However, they had consolidated transnational spaces in which a very high level of interaction and links with their fellow countrymen and family members resident in Spain and abroad was observed.


Purpose: Increases in throughput and affordability of genotyping products have led to large sample sizes in genetic studies, increasing the likelihood that incidental genetic findings may occur. We set out to survey potential notifiable variants on arrays used in genome-wide association studies and in direct-to-consumer genetic services.Methods: We used multiple bioinformatics strategies to identify, and map variants tested for genetic disorders in ≥2 CLIA-approved laboratories (based on the GeneTests database). We subsequently surveyed 18 commercial single nucleotide polymorphism arrays and HapMap for these variants.Results: Of 1,362 genes tested according to GeneTests, we identified 298 specific targeted mutations measured in more than or equal to two laboratories, encompassing 56 disorders. Only 88 of 298 mutations could be identified as known single nucleotide polymorphisms in genomic databases. We found 18 of 88 single nucleotide polymorphisms present in HapMap or on commercial single nucleotide polymorphism arrays. Homozygotes for rare alleles of some variants were identified in the Framingham Heart Study, an active genome-wide association studies cohort (n = 8,410).Conclusions: Variants in genes including APOE, F5, HFE, CYP21A2, MEFV, SPINK1, BTD, GALT, and G6PD were found on single nucleotide polymorphism arrays or in the HapMap. Some of these variants may warrant further review to determine their likelihood to trigger incidental findings in the course of genome-wide association studies or direct-to-consumer testing.


ABSTRACT Background: A limited amount of research has been conducted on the association between marijuana use and adolescent crime in developing countries such as Mexico, where crime rates are high and marijuana use is increasing. Objectives: To examine the association between the frequency of marijuana use and the likelihood of committing of a property crime, and to identify contextual factors explaining individual differences in the likelihood of committing a property crime. Methods: The contribution of marijuana use to property crimes was examined based on two nationwide probabilistic surveys of public high school students, using a multilevel mixed effects logistic regression model. Results: Marijuana use significantly increased the odds of committing a property crime. Differences between schools were observed in the random effects of marijuana use, suggesting that the likelihood of committing a property crime was differentially affected by contextual factors. In addition, students who were victims of bullying by peers and who had parents that abused alcohol had higher odds of committing a property crime. Perceived disorder in students' schools and neighborhoods also increased students' odds of reporting that they had committed a property crime. Conclusions: The importance of the effect of school context on the relationship between marijuana use and the commission of a property crime among Mexican public high school students seemed to increase over time. However, these results may also be due to changes in sampling designs over time.


ABSTRACT Nowadays, an increased number of international social work (ISW) educational programs have been developed with the goal to equip practitioners to face the social problems in the new modern era. Within our globalized world, social work is in the quest for professionals with a global mind-set and nontraditional abilities and skills. This article presents the findings of an explorative research carried out during the ISW master program called Advances. The qualitative research aimed to explore the perceptions, believes and opinions of those students and alumni who have been enrolled in the Advances program who were subsequently asked to think critically and reflect about their international experience. The Advances program is a practical example that might be helpful to reflect on both how to develop a collaborative process between international social workers during the early years of education and how to build commonalities and fight for a common cause, improving the global/local social workers' mind-set, sharing cross-national concerns more than look for an international ideological definition of what should be (International) Social Work.


We report a patient who developed acute neuropathic arthropathy secondary to chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy. The association between these two conditions has not been previously reported. Their relationship is important to understand, as many other forms of inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy share a similar pathology and are therefore susceptible to a similar complication.


We propose the use of a neural network technique to establish the relationship among dimming levels of luminaires and illuminance at the user tables. The neural network then will be included in sensor feed forward illumination control for the smart networked LED-lighting system. The accuracy of the model depending on the configuration of the neural network and characteristics of the LED-lighting system will be examined. The daylight effect is beyond the scope of this research and will be investigated in future work.


The realities of climate change have fast become apparent. It is for this reason that vast quantities of research explored potential mitigation methods to alleviate the strain placed on the environment and the planet by climate change. Structural engineers and the greater engineering community utilise green building practices in an effort to reduce carbon emissions and hence, lower the carbon footprint of a structure. One such practice has been the introduction of green roofs. This study looks at the potential of retrofitting structures with green roofs. It investigates various construction materials and their influence on the potential of retrofitting structures with green roofs. In addition, this thesis investigates the influence of considerations given during structural design such as a structure's span and the utilisation of different section sizes, in an attempt to provide a general assessment into the practicality of a green roof retrofit. This study has shown that there is a significant potential in retrofitting existing structures with green roofs. In addition, the results of the study have shown that concrete structures are more likely to have a higher potential to be retrofitted. The potential to be retrofitted with a green roof depends on the carrying capacity that in turn depends on a range of factors. However, the primary factor in the magnitude of the carrying capacity is essentially the choice of element decided upon by the structural designer. This study has proved that green roofs have the potential to reduce the temperature of the substructure to a greater degree when compared to other roof types. It has further proved that green roofs possess the potential to significantly reduce storm water run-off in comparison to other roof types. However, this study has highlighted that there is significant basis for further investigation into structural implications associated with green roofs and other relevant areas.