A segmented p-type AgSbTe/sub 2//Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3//Bi/sub 0.4/Sb/sub 1.6/Te/sub 3/ module was fabricated by a pulse discharge sintering (PDS) process in order to develop the high performance module for thermoelectric power generation. The interface conditions of the segmented modules were observed with an optical microscope and SEM. Electrical properties of the segmented modules and the single modules of AgSbTe/sub 2/, Sb/sub 2/Te/sub 3/ and Bi/sub 0.4/Sb/sub 1.6/Te/sub 3/ were measured and compared. The ideal designs and prospective performances about the segmented modules were estimated with the simulation based on one-dimensional thermal conductive analysis. In this study, we obtained some segmented modules with good interfaces. The validity of segmented module was confirmed, and measured electrical properties had good agreement with predicted ones.


This article describes the German search-construction, an argument structure construction that is virtually unexplored. It focuses on the questions of how instances of the construction may be detected and how the relations between its variants may be described. Verbs relevant to the construction are detected by corpus searches in DeReKo (Deutsches Referenzkorpus) using the preposi-tion nach as an anchor. The main variants of the construction are identified by grouping the verbs found to occur with it in the corpora into semantic classes. While some variants are related to the central pattern by metaphorical exten-sion or stand in a relationship of precondition to it, all of them are additionally related to at least one other variant by family relationships.


Community pharmacies in Nepal and other South Asian countries are in a mediocre state due to poor regulation and the fact that many pharmacies are run by people with insufficient training in dispensing. This has led to the inappropriate use of medicines. The problems due to poor regulation and the mediocre state of community pharmacies in South Asia encompass both academia and clinical practice. In this paper, a 2-week community pharmacy internship programme completed by 2 graduating pharmacy students of Pokhara University (a Nepalese public university) at Sankalpa Pharmacy, Pokhara, Nepal is illustrated. During the internship, they were systematically trained on store management, pharmaceutical care, counselling skills, the use of medical devices, pharmaceutical business plans, medicine information sources, and adverse drug reaction reporting. An orientation, observations and hands-on training, case presentation, discussion, and feedback from 2 senior pharmacists were used as the training method. A proper community pharmacy internship format, good pharmacy practice standards, and a better work environment for pharmacists may improve the quality of community pharmacies.


Objectives To explore differences in experiences of care reported in the Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) between patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP) and those with metastatic disease of known primary (non-CUP); to determine insights pertaining to the experiences of care for CUP respondents from free-text comments. Design Two separate, but related, studies, involving secondary analysis of existing data. Using frequency matching of CUP and non-CUP patients, statistical comparisons of responses to CPES questions were conducted. Free-text comments from CUP respondents were analysed thematically. Setting and participants The CPES questionnaire comprises 63 closed questions measuring 8 areas that relate to experience of care and 3 free-text questions. Questionnaires were mailed to all adult patients (aged ≥16 years) in England with cancer admitted to hospital between 1 September 2013 and 30 November 2013. Results Matched analysis of closed response items from 2992 patients found significant differences between CUP (n=1496) and non-CUP patients (n=1496): CUP patients were more likely to want more written information about their type of cancer and tests received, to receive their diagnosis from a general practitioner (GP) and have seen allied health professionals, but less likely to have understood explanations of their condition or had surgery. Freetext responses (n=3055) were coded into 17 categories and provided deeper insight regarding patient information and interactions with GPs. CPES data may include a preponderance of patients with favourable CUP subtypes and patients initially identified as CUP but whose primary was subsequently identified. Conclusions These are the first large-scale studies to explore the experiences of care of CUP patients. The significant differences identified between the experiences of CUP and non-CUP patients suggest CUP patients require more psychosocial support and specific interventions to manage diagnostic uncertainty and the multiple investigations many CUP patients face. Substantial limitations were identified with the CPES data, emphasising the need for prospective studies.


The response of cells to a flow has been studied in vitro. The response of cells was examined in two types of flow channels: a circumnutating flow in a donut-shaped open channel in a culture dish, and a one-way flow in a parallelepiped rhombus flow channel. Variation was made on the material of the parallelepiped channel to study on adhesion of cells to the plates: glass and polydimethylsiloxane. Behavior of cells on the plate was observed under a flow of a medium with an inverted phase-contrast-microscope. The shear stress on the plate is calculated with an estimated parabolic distribution of the velocity between the parallel plates. The adhesion of cells was evaluated with the cumulated shear, which is a product of the shear stress and the exposure time. The experimental results show that cells are responsive to the flow, which governs orientation, exfoliation, and differentiation. The response depends on the kinds of cells: endothelial cells orient along the stream line, although myocytes orient perpendicular to the stream line. The adhesion depends on the combination between scaffold and cell: myocytes are more adhesive to glass than cartilage cells, and fibroblasts are more adhesive to oxygenated polydimethylsiloxane than glass.


Senna occidentalis is an annual leguminous herb that is rich in anthraquinones, which have various pharmacological activities. However, little is known about the genetics of S. occidentalis, particularly its anthraquinone biosynthesis pathway. To broaden our understanding of the key genes and regulatory mechanisms involved in the anthraquinone biosynthesis pathway, we used short RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) and long-read isoform sequencing (Iso-Seq) to perform a spatial and temporal transcriptomic analysis of S. occidentalis. This generated 121,592 RNA-Seq unigenes and 38,440 Iso-Seq unigenes. Comprehensive functional annotation and classification of these datasets using public databases identified unigene sequences related to major secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways and critical transcription factor families (bHLH, WRKY, MYB, and bZIP). A tissue-specific differential expression analysis of S. occidentalis and measurement of the amount of anthraquinones revealed that anthraquinone accumulation was related to the gene expression levels in the different tissues. In addition, the amounts and types of anthraquinones produced differ between S. occidentalis and S. tora. In conclusion, these results provide a broader understanding of the anthraquinone metabolic pathway in S. occidentalis.


The application of entropy in finance can be regarded as the extension of the information entropy and the probability entropy. It can be an important tool in various financial methods such as measure of risk, portfolio selection ,option pricing and asset pricing. A typical example for the field of option pricing, is the Entropy Pricing Theory (EPT) introduced by Les Gulko [1996]. The Black-Scholes model [1973] exhibits the idea of no arbitrage which implies the existence of universal risk-neutral probabilities but unfortunately it does not guarantees the uniqueness of the risk-neutral probabilities. In a second step the parameterization of these risk-neutral probabilities needs a frame of stochastic calculus and to be more specific for example the Black and Scholes frame is controlled by Geometric Brownian Motion (GBM). This implies the existence of risk-neutral probabilities in the field of option pricing and their uniqueness is vital. The Shannon entropy can be used in particular manners to evaluate entropy of probability density distribution around some points but in the case of specific events for example deviation from mean and any sudden news for stock returns up (down), needs additional information and this concept of entropy can be generalized. If we want to compare entropy of two distributions by considering the two events i.e. deviation from mean and sudden news then Shannon entropy [1964] assumes implicit certain exchange that occurs as a compromise between contributions from the tail and main mass of the distribution. This is important now to control this trade-off explicitly. In order to solve this problem the use of entropy measures that depend on powers of probability for example Tsallis [1988], Kaniadakis [2001], Ubriaco [2009], Shafee [2007] and  Reyni [1961] provide such control.
In this article we use entropy measures depend on the powers of the probability. We propose some entropy maximization problems in order to obtain the risk neutral densities. We present also the European call and put in this frame work.


CONTEXT
Luminal bleeding after pancreaticoduodenectomy can be present in various degrees of acuity in up to 30% of patients.

CASE REPORT
In this report, we describe a rare and uncommon cause of gastrointestinal bleeding after pancreaticoduodenectomy and review of the literature.

CONCLUSIONS
Multiple biliary procedures with common complications increase the difficulty making the correct diagnosis and therefore all possible etiologies of a complication must be evaluated.


Background Leader development programmes are signature features of frontrunner multinational companies. Healthcare institutions have generally lagged behind, though attention to implementing leader development programmes in healthcare institutions is increasing. The rationale for leader development in healthcare is that leadership competencies matter and that traditional selection and training of physicians may conspire against both optimal leadership competencies and followership. Methods The growth of leader development in healthcare institutions begs the question: Does leader development work? Results In this context, three meta-analyses have examined the impact of leader development programmes in healthcare institutions. In general, findings from these studies indicate that while studies do assess the subjective learning of participants, few studies have evaluated the organisational impact of such leader development programmes. Conclusions These findings suggest the need for more rigorous, objective assessment of the organisational impact of leader development programmes in healthcare institutions. Such evidence is critically needed in the current resource-constrained environment of healthcare.


High yield and precisely controlled fabrication processes for large-size and high-resolution active-matrix liquid-crystal displays (AM-LCDs) have been established. By using these processes, the authors have developed two kinds of advanced AM-LCDs addressed by a-Si thin-film transistors: a high-resolution 5-in full-color AM LCD (240(V)*320*2(H) pixels) fabricated with an optimized color pixel arrangement; and a large-area, high-resolution 10-in. color Am-LCD (450(V)*640*3(H) pixels). These devices can replace the 5-in. conventional CRT TVs and 12-in. CRT display monitors currently used. These AM LCDs will also allow such applications as hand-held and laptop personal computers in the near future.<<ETX>>


The aim of this thesis is to examine men's attitudes towards literature, and how social norms affect their book reading, in order to contribute to the knowledge of why men's book reading is decreasing. This is realized through a discourse analysis of literature recommendations in men's lifestyle magazines. Two magazines, King of Sweden and Magazine Cafe, are examined through critical discourse analysis. Theories of discourse are combined with theories of gender to explore how gender stereotypes affect men's reading habits. The analysis shows that ideals of masculinity have a great influence on the book recommendations. Social norms, associated with gender, also seem to have significance to whether or not a book is considered suitable for men to read. These are, inter alia, norms of heterosexuality and violence. In addition to that, a homosocial structure is found in the magazines, regarding the authors of the recommended books. The majority of the authors are men, and women are rarely mentioned at all in the book recommendations. Also, non-fiction books are much more frequent than fiction in the recommendations. Not much prior research has been done in the field. The research, that however has been done, correspond with the results of the analysis in this thesis. Therefore the conclusion is drawn that the results of the analysis show structures of social norms that are valid even outside the examined material. Knowledge of men's reading habits is concluded to be very important, in order to increase men's book reading. This is a two years master's thesis in library and information science.


INTRODUCTION
The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between mother-child GSTM1, GSTT1 gene polymorphisms, maternal weight gain, maternal bioimpedance parameters and newborn's weight, in order to identify the factors that influence birth weight.

PATIENTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS
We performed a cross-sectional study on 405 mothers and their newborns, evaluated in an Obstetrics and Gynecology Tertiary Hospital from Romania.

RESULTS
Newborns whose mothers had the null genotype of GSTT1 gene polymorphism were more likely to gain a birth weight of >3 kg, compared to newborns whose mothers had the T1 genotype (odds ratio - OR: 2.14, 95% confidence interval - CI: [1.03; 4.44]). Also, the null genotype of GSTM1 gene polymorphism in both mothers and newborns was associated with a higher birth weight. Gestational weight gain was positively associated with newborn's birth weight (p<0.001). The increased mother's fat mass (%) and basal metabolism rate were also independent factors for a birth weight of more than 3 kg (p=0.006 and p=0.037). The null genotype of GSTT1 gene polymorphism in mothers and the null genotype of GSTM1 in mothers and newborns had a positive effect on birth weight. Also, increased maternal fat mass and basal metabolism rate were associated with increased birth weight.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that maternal GSTM1÷GSTT1 gene polymorphisms present an impact on birth weight, being involved in the neonatal nutritional status. The clinical relevance of our study is sustained by the importance of identifying the factors that influence birth weight, which can be triggers for childhood obesity.


In the domain of audio processing, Transfer Learning has facilitated the rise of Self-Supervised Learning and Zero-Shot Learning techniques. These approaches have led to the development of versatile models capable of tackling a wide array of tasks, while delivering state-of-the-art performance. However, current models inherently lack the capacity to produce the requisite language for open-ended tasks, such as Audio Captioning or Audio Question&Answering. We introduce Pengi, a novel Audio Language Model that leverages Transfer Learning by framing all audio tasks as text-generation tasks. It takes as input, an audio recording, and text, and generates free-form text as output. The input audio is represented as a sequence of continuous embeddings by an audio encoder. A text encoder does the same for the corresponding text input. Both sequences are combined as a prefix to prompt a pre-trained frozen language model. The unified architecture of Pengi enables open-ended tasks and close-ended tasks without any additional fine-tuning or task-specific extensions. When evaluated on 22 downstream tasks, our approach yields state-of-the-art performance in several of them. Our results show that connecting language models with audio models is a major step towards general-purpose audio understanding


Human trust is a psycho-physiological state that is difficult to measure, yet is becoming increasingly important for the design of human-computer interactions. This paper explores if human trust can be measured using physiological measures when interacting with a computer interface, and how it correlates with cognitive load. In this work, we present a pilot study in Virtual Reality (VR) that uses a multi-sensory approach of Electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to measure trust with a virtual agent and explore the correlation between trust and cognitive load. The goal of this study is twofold; 1) to determine the relationship between biosignals, or physiological signals with trust and cognitive load, and 2) to introduce a pilot study in VR based on cognitive load level to evaluate trust. Even though we could not report any significant main effect or interaction of cognitive load and trust from the physiological signal, we found that in low cognitive load tasks, EEG alpha band power reflects trustworthiness on the agent. Moreover, cognitive load of the user decreases when the agent is accurate regardless of task's cognitive load. This could be possible because of small sample size, tasks not stressful enough to induce high cognitive load due to lab study and comfortable environment or timestamp synchronisation error due to fusing data from various physiological sensors with different sample rate.


The sequences of the P mRNA and protein of strain 18537 of antigenic subgroup B of human respiratory syncytial virus were determined by sequencing cloned cDNAs of intracellular mRNA. Comparison with the corresponding sequences of the A2 strain of subgroup A showed that there was extensive sequence identity at both the nucleotide (80% identity) and amino acid (90% identity) levels. The P proteins contained a single divergent region (52% amino acid identity) flanked by highly conserved domains (96% identity). The previously observed differences in electrophoretic mobilities between the P proteins of subgroup A strains and certain subgroup B strains could not be attributed to differences in the polypeptide Mr of the primary translation product.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are widely used intelligent technology in the century that provides user-oriented better solutions for real-time environment. WSNs have wide range of applications, such as, habitat monitoring, surveillance, location tracking, agriculture monitoring, structural monitoring, wild-life monitoring and water monitoring, are few examples (Akyildiz et al., 2002). Furthermore, numerous other applications require the finegrain monitoring of physical environments which are subjected to critical conditions, such as, fires, toxic gas leaks and explosions. Sensors' sense the environmental data and transmit to the sink node using wireless communication, as shown in figure 1. Thus the novelty of WSNs is providing inexpensive yet effective solutions for monitoring unattended physical environments. In addition, the ubiquitous nature of WSNs makes environmental data access possible anytime, anywhere in an ad-hoc manner.


The number of graduates from dental hygiene programs continues to increase, but retention of dental hygienists in practices is a concern. The numbers of graduates from dental assisting and especially dental laboratory technology programs are decreasing. The impact on dental practice size and practice productivity is considered.


An efficient and accurate FEM based method is proposed for studying non-stationary random vibration of structures subjected to moving loads. The loads are assumed to be a stationary process with constant mean value. The non-stationary power spectral densities (PSD) and the time dependent standard deviations of dynamic response are derived by using the pseudo excitation method (PEM) to transform this random excitation problem into a deterministic harmonic excitation one. The precise integration method (PIM) is extended to solve the equation of motion of beams under moving harmonic loads by enhancing the very recent consistent decomposition procedure, in order to simulate the movement of the loads. Six numerical examples are given to show the very high efficiency and accuracy of the method and also to deduce some useful preliminary conclusions from investigation of the dynamic statistical characteristics of a simply supported beam and of a symmetrical three span beam with its centre span unequal to the outer ones.


In theory, gyroid photonic crystals in butterfly wings exhibit advanced optical properties as a result of their highly interconnected microstructures. Because of the difficulties in synthesizing artificial gyroid materials having periodicity corresponding to visible wavelengths, human-made visible gyroid photonic crystals are still unachievable by self-assembly. In this study, we develop a physical approach-trapping of structural coloration (TOSC)-through which the visible structural coloration of an expanded gyroid lattice in a solvated state can be preserved in the solid state, thereby allowing the fabrication of visible-wavelength gyroid photonic crystals. Through control over the diffusivity and diffusive distance for solvent evaporation, the single-molecular-weight gyroid block copolymer photonic crystal can exhibit desired structural coloration in the solid state without the need to introduce any additives, namely, evapochromism. Also, greatly enhanced reflectivity is observed arising from the formation of porous gyroid nanochannels, similar to those in butterfly wings. As a result, TOSC facilitates the fabrication of the human-made solid gyroid photonic crystal featuring tunable and switchable structural coloration without the synthesis to alter the molecular weight. It appears to be applicable in the fields of optical communication, energy, light-emission, sensors, and displays.


When β-catenin signalling is disturbed from mid-gestation onwards lineage commitment is profoundly altered in postnatal mouse epidermis. We have investigated whether adult epidermis has the capacity forβ -catenin-induced lineage conversion without prior embryonic priming. We fused N-terminally truncated, stabilised β-catenin to the ligand-binding domain of a mutant oestrogen receptor (ΔNβ-cateninER).Δ Nβ-cateninER was expressed in the epidermis of transgenic mice under the control of the keratin 14 promoter and β-catenin activity was induced in adult epidermis by topical application of 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4OHT). Within 7 days of daily 4OHT treatment resting hair follicles were recruited into the hair growth cycle and epithelial outgrowths formed from existing hair follicles and from interfollicular epidermis. The outgrowths expressed Sonic hedgehog, Patched and markers of hair follicle differentiation, indicative of de novo follicle formation. The interfollicular epidermal differentiation program was largely unaffected but after an initial wave of sebaceous gland duplication sebocyte differentiation was inhibited. A single application of 4OHT was as effective as repeated doses in inducing new follicles and growth of existing follicles. Treatment of epidermis with 4OHT for 21 days resulted in conversion of hair follicles to benign tumours resembling trichofolliculomas. The tumours were dependent on continuous activation of β-catenin and by 28 days after removal of the drug they had largely regressed. We conclude that interfollicular epidermis and sebaceous glands retain the ability to be reprogrammed in adult life and that continuousβ -catenin signalling is required to maintain hair follicle tumours.


ABSTRACT The frequencies and intensities of vibration–rotational transitions of water molecules in an argon matrix were calculated for temperatures of 6 and 30 K. The rigid asymmetric top approximation was used with available literature values of the effective rotational constants in the ground and excited vibrational states. The calculations were carried out by taking into account the existence of a non-equilibrium population distribution between the rotational levels of ortho- and para-water isomers. It was assumed that the temperature relaxation of the population of rotational levels is independent of the ortho- and para-isomers. Comparison of the results of the theoretical calculations with experimental literature data shows good agreement for the majority of the rotational structure lines for symmetric and antisymmetric stretching vibrations both in the frequency values and in the values of the relative intensities.


A memory-management model based on describing reference behavior in terms of locality-set sequences is proposed. Specialized for fixed-size buffers, this model is used to define the PSETMIN and SETMIN strategies which are proven to minimize the number of page faults in the presence and absence of prepaging, respectively. In contrast to MIN, they are also realizable for certain computations. The methodology for obtaining the locality-set sequence of a computation in advance is illustrated for relational database management systems with multiattribute-index catalogs, and the concomitant performance gains are discussed. In general, for applications that maintain their own organized collections of data, optimal locality-set management of individual computations provides an alternative to the widely used general-purpose strategies based on heuristics. >


Physically: A few physical defects were found consisting of malnourishment, dwarfism, obesity, hypothyroidism, congenital absence of tooth buds, scoliosis and cryptorchidism. One child showed keratitis at birth. Eleven children were hyperopic. The condition of the eyes leads to the conclusion that the eyes of the premature may be frequently defective. Otherwise it is difficult to say that prematurity itself effects the physical growth. Intellectually: The I.Q.9s of the 22 children studied ranged from two of the high grade moron group, upward, with a fair distribution, to two I.Q.9s in the very superior intelligence group. Prematurity per se seemingly has neither a beneficial nor detrimental effect on intelligence except that a more than average percentage of premature infants suffer intracranial hemorrhage as a result of being born prematurely. In these studies, one was definitely diagnosed as having brain damage at birth, and others were suspected of this damage. This seemingly appears in the I.Q. results with a higher than expected incidence of mild mental retardation. Using birth weight as a criterion there was no relation between the degree of prematurity and the resultant I.Q. Emotionally: Personality test results in addition to the information gleaned from the psychologic interviews and the histories show that over half have made unsatisfactory or below average personality adjustment. Contributing factors were found including prematurity, overprotection by the parents, and poor physical endowment. Twelve of the 22 had personalities of the submissive passive type. Eight of the 22 showed unusual aggressive tendencies. Other behavior aberrations uncovered were nail biting, two cases of habit spasms and one case of chronic masturbation. It is suggested that study of premature infants who are necessarily deprived of immediate postnatal maternal tenderness may finally offer a basis for assessing the theory that such tenderness is necessary.


ABSTRACT – Background and Objectives: Previous studies reported a high prevalence of nightmares and dream anxiety in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and the severity of dream disturbances correlated with daytime symptoms of psychopathology. However, the majority of these results are based on retrospective questionnaire-based study designs,
and hence the effect of recall biases (characteristic for BPD), could not be controlled. Therefore our aim was to replicate these findings using dream logs. Moreover, we aimed to examine the level of dream disturbances in connection with measures of emotional instability, and to explore the protective factors against dream disturbances.
Methods: 23 subjects diagnosed with BPD, and 23 age and gender matched healthy controls were assessed using the Dream Quality Questionnaire, the Van Dream Anxiety Scale, as well as the Neuroticism, Assertiveness and Fantasy scales of the NEO-PI-R questionnaire. Additionally, subjects were asked to collect 5 dreams in the three-week study period and to rate the emotional and phenomenological qualities of the reported dreams using the categories of the Dream Quality Questionnaire.
Results: Dream disturbances (nightmares, bad dreams, night terror-like symptoms, and dream anxiety) were more frequent in patients with BPD than in controls. Dream disturbances correlated positively with Neuroticism, while Fantasy proved to be a negative correlate of dream disturbances.


Angiosarcoma is an aggressive vascular sarcoma with an extremely poor prognosis. Because of the relative rarity of this disease, its molecular drivers and optimal treatment strategies are obscure. DICER1 is an RNase III endoribonuclease central to miRNA biogenesis, and germline DICER1 mutations result in a cancer predisposition syndrome, associated with an increased risk of many tumor types. Here, we show that biallelic Dicer1 deletion with aP2-Cre drives aggressive and metastatic angiosarcoma independent of other genetically engineered oncogenes or tumor suppressor loss. Angiosarcomas in aP2-Cre;Dicer1Flox/- mice histologically and genetically resemble human angiosarcoma. miR-23 target genes, including the oncogenes Ccnd1 as well as Adam19, Plau, and Wsb1 that promote invasiveness and metastasis, were enriched in mouse and human angiosarcoma. These studies illustrate that Dicer1 can function as a traditional loss-of-function tumor suppressor gene, and they provide a fully penetrant animal model for the study of angiosarcoma development and metastasis. Cancer Res; 77(22); 6109-18. ©2017 AACR.


The correction of valgus leg malalignment in children using implant-mediated growth guidance is widely used and effective. Despite the minimal invasive character of the procedure, a relevant number of patients sustain prolonged pain and limited mobility after temporary hemiepiphysiodesis. Our aim was to investigate implant-associated risk factors (such as implant position and screw angulation), surgical- or anesthesia-related risk factors (such as type of anesthesia, use, and duration), and pressure of tourniquet or duration of surgery for these complications. Thirty-four skeletally immature patients with idiopathic valgus deformities undergoing hemiepiphysiodesis plating from October 2018–July 2022 were enrolled in this retrospective study. Participants were divided into groups with and without prolonged complications (persistent pain, limited mobility of the operated knee between five weeks and six months) after surgery. Twenty-two patients (65%) had no notable complications, while twelve patients (35%) had prolonged complications. Both groups differed significantly in plate position relative to physis (p = 0.049). In addition, both groups showed significant differences in the distribution of implant location (p = 0.016). Group 1 had a shorter duration of surgery than group 2 (32 min vs. 38 min, p = 0.032) and a lower tourniquet pressure (250 mmHg vs. 270 mmHg, p = 0.019). In conclusion, simultaneous plate implantation at the femur and tibia and metaphyseal plate positioning resulted in prolonged pain and a delay of function. In addition, the amplitude of tourniquet pressure or duration of surgery could play a factor.


Purpose: To report the fundus autofluorescence characteristics in serpiginouslike choroiditis. Methods: Twenty-nine patients with presumed tubercular serpiginouslike choroiditis between November 2008 and January 2010 underwent fundus autofluorescence imaging during the acute stage and at regular intervals till the lesions healed. All patients received antitubercular therapy with oral corticosteroids. The autofluorescence images were compared with color fundus photography and fundus fluorescein angiography. The main outcome measure was fundus autofluorescence characteristics of lesions during the course of the disease. Results: The pattern of fundus autofluorescence changed as the lesions evolved from the acute to the healed stage. In acute stage, the lesions showed an ill-defined halo of increased autofluorescence (hyperautofluorescence), giving it a diffuse, amorphous appearance (Stage I, acute). As the lesions began to heal, a thin rim of decreased autofluorescence (hypoautofluorescence) surrounded the lesion, defining its edges. The lesions showed predominantly hyperautofluorescence with stippled pattern (Stage II, subacute). With further healing, the hypoautofluorescence progressed and the lesion appeared predominantly hypoautofluorescent with stippled pattern (Stage III, nearly resolved). On complete healing, the lesions became uniformly hypoautofluorescent (Stage IV, completely resolved). Conclusion: Fundus autofluorescence highlighted the areas of disease activity and was a quick imaging tool for monitoring the course of lesions in serpiginouslike choroiditis.


Recovering valuable nutrients (e.g., P and N) from waste materials has been extensively investigated at the laboratory scale. Although it has been shown that struvite precipitation from several manure sources contributes to nutrient management practices by recovering valuable nutrients and preventing them from reaching water bodies, it has not been widely applied in commercial (i.e., farm) scales. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the struvite recovery process from the liquid portion of the anaerobically digested dairy cow manure generated in Wisconsin, USA, dairy farms using life cycle assessment methodology for both bench‐ and farm‐scale scenarios. The struvite precipitation process involves the use of additional chemicals and energy; therefore, investigating upstream impacts is crucial to evaluate the environmental costs and benefits of this additional treatment process. Results indicate that up to a 78% impact decrease in eutrophication potential can be achieved when P and N are recovered in the form of struvite and are applied in lieu of conventional fertilizers, rather than using the liquid portion of the anaerobically digested dairy manure as a fertilizer. Additionally, significant differences are identified in the majority of environmental impact categories when the struvite precipitation process is modeled and evaluated in a farm‐scale setting. Future work should expand to evaluate the overall environmental impacts and trade‐offs of struvite recovery application, including the anaerobic digestion system itself at the farm scale. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:292–304. © 2020 SETAC


The widespread role of pili as colonization factors in pathogens has long been recognized in Gram‐negative bacteria and more recently in Gram‐positive bacteria, making the study of these hair‐like filaments a perennial hot topic for research. No other pili are found in as many or as diverse bacteria as type IV pili. This is likely a consequence of their ancient origin and unique ability to promote multiple and strikingly different phenotypes such as attachment to surfaces, aggregation, uptake of DNA during transformation, motility, etc. Two decades of investigations in several model species have shed some light on the structure of these filaments and the molecular basis of some of the properties they confer. Moreover, recent discoveries have led to a better knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of type IV pili biogenesis. This brings us a few steps closer to understanding how these filaments are produced, but leaves us wondering whether (as in the famous motto that inspired the title) out of the many models studied will emerge one unifying mechanism.


A top-down method is demonstrated for the fabrication of CH3 NH3 PbBr3 and CH3 NH3 PbI3 perovskite nanocrystals, employing a mixture of ligands oleic acid and oleylamine as coordinating solvents. This approach avoids the use of any polar solvents, skips multiple reaction steps by employing a simple ultrasonic treatment of the perovskite precursors, and yields rather monodisperse blue-, green-, and red-emitting methylammonium lead halide nanocrystals with a high photoluminescence quantum yield (up to 72 % for the green-emitting nanocrystals) and remarkably improved stability. After discussing all relevant reaction parameters, the green-emitting CH3 NH3 PbBr3 nanocrystals are employed as a component of down-conversion white-light-emitting devices.


Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS) based on point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) radio transmission was introduced by 3GPP to deliver broadcast service to a group of user equipments (UEs) in a cellular system. As a broadcast system with uplink feedback, its performance is limited by UEs in poor connections. To utilize the limited radio resource more efficiently, a simple but effective mechanism is proposed to improve the system throughput by sacrificing those UEs that are expensive to cover, which means the cost of this improvement is coverage degradation. We set a threshold for the SINR of UEs, and uplink feedback from UEs with G-factor lower than the threshold will be discarded in packet scheduling and link adaptation. Compared with other methods to increase the throughput, this mechanism has two advantages. First, the coverage can be exactly controlled by adjusting the threshold. Second, much higher throughput gain can be achieved for the same cost. Simulation results show that throughput will be increased by 22% with reasonable coverage degradation when there are 10 UEs per sector. Larger gains can be achieved with more UEs per sector.


SUMMARY The in vivo movement of one class of cells in the tunic of the ascidian Botryllns schlosseri has been analysed using differential interference optics and time-lapse cinematography. Long (up to 200/tm), thin (0-35-0-5 /tm diameter) filopodia radiate from the cell-body into the matrix of the tunic. Movement of the cell-body consists of a series of short, jerky displacements with frequent changes in direction between successive displacements. The net displacement of the cell may be extremely small when the displacements are short and frequently change direction, or considerable when successive displacements show a persistence of direction (up to 114/tm in 60 min). Deformation of the elastic cuticle covering the tunic at points of attachment of the filopodia has been used to record qualitatively changes in tension in the filopodia. Correlation of the changes in tension with changes in length of the filopodia and movement of the cell-body have permitted the following conclusions. Active contractions of filopodia (i.e. increase in tension during shortening) stretch and move the cell-body. These movements exert a force on trailing or opposing filopodia. Relaxations of filopodia (i.e. decrease in tension during lengthening) result in small movements of the cell-body due to the recoil of tension in the cell-body and opposing filopodia. The position of the cell-body in space at any one instant in time is therefore the resultant of the forces developed in all the filopodia. Movement results from unilateral modulation of the tension developed in the filopodia. Active contractions play a more significant role in movement than relaxations.


Radiograms were performed in order to study the spreading of the Spiran W (the 1st Polish IUD) in the uterine cavity. It is stressed that radiologic examination following IUD insertion serves as an aid for the evaluation of the adequacy of insertion and for clinical control. These observations are part of the complex investigations of the Spiran W application in clinical practice. (authors modified) (summaries in ENG RUS)


3D Virtual World applications are developed in an ad-hoc fashion and the development does not follow predefined processes or methodologies. However, as with any other application, a well informed development methodology increases the efficiency and helps to avoid potential errors. In this paper we are going to present a methodology for the development of applications in 3D Virtual Worlds that is based on results from previous related works, our experiences in developing 3D Virtual Worlds and influences from agile and Web 2.0 software development practices. The methodology is defined on a high level and serves as a guideline covering all stages of the development life cycle. We present two new stages, a familiarization stage and a technology selection stage, which have not been considered in this detail in other methodologies so far and discuss how the methodology has been established within the context of creating a 3D e-Tourism environment.


The results accumulated up to now by a number of research works tend to show that a single metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) cannot achieve the multiple objective required to make an efficient photocatalytic system, which includes not only the light response, but also the photochemical stability and the avoidance of the recombination of photogenerated electron/hole pairs. Mixing different MOS is considered a promising strategy as it induces beneficial synergistic effects. In this work, we have developed an original method to prepare compositionally graded films that are active in photodegradation applications. The selected compositionally graded films are the CuO-ZnO and CeO2-ZnO pairs that were deposited via the Solution Precursor Plasma Spray (SPPS) process. Various composition gradients were achieved using different modes of injection of the precursor solutions, generating distinct "film configurations". We characterized the resultant films by SEM and XRD. We determined the corresponding optical bandgap energies through UV-Vis adsorption spectrometry. Then we evaluated the photocatalytic performances of these CuO-ZnO and CeO2-ZnO films through the photodegradation of aqueous solutions of the Orange II dye. The CeO2-ZnO-M films proved capable of degrading almost entirely the Orange II dye within 2 hours, under UV light. Finally, we discuss the correlation between the various film configurations and their photodegradation efficiency. This exploratory work tackles the relatively novel field represented by the use of compositionally graded oxide films for enhanced photochemical reactivity and stresses the effectiveness and versatility of the SPPS technique for the preparation of a large variety of photocatalytic films.


Control room habitability (CRH) shall be maintained to provide adequate protection for control room operators, such that they can remain in the control room envelope (CRE) safely for an extended period and thus control the nuclear facility during normal and accident conditions. A critical objective of CRH systems is to limit operator doses and/or exposure to toxic gases. The CRH systems does this by the combination of the intake of filtered air, isolation of outside air, recirculation systems and etc.
 Among the parameters determining radioactivity in a control room (in proportion to radiation doses of operators), intake flowrate of filtered air is an important one. For different types of accident source terms, the evolution of operator doses in a control room versus intake flowrate were analyzed in this paper. It turns out that the increase of intake flowrate results in larger operator doses when inert radioactive gases are the dominant radioactive substances. On the contrary, increasing intake flowrate does good to lower the irradiation level of control room operators when radioactive aerosols dominate the source terms. The rationality behind this fact was interpreted in detail in this paper, with special attention paid to the unfiltered in-leakage rate. It can be inferred that an optimal intake flowrate probably exists leading to the minimum operator dose under an actual accident condition.
 This paper then performed a calculation analysis based on design parameters and source terms of design basis accident of LOCA (a large break loss of coolant accident) accident. The evolution of operator dose was found to be a U-curve versus increasing intake flowrate, which proved the existence of the abovementioned optimal intake flowrate of filtered air for CRH systems. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of intake flowrate was carried out to study the effects of unfiltered in-leakage rate and filtered recirculation.
 This study indicates that intake flowrate of filtered air can significantly influence the CRH. For different accidents, the intake flowrate should be properly modified rather than set as a fixed value. To optimize the radiological habitability of control rooms, the effects of unfiltered in-leakage must be taken into consideration. Besides, filtered recirculation is an effective way to control radiation exposure caused by iodine and radioactive aerosols.


Recent research illustrates that two distinct interpretations and operationalizations of 'bridging' and 'bonding' social networks co-exist in the literature (based on links between diverse networks or between socio-economic groups within a given network, respectively), and that these do not coincide in empirical applications. The present contribution first confirms this conclusion using data from the United Kingdom. Then, we suggest a simple way to integrate both existing approaches into a more general measure of bridging and bonding. Applying this more general index to UK and Flemish data, a) provides stronger empirical support for the idea that memberships in bridging groups are more strongly linked to positive civic values than those in bonding ones, and b) shows that the extended index behaves more consistently across institutional settings (i.e. Flanders and the UK) than both underlying measures independently.


Abstracts: Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research 2008

CN07-02

Background Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men in the United States. Bladder cancer is primarily an environment-induced cancer, with tobacco smoking and occupational exposure being the top two risk factors for the development of the disease. However, there is also compelling evidence that genetic predisposing play a role in bladder cancer etiology. One of the strongest and consistent genetic predisposing factors is mutagen sensitivity, a phenotypic assay that was recently demonstrated to have high genetic heritability in twin study. In this study, we evaluated mutagen sensitivity as a susceptibility marker for bladder cancer and explored the interplay of multiple epidemiologic risk factors and mutagen sensitivity in modulating bladder cancer risk in a large bladder cancer case-control study in M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. We developed the first risk prediction model of bladder cancer using extensive epidemiologic data. In addition, we incorporated mutagen sensitivity to build an enhanced epidemiologic-genetic risk prediction model for bladder cancer.

Methods We performed a stepwise logistic regression analysis to identify significant risk factors for bladder cancer. We applied a series of statistical tools to build multivariate risk models and evaluate high-order interaction among these risk factors. We calculated the specificity and sensitivity of the model by constructing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and calculating the area under the curve (AUC). We estimated the absolute risk of developing bladder cancer of representative individuals at 5, 10, and 15 years. We also explored similar approaches to predict the risk of recurrence for superficial bladder cancer patients.

Results The significant risk factors included in the basic epidemiologic model included pack-years smoked, past exposures to diesel, aromatic amine, dry cleaning fluids, radioactive materials, and arsenic. This model yielded a good discriminatory ability with an AUC of 0.70 (95% CI: 0.67-0.73). When mutagen sensitivity data was incorporated into the model, the AUC increased to 0.80 (95% CI: 0.72-0.82), a substantial improvement in prediction accuracy. These two models both showed excellent concordance in our internal validation. Classification and regression tree (CART) revealed complex interplay between risk factors, which categorized individuals into subgroups with varying degrees of risk for bladder cancer. The subgroup with the highest risk exhibited a 67-fold increased risk over the reference subgroup. We also computed an ordinal risk score based on regression coefficients from the multivariate risk models. As the score increased, the percentage of controls in each category decreased while the percentage of cases increased, for example, the percentage of cases in the lowest-risk group (scores ≤ 2) derived from the enhanced model was 9.88%, whereas the percentage of cases in the highest-risk group (scores >25) was 84.42%, indicating that our model had a high discriminatory ability. Finally, we also applied similar multivariate analysis to predict clinical outcomes of bladder cancer, such as the recurrence of superficial bladder cancer with or without BCG treatment.

Conclusions We constructed the first bladder cancer prediction model. Our data suggest that multivariate analyses of epidemiologic and genetic factors may improve prediction of cancer risk and clinical outcome.

Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):CN07-02.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the secretion of chemokine regulated upon activation normal T cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) influenced by the complex microenvironment in the peritoneal cavity of women with endometriosis and investigate chemotaxis of RANTES on the peritoneal monocytes.

METHODS
The contact and non-contact co-culture systems including three target cells of ectopic tissue were established. The three target cells were endometrial stromal cells (ESC), human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HPMC) and monocytes. After collection of the supernatant of co-culture systems, the levels of RANTES were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Migration of U937 cell, a monocyte line, was detected by chemotaxis assay.

RESULTS
ESC, HPMC, and U937 cultured alone secreted slight RANTES, (5.0 +/- 0.5), (4.0 +/- 0.3), and (254 +/- 40) ng/L. Compared with the culture of the target cell alone, the levels of RANTES in each co-culture system increased significantly, with the highest level in the contact culture system of E-H-U (2250 +/- 96) ng/L. RANTES secretion of non-contact co-culture of three cells were higher than contact co-culture of two cells (P < 0.01): U/E-H (912 +/- 93) vs E-H (50 +/- 40) ng/L, H/E-U (1201 +/- 93) vs E-U (243 +/- 192) ng/L,and E/H-U(1519 +/- 96) vs H-U (1251 +/- 73) ng/L. ESC, HPMC, and ESC-HPMC co-culture improved significantly migration of U937 cells [number of cell migration respectively (6.0 +/- 0.3), (6.2 +/- 0. 3) , (10.0 +/- 0.3) x 10(3), P < 0.01], which could be inhibited efficiently by anti-RANTES neutralizing antibody.

CONCLUSION
The target cells in the peritoneal cavity of patients with endometriosis promote the secretion of RANTES in autocrine and paracrine manners and migration of monocytes.


We review a novel model-independent approach to the analysis of new-physics effects in the $s\to u\ell^-\bar\nu$ transitions. We apply it to (semi)leptonic kaon decays and study their complementarity with pion and hyperon $\beta$ decays or with collider searches of new physics.


We tested if some ultra-highly diluted (by a factor of 10 60 ) homeopathic remedies could induce demonstrable enhanced resistance to the bacteria, Escherichia coli, against infectivity potentials of the host-specific DNA bacteriophage- ФX174. Evaluation of anti-viral efficacy, if any, of certain homeopathic remedies with claimed anti-viral effect was made with the aid of the 'bacteriophage assay system' by 'top layer agar plating' method of plaque counting. The number of plaques was recorded in agar-plated petri dishes, containing different drug-treated (1% v/v; Belladonna 30C, Rhus Tox 30C, Arnica 30C, and subsequently Aconite 30C) or placebo treated (succussed 1% "alcoholic vehicle" of the drug, Alc-30C, considered placebo or +tive control) bacteria plus the untreated phage mixture. The plaques actually represented the colony of bacteria lysed (or infected) by the phage ФX174. Conversely, we exposed ФX174 to the homeopathic drugs and placebo before allowing them to interact with the untreated bacteria to ascertain if the drug itself had any direct effect on infective potential of the phage DNA entering into the bacterial cell. The "blinded" observers noted that each of homeopathic remedy showed significant decrease in plaque numbers in petri dishes with pre-treated (1h prior to infection) bacteria as compared to untreated and placebo-treated controls; however, only insignificant change in plaque number was noted when ФX174 were pre-treated with the drugs. Thus, the plaque formation directly related to the constitutive expression of E gene (lysis gene) of the phage when inside E. coli , was apparently "blocked" partially by the homeopathic remedies, presumably by inactivation of the E gene by a product of the host genome known to be regulated by a cluster of genes, providing evidence for the ultra-highly diluted homeopathic remedies to have anti-viral effects and ability to modulate expression of certain relevant gene(s) even in bacteria with a simple genetic system


The legitimate uses of new instruments for the selection and appraisal of principals, factors influencing use of these instruments, and safeguards to minimize misuse are discussed. Performance appraisal systems in education have been used legitimately to ensure that principals meet minimum performance standards, and for promotion. Another valuable function is in meeting professional development needs of principals. Data from appraisal instruments may be incorrectly or inadequately used. Use and misuse of instruments are influenced by: (1) the conceptual framework used; (2) the perspective of the test developer; (3) the perspective of the practitioner; and (4) links to factors influencing use. Safeguards that instrument developers and practitioners alike may use include: (1) an explicit and clear technical manual; (2) a standard system for processing data; (3) extensive field training of practitioners; (4) use of instruments as part of a battery of procedures for evaluation; and (5) caution about claims that any one instrument can define the ideal principal, (SLD) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. Safeguards Against the Misuse of Instruments for the Selection and Appraisal of School Administrators Mesures pour eviter les abus dans l'utilisation d'instruments de selection et d'evaluation du personnel des adminstrations scolaires J. Bradley Cousins, Paul T. Begley and Kenneth A. Leithwood Centre for Principal Development The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RE SOJRCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This dlcument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor Changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of mew or opinionsstated in this doCu ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or Policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY ng,_ J". fiRmi.e4 Cousins TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Asscciation for the Study of Educational Administration Windsor, June. 1988 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE


For practice application of nanomaterial, it need solution of synthesis problems. These nanomaterial problems were solved by new concept fabrication system. Metal oxide used as eco-metal source in new concept processing. Solid-liquid system will be high concentration, high yield and high throughput processing. Ultrasound and microwave reactor were enhanced chemical reaction and created novel chemical reaction. Realization of innovative nanomaterial fabrication were enabled joining environment, low cost and high throughput by combining these concepts. This commentary was explained nanomaterial problems and introduced the example of some metal nanoparticle related material processing by synergistic effects of solid-liquid system and ultrasound, microwave reactor, and promotion of industry-academia-government collaboration.


This is the first report of serologic evidence of hepatitis E infection in Brazil. During a community-based survey of healthy individuals, six of 97 gold miners in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso had antibody to the virus. The mining camps have poor sanitation with a great potential for fecal-oral transmission of disease. Since levels of hepatitis E antibodies may quickly wane, studies to directly measure the incidence of seroconversion are planned to determine the intensity of transmission in this area.


This paper describes a new technique for modeling and simulating the coherent returns from radar sea clutter, based on the compound K-distribution model for clutter amplitude statistics. Using observations of recorded Doppler spectra, a simple method is proposed for characterizing the temporal variations of the Doppler spectrum observed in a single-range cell. It is shown that simulations based on this model can reproduce the main statistical features observed in real measurements.


This thesis addresses the complexity of digitalization and humanities research practices, with a specific focus on digital archives and film history research. I propose the term "Frankenstein Complex" to highlight and contextualize the epistemological collision and empirical challenges humanities scholars encounter when utilizing digital resources with digital methods. A particular aim of this thesis is to scrutinize digital archiving practices when using the Media History Digital Library (MHDL) as a case for a themed meta-inquiry on the preservation of and access to classic horror cinema in this particular digital venue. The project found conventional research methods, such as the close reading of classical cinema history, to be limiting. Instead, the project tried out a distant reading technique throughout the meta-inquiry to better interrogate with the massive volume of data generated by MHDL. Besides a general reassessment of debates in the digital humanities and themes relating to horror film culture, this thesis strives for a reflection on classic horror spectatorship through the lens of sexual identity, inspired by Sara Ahmed's perspective on queer phenomenology. This original reading of horror history is facilitated by an empirical study of the digital corpus at hand, which in turn gives insights into the entangled relation between subjective identities and the appointed research contexts.


List of Illustrations Foreword Monica Juneja Acknowledgements 1. Introduction: Barefoot across India: An Artist and his Country Sumathi Ramaswamy 2. Modernist Myths and the Exile of Maqbool Fida Husain Geeta Kapur 3. Art on Trial: Civilization and Religion in the Persona and Painting of M. F. Husain David Gilmartin and Barbara D. Metcalf 4. Mapping India after Husain Sumathi Ramaswamy 5. Secret Histories of Indian Modernism: M. F. Husain as Indian Muslim Artist Ananya Jahanara Kabir 6. Of M. F. Husain and an Impossible Love Veena Das 7. 'I am an Indian and a painter, that is all': Intention and the Secular Subject in Contemporary India Karin Zitzewitz 8. Defending Husain in the Public Sphere: The SAHMAT Experience Ram Rahman 9. Fault-lines in a National Edifice: On the Rights and Offences of Contemporary Indian Art Tapati Guha-Thakurta 10. Taking and Making Offence: Husain and the Politics of Desecration Kajri Jain 11. The Bliss of Madhuri: Husain and his Muse Patricia Uberoi 12. Viewed from Across the Globe: The Art of M. F. Husain Susan S. Bean 13. A Metaphysical Secularist? Decoding M.F. Husain as a Muslim Painter in Exile Bruce B. Lawrence. Notes on Contributors. Index


This article presents the results of the investigation that allowed reviewing the relation between motivation and satisfaction in four pymes
of shoes manufacture in Pereira city. The work was framed in a quantitative investigation, offering descriptive correlation results showed by the software SPSS, these results at the same
time was sustain by the different motivation and satisfaction theories.


Hydroxytyrosol (HT) is released primarily in olive mill wastewater and in olive oil (Fabiani et al., 2008). In animal and cellular model studies, HT and its metabolites show strong antioxidant and antimicrobial properties, as well as beneficial effects on the cardio-vascular system and in several human diseases (Goya et al., 2007). Differently, many reports in tumor cells (Han et al., 2009) suggested that HT down-regulates cell viability and proliferation, and induces apoptosis. Nevertheless, little is known about its effect on normal cell apoptosis. Previous biochemical studies suggested that HT and HT derivatives, in particular the HT-Laurate (Laur-HT), show antioxidants effects on human erythrocytes (Manna et al.,1999). In this study, we have investigated the effect of 20µM HT and 5µM Laur-HT in C2C12 myoblasts, a murine proliferating cell model, and U937 cells, a human monocytoid tumor cell line. H 2 O 2 , at the concentrations (0.5 and 1 mM) known to induce apoptotic death (Salucci et al., 2010), was utilized as cell death trigger. Cell response was analysed by reverted (RM), light (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Both cell lines observed at RM and LM showed a good morphology, in control condition. On the other hand, HT and Laur-HT, added to the control cells, did not influence cell viability. After H 2 O 2 -treatment, the characteristic apoptotic features (D'Emilio et al., 2010) appeared at ultrastructural analysis in both cell models. Nevertheless, myoblasts exposed to 0.5 mM H 2 O 2 presented a scarce response.  For this reason,  skeletal muscle apoptosis was investigated  using H 2 O 2 at major concentration (1mM) that evidenced an apoptotic cell number increase, as well as a relevant presence of autophagic vacuoles (Zhang et al., 2009). Their pre-incubation with HT and Laur-HT  prevented, in general, cell death and both apoptotic and autophagic patterns (Feng et al., 2011), as furtherly demonstrated by statistical analysis. The anti-apoptotic and anti-autophagic action of these compounds, both on normal myoblasts and on tumor cells could represent an interesting property with potential biological and clinical applications. Further studies are in progress in other cell models.


We present a new method by which, in principle, it is possible to "see in absolute darkness", i.e., without exchanging any real quanta through quantum fields. This is possible because objects modify the mode structure of the vacuum in their vicinity. The new method probes the mode structure of the vacuum through the Unruh effect, i.e., by recording the excitation rates of quantum systems that are accelerated.


This paper explores a framework for thinking about risks inherent in emerging technologies; given uncertainty about the magnitude—or even nature—of those risks, deliberation about those technologies is challenged. §1 develops a conceptual framework for risk, and §2 integrates that conception into cost-benefit analysis. Given uncertainty, we are often pushed toward precautionary approaches, and such approaches are explored in §3. These first three sections are largely literature review, and then a positive argument for how to think about the relationship between risk, precaution, and uncertainty is offered in §4.


Abstract In this study, different grain growth paths after aging at various temperatures for 1 hour were observed in Ag nanotwinned thin films with and without substrate bias voltage, which led to large differences in thermal stability. As-deposited Ag nanotwinned thin films with and without substrate bias voltage were characterized by FIB, EBSD, and TEM, which revealed thinner equiaxial fine-grained regions, higher amounts of (111)-oriented grains and denser nanotwin stacking perpendicular to the growth direction of columnar grains in thin films with -150 V substrate bias voltage. Due to the better lattice arrangement and densification of the crystal structure due to substrate bias voltage, the microstructures remained almost unchanged, except for a little equiaxial grain growth, even after aging at 450°C for 1 hour. However, in the Ag nanotwinned thin film without substrate bias voltage, severe abnormal grain growth (AGG) occurred after aging at only 250°C for 1 hour. Better understanding of the differences in thermal stability in nanotwinned thin films is provided in this study, and the findings will be beneficial for experimental design for further applications.


We describe the unusual case of a 60-year-old woman with malignant melanoma of the vagina and positive right inguinal lymph nodes. Etiopathogenesis of this lesion, prognostic factors, and therapeutic attitude, are discussed in the light of data from the literature and the case reported herein.


This study examines the relationship between judicial courts and the societies in which they operated as revealed by the documents of the abbey of Farfa in the duchy of Spoleto. In a series of case studies it is shown that disputants and judges could draw on a wide range of norms that enabled them to manipulate the settlement process and to tailor it to their own social advantage. Unlike many studies of disputes in central and northern Italy of the early Middle Ages, here weight is given to those aspects of disputing that took place outside the court. It is an approach that casts fresh light on the transition from Lombard to Carolingian rule in central and northern Italy. It also challenges the binary line between the 'private' and the 'public' in dispute settlement. This, in turn, has implications for how we view the so‐called 'feudal transformation' in which the public was supposedly eclipsed by the private. 1


A large quasi-TEM waveguide for EMC testing is successfully designed by a waveguide with two artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) side-walls comprising an array of a dipole frequency selective surface (FSS) printed on a grounded dielectric slab. In this paper, characteristics of the large quasi-TEM waveguide which dimensions are equal to or larger than the wavelength are investigated. At the resonant frequency of the AMC side-walls, the phase velocity is equal to the speed of light and the electric field distribution is uniform in the large quasi-TEM waveguide. Therefore, a quasi-TEM mode has been achieved in the large quasi-TEM waveguide. In addition, by adjusting the size of the AMC structure, a large quasi-TEM waveguide can be applied to arbitrary frequency for EMC testing.


A previous study in this series demonstrated the feasibility of identifying organic pigments in situ based on their absorptions in infrared spectra of automobile topcoats. To isolate pigment peaks, spectra of closely matched topcoats lacking pigment features are subtracted from spectra of topcoats containing the pigment of interest. Once identified by this means, these pigments can often be determined based on the more limited number of pigment peaks observed between the broader binder absorptions, or superimposed on them. Spectra of closely related pigments are used to provide some indications of how distinct a particular set of pigment absorptions is. Using these techniques, several different quinacridone pigments have been identified in single-layer U.S. automobile original topcoats (1974–1989) from the Reference Collection of Automotive Paints. Two of these pigments, Quinacridone Red Y and Quinacridone Violet, were found to be common in red nonmetallic topcoats. Quinacridones were also identified in brown nonmetallic and red and brown metallic finishes. A number of different pigment combinations of quinacridones with both inorganic and organic pigments have been identified, and examples of these are presented. As a prerequisite to the analysis of pigments using this in situ method, analysts should be very familiar with the absorptions of automotive topcoat binders.


Plant water potential, leaf conductance, and photosynthesis of saplings of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) were monitored monthly in 1986 through 1988. The objective was to describe influences of microclimate (fight, soil water, temperature, and relative humidity) associated with young stands of tanoak (Lithocarpus densifiorus [Hook. & Am.] Rehd.) or Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii Pursh) on Douglas-fir physiology. Hardwood shade reduced photosynthetically active radiation to 20 to 38% of full sunlight; as a result, photosynthesis of Douglas-fir shaded by hardwoods was lightlimited throughout the year. Soil water potentials (30-cm depth) in summer (July through September) averaged -0.64 MPa in the presence of hardwoods and 0.23 MPa in their absence. Reduced soil water availability in the hardwood stand, coupled with elevated air temperatures and lower relative humidities, reduced photosynthesis ofassodated Douglas-fir. Stomatae neared complete closure at the following plant water potentials: 2.3 (tanoak), -2.5 (Douglas-fir), and -3.4 MPa (madrone). Although seasonal rates of photosynthesis did not vary greatly among the three species, specific water-use patterns were apparent. The abilities of species to minimize water stress were ranked as tanoak > Douglas-fir > madrone. FOR. ScI. 40(1):59-82. J•d)DITIONAL


The large dispersion of a phase-coherent medium, at a point of vanishing absorption, is applied to interferometric measurements of detuning between atomic and radiation frequencies. It is shown that, under certain conditions, the interferometer quantum-limited operation is determined by vacuum-fluctuation shot noise while the noise introduced by the interaction of the probe field with the phase-coherent atoms can be made negligible. As a possible application, an optical magnetometer is analyzed whose sensitivity is shown to be potentially superior to the present state-of-the-art devices.


The article analyzes the problem of material support for the first permanent Russian diplomatic missions in countries such as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark. On the basis of the material presented the money that the heads of embassies were given, information about from whom, to what extent, and for what purpose it were spent can be revealed. The author concludes that since the end of the XVII century till the beginning of the XVIII century the financing system of permanent diplomatic missions of Russia begins to emerge. The funds received consisted of money proper and natural renditions (fur, clothes, provision for people and forage for the horses). The foreign governments also allocated the funds for the Russian diplomatic missions, but ambassadors worked with the help of financial support from Moscow. The funds never were enough. "Residents" (the ambassadors) in the XVII century, as well as at the beginning of the XVIII century complained to Moscow that they were forced to borrow money, sell things (V. M. Tyapkin) or to cover the huge costs from the funds received from its own holdings in Russia (A. A. Matveyev). Money went not only to the upkeep of the embassies themselves, but also for the purchase of the necessary information, bribing the right people and rewards for Russian ambassadors for the services rendered to the government services. Bribery at the time was the usual diplomatic techniques to carry out propaganda and create a favorable impression abroad about their state, to acquire the necessary partners.


The Bologna Process involves broader changes in the Spanish higher education system. These changes affect the structure of degrees, syllabuses, teaching and learning methodology and assessment, but fundamentally affect the culture of the university. Meanwhile, the language of competencies is becoming increasingly important in the area of the certification and recognition of learning. This paper presents the findings of a case study research project conducted with five Spanish university degree programmes. It explores, from a qualitative perspective, the experiences and conceptions of teachers about training by competencies, its assumptions and its consequences for higher education. The results show that it is necessary to critically reflect on the identified conceptions of competencies amongst teaching staff and deans, as well as the positive aspects, difficulties and prospects that they face on a daily basis and which they can anticipate, in order to facilitate implementation of this training model.


Many enterprises have built their own digital twin factory model for physical factory planning, simulation optimization and real-time monitoring. However, the digital twin system, which has a single field, a short time cycle and unsinkable service, cannot fully reflect the interaction and integration of the physical and information world required by intelligent manufacturing. Therefore, the research on the construction method of the smart factory digital twin system with cross-domain and multi-model has an important influence on the application of smart manufacturing. In view of the above problems, this paper proposes the concept and composition of digital twin manufacturing ecosystem (DTMEs) based on the requirements and characteristics of product lifecycle, and analyzes the construction requirements of DTMEs for factory digital twin system, product digital twin system and supply chain digital twin system from the perspective of lifecycle. Finally, the smart factory digital twin system architecture is applied to the digital and intelligent upgrading of the hydraulic cylinder factory. The experimental results show that the intelligent improvement of the hydraulic factory, the reduction of Work-in-process inventory and the advance of delivery time, and prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the smart factory digital twin system.


We demonstrate the output beam collimation of GaAs-based vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers by means of self-aligned polymer microlenses deposited on SU-8 pedestals using a cantilever-based spotter. We show that this fabrication technique ensures a reproducible lens shape because the contact angle and the deposited volume are constant for a given surface. Device properties are presented and compared to optical beam propagation modeling results. We demonstrate that the final beam divergence is only controlled by pedestal design parameters and can be reduced with this method by a factor 10 (to 1.2° for single-mode devices) with no significant lasing performance modification.


The invention relates to the use of an IKK-beta inhibitor for the production of a medicament for the treatment or prevention of atheroscieroses. A screening method for the discovery of IKK-beta inhibitors in endothelial cells is also disclosed. The method involves the contacting of a potential inhibitor with activated endothelial cells and a determination of the secretion of MCP-1 from the endothelial cells.


During 1 October 1994 to 30 September 1995, 172 neonates with birth weight ≤ 2,000 grams were admitted to newborn unit in Chaoprayayomraj hospital. Fifty-five neonates required mechanical ventilation (31.9%). The causes of respiratory failure were birth asphyxia (22 cases), hyaline membrane disease (18 cases), apnea (9 cases), pneumonia (3 cases), sepsis (2 cases) and other (1 case). The mortality in the infants required mechanical ventilation was 49% compared to the total mortality of 25% in this low birth weight group. The complication and associated conditions were pneumonia, pneumothorax, atelectasis, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and sepsis. Retinopathy of prematurity was diagnosed in 9 infants and 2 infants were severe.


Liposarcoma is a tumour of mesenchymal origin. Only between 3-8 percent of the total amount of cases are localized in the head and neck. Laryngeal sitting is an extremely rare occurrence. The AA. inform about the case princeps published in the national literature. It deals with an 83-years-old woman presenting a polypoid tumor on the left vocal cord. The diagnosis could be confirmed through immunochemistry which verified the positivity of the proliferative cellularity for vimentine and protein S-100, immunophenotype consistent with liposarcoma. 36 months later the patient, alive, remains tumor-free.


How do trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) policies impact the decisions of firms in technology adoption (process vs. product innovations) and sourcing (internal vs. external and foreign vs. domestic)? We use a sample of Chinese firms to address this question. China's trade and FDI policies lead to different forms of internationalization: ordinary exports, processing exports, majority FDI, and minority FDI. We find that both exporting and FDI stimulate process innovation; ordinary exports, processing exports, and FDI have strong, weak, and no effects on stimulating product innovation, respectively. Exporting firms source technologies both internally through R&D and externally from foreign and domestic sources. FDI firms have a lower tendency of internal technology development and domestic technology sourcing, but a much higher tendency of foreign technology sourcing than exporting firms.


Recently, many ECUs(Electronic Control Units) have been used to increase the vehicle safety, which leads to a distributed control system. The distributed control system is required to reduce the network delay for dependable real time performance. But ECU's increasing will be caused by network traffic. So, network traffic reducing is required to transmit messages in the real time. This paper focuses on a event-triggered protocol, i.e. CAN(Controller Area Network) that is being used more widely. This paper presents algorithm, which is used a dual CAN network, using double exponential smoothing.


The practical aspects related to the implementation of an adaptive neural network based short-term electric load forecasting system in a utility company are presented. The system is developed and implemented for Florida Power and Light Company (FPL). Implementation experiences with the system are discussed. The system accounts for seasonal and daily characteristics, as well as abnormal conditions such as cold fronts, heat waves, holidays and other conditions abnormal conditions. It is capable of forecasting load with a lead time of one hour to seven days. The adaptive mechanism is used to train the neural networks when online. The results indicate that the load forecasting system presented gives robust and more accurate forecasts and allows greater adaptability to sudden climatic changes compared with statistical methods. With appropriate training data sets, the system could be ported and can be modified to suit the requirements of other utility companies.<<ETX>>


American colleges and universities have an expanding role to play in nurturing political engagement as more youth attend college. Given low voter turnout among college students yet growing experimental evidence that face-to-face mobilization can boost turnout, the experiment reported in this article examined the impact of a face-to-face college student mobilization effort on a small, private university in Florida. The authors found a non-significant difference in turnout between those students contacted and those not contacted. The findings suggest that although it is generally difficult to mobilize U.S. citizens, it may be especially difficult to mobilize U.S. college students. Brief recommendations are offered for steps university members can take to make elections a more established part of college students' experience.


Force control abilities are essential to interact with objects in our environments. However, there is a lack of evaluation tools and methods to test the force control abilities of the upper limb in evaluating the upper limb functions of prosthetic users. This study aimed to quantify upper limb isometric force control abilities in healthy individuals and prosthetic users using a custom-built handle with a 6-axis force/torque sensor and visual cue, namely an Upper Limb End-effector type Force control test device (ULEF). Feasibilities of the test device were demonstrated through experiments by holding the ULEF with an intact hand among healthy subjects and transradial and wrist amputees with a myoelectric powered prosthetic hand, the bebionic hand. Compared to the healthy individuals, the prosthetic user group demonstrated poor isometric force control abilities in terms of higher control instability during the lateral direction task (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{p} < 0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). Significantly higher variability in force-generating rates was also found in all task directions in the prosthetic user group (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{p} < 0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). Compared to the healthy group, the prosthetic user group showed significant small peak biceps activities during the posterior task (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{p} < 0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and anterior task (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{p} < 0.05$ </tex-math></inline-formula>). Quantification of isometric upper limb force control abilities can potentially be beneficial to develop evaluation and research tools for investigating mechanisms underlying force control abilities of prosthetic users and provide guidelines for targeted isometric force control training and prosthesis development.


The cranial components and central terminations of the sensory nerves supplying the concave surface of the puppy's pinna, namely, the rostral, middle and caudal internal auricular nerves (RIAN, MIAN and CIAN) were investigated using horseradish peroxidase retrograde and transganglionic labelling techniques. All the 3 internal auricular nerves received contributions from the vagus. The RIAN received additional fibres from the trigeminal nerve while the MIAN and CIAN contained fibres derived from the facial nerves. In the brainstem, collaterals from the descending fibres of the afferents were given off at all levels to the medially located spinal trigeminal nucleus (SpV) which extended rostocaudally from the principal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve, subnuclei oralis, interpolaris and caudalis of the SpV to C1 or C2 cervical segment. The greatest density of central projections was observed in the subnucleus caudalis and C1. In the latter, the terminal field in the dorsal horn was roughly wedge-shaped, tapering off medially from lamina I towards lamina V. A somatotopic organisation was observed in the spinal trigeminal tract (SpVtr) and spinal trigeminal nucleus (SpV) in which the projection fibres and terminal fields of the RIAN were located lateral to those of the MIAN and CIAN. Some nontrigeminal nuclei, e.g. paratrigeminal and cuneate nuclei, nucleus X and the nucleus of the solitary tract were also labelled following HRP application to the internal auricular nerves. The localisation of the central projections of the internal auricular nerves as well as the 2nd order neurons in some specific nuclei to which the afferent fibres project is consistent with the concept of a brainstem somatovisceral link.


The 35kV substations of Guangdong Power Grid are basically distributed in the remote power supply areas. There are many single-transformer and single-line substations and old stations. In order to enhance the ability of Guangdong Power Grid to resist disasters and recover electricity supply, a 35kV mobile substation was constructed and applied. This paper introduces the first vehicle-mounted mobile substation in Guangdong Province, focusing on the research background, design and construction plan, and application experience of the 35kV mobile substation. The overall design technology program elaborates on the selection of electrical equipment, electrical layout, overvoltage protection and grounding, substation automation system, relay protection, integrated AC/DC system, time synchronization system, and intelligent auxiliary control system. Finally it summarizes the experience in the field application process.


Bacterial mutations (psuA and psu) known for their ability to suppress the polarity on nonsense mutations are shown to suppress the polarity of certain insertion mutations in the gal operon. The short insertion, IS1 (800 nucleotide pairs), is about 15 to 50% suppressed, whereas longer insertions, IS2 (1,400 nucleotide pairs), and IS3 (1,200 nucleotide pairs), are not. Some of the polarity suppressor mutations (psu-1, psu-2, and psu-3) are at least partially permissive for N-gene mutations (N7 and N53) of bacteriophage lambda, suggesting a relationship between natural and mutational polar signals. That this relationship may be complex is indicated by the fact that other suppressor mutations, effective in suppressing nonsense or insertion polarity, fail entirely to permit the growth of lambda N mutants.


Soft errors due to cosmic particles are a growing reliability threat for VLSI systems. The vulnerability of FPGA-based designs to soft errors is higher than ASIC implementations since the majority of chip real estate is dedicated to memory bits, configuration bits, and user bits. Moreover, single event upsets (SEUs) in the configuration bits of SRAM-based FPGAs result in permanent errors in the mapped design. In this paper we analyze the soft error vulnerability of FPGAs used in information systems. Since the reliability requirements of these high performance information subsystems are very stringent, the reliability of the FPGA chips used in the design of such systems plays a critical role in overall system reliability. We present an analytical approach (versus fault injection) for soft error rate estimation in FPGA-based designs. We also validate the projections produced by our analytical model using field error rates obtained from failure data obtained from a large FPGA-based design used in the logical unit module board of a commercial information system. This comparison confirms that the projections obtained from our analytical tool are accurate (there is an 81% overlap in FIT rate range obtained with our analytical modeling framework and the field failure data studied).


Graphene naonosheets were prepared via one-pot hydrothermal process in a Teflon-lined autoclave. Moreover, the mechanical and thermal degradation behaviors of the phenol formaldehyde/carbon nanotubes and phenol formaldehyde/graphene naonosheets composites were discussed. Experimental results showed that the graphene naonosheets possessed better performances than that of carbon nanotubes. When the filler loading was 0.6wt%, tensile strength, Young's modulus, compressive strength and modulus of the as-prepared composites reached their maximum values, which were increased by 77.0, 141.3, 109.1 and 114.8% for graphene naonosheets and 54.7, 85.9, 61.7 and 45.2% for carbon nanotubes than those of pure sample, respectively. In addition, both of these two carbon materials could increase the thermo-stability of the matrix. When their usage amount was 0.6wt%, the thermal degradation temperature (at 10% weight loss) was increased to 255.6°C for phenol formaldehyde/graphene naonosheets composites and 253.5°C for phenol formaldehyde/carbon nanotubes composites from 233.6°C for pure sample.


The protection and conservation of old-growth forests (OGFs) are becoming a global concern due to their irreplaceability and high biodiversity. Nonetheless, there has been little research into the identification and characterization of OGFs of the oldest tree species in Mediterranean areas. We used forest inventory data, low-density airborne laser scanning (ALS) metrics, and geostatistical analysis to estimate old-growth indices (OGIs) as indicators of old-growth forest conditions. We selected a pilot area in European black pine (Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii) ecosystems where the oldest known living trees in the Iberian Peninsula are found. A total of 756 inventory plots were established to characterize standard live tree and stand attributes. We estimated several structural attributes that discriminate old growth from younger age classes and calculated different types of OGI for each plot. The best OGI was based on mean tree diameter, standard deviation of tree diameter, and stand density of large trees (diameter > 50 cm). This index is useful for assessing old-growthness at different successional stages (young and OGFs) in Mediterranean black pine forests. Our results confirm that the estimation of OGIs based on a combination of forest inventory data, geostatistical analysis, and ALS is useful for identifying OGFs.


Bus rapid transit (BRT) systems are becoming increasingly popular in cities worldwide because of their (a) efficiency and reliability advantages over traditional bus service and (b) cost advantages over rail transit systems. As transportation decision makers consider the implementation and planning of BRT systems, it is important that they be able to analyze different operational components of these systems. This paper describes an analytical five-phase BRT traffic flow model that is able to model the movement of a bus throughout an entire BRT corridor and network. The five-phase model includes (a) a queuing model to determine the time a bus spends waiting for access to the loading area, (b) an access time model to determine the time that it takes a bus to access a loading area position from the queue when a loading position becomes available, (c) a nonlinear dwell time model to determine the time that a bus spends at a loading area position, and (d and e) a two-part model of the following behavior of buses between bus stations, dependent on whether there is a bus between the following bus and the approaching station. The five-phase BRT traffic flow model provides a comprehensive modeling framework for a networkwide simulation of a separate right-of-way BRT system. The model builds on research in the areas of car-following (and more recently bus-following) models, dwell time models, and bus station queuing models.


We propose a two-stage hybrid method, with no initialization, for 3D human shape and pose estimation from a single depth image, combining the benefits of deep learning and optimization. First, a convolutional neural network predicts pixel-wise dense semantic correspondences to a template geometry, in the form of body part segmentation labels and normalized canonical geometry vertex coordinates. Using these two outputs, pixel-to-vertex correspondences are computed in a six-dimensional embedding of the template geometry through nearest neighbor. Second, a parametric shape model (SMPL) is fitted to the depth data by minimizing vertex distances to the input. Extensive evaluation on both real and synthetic human shape in motion datasets shows that our method yields quantitatively and qualitatively satisfactory results and state-of-the-art reconstruction errors.


Proxy re-encryption, introduced by Blaze et al. in 1998, allows a proxy to transform a ciphertext computed under Alice's public key into one that can be opened under Bob's decryption key. An open problem of constructing (bidirectional or unidirectional) IND-PRE-CCA2 secure proxy re-encryption scheme in the standard model yet without pairings was left until now. In this paper, based on Hanaoka's efficient chosen ciphertext secure public key encryption under the computational Diffie-Hellman assumption, we try to solve this open problem by presenting two new bidirectional proxy re-encryption schemes, which are restricted IND-PRE-CCA2 secure without pairing nor random oracle.


France and England have, through the course of history, shared in many historical events, sometimes as the opposing countries on the battlefield and at other times united through conflict, research and discovery. The two countries have, since the late 19th and early 20th century, seen dramatic changes in the role and status of women within their societies, this being especially so with regard to the employment of women. No longer content with their dual roles as wife and mother, they have increasingly looked outside the home and family for a new challenge, and have increasingly turned to those areas of employment which have been seen as male preserves, including the armed forces, medicine and the police service. This paper seeks to trace the record of women's fight to enter the police forces of England and Wales and the non-military police forces of France.


According to the old adage, British people are good at inventing things but useless at exploiting them. Hence, since the early 1970s, numerous companies have been set up to enable the exploitation of university inventions in the hope of staving off international competition in both traditional and new markets. Some of these companies have been remarkably successful but many have failed or struggled to survive. The author examines whether a different approach have led to a greater number of success stories.


The reception of film with a view to audiovisual translation (AVT) is a field that has been receiving more attention in the last few years. This shows a move away from product-oriented research. Nevertheless, methodologies for using eye tracking in this regard have not been established. This article presents an attempt to correlate eye-tracking data, collected from participants viewing Wallace Chafe's 1975 Pear Film, with viewer constructions of the narrative. As such, the article provides a different angle to the extensive Pear Tree Project. The findings of the experiment would seem to suggest that visually peripheral elements that play a covert, top-down role in the narrative (i.e. with a higher degree of narrative salience) gain particular narrative importance when competing with the more overt, bottom-up aspects of the narrative (with an equally high narrative salience, as well as a high visual salience).


In this study, we performed a sensitivity analysis to see how the true north error of a wind direction vane installed to a meteorological mast affects predictions of the annual-average wind speed and the annual energy production. For this study, two meteorological masts were installed with a distance of about 4km on the ridge in complex terrain and the wind speed and direction were measured for one year. Cross predictions of the wind speed and the AEP of a virtual wind turbine for two sites in complex terrain were performed by changing the wind direction from to with an interval of . A commercial wind resource prediction program, WindPRO, was used for the study. It was found that the prediction errors in the AEP caused by the wind direction errors occurred up to more than 20% depending on the orography and the main wind direction at that site.


Developing appropriate abstractions for distributed programming is one of the core aims of middleware research. Yet, analysing the impact, diffusion, and success of these abstractions in concrete middleware code is difficult and time consuming. In this paper we propose to use the constituting words found in program identifiers to explore the concepts used in popular middleware platforms. We study and compare four industrial middleware products (JBoss, Hadoop, Axi2, and ActiveMQ), and show the existence of a substantial core of shared concepts that we think capture some of the key tenets of modern middleware engineering.


Purpose of review The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of androgen supplementation in ART with the most updated evidence, from animal studies to its clinical applications in poor ovarian responders (POR) and the future studies to be published. Recent findings Animal studies, has shown that testosterone supplementation, can be an option to increase the recruitable follicular pool in POR. However, the potential mechanism of action, dose, and duration of treatment is still under investigation. Early studies in humans reported promising results in favor of androgens [dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or testosterone] in POR. Nevertheless, recent evidence does not appear to follow the initial results, whereas the type, dose, and duration of testosterone administration appear to be crucial for treatment effect. Summary Testosterone seems to play an essential role in regulating ovarian function. However, it is worrisome that androgens are used off-label, despite that the available evidence is weak. Although testosterone supplementation may be beneficial in POR, published studies have used inconsistent doses and duration of administration. An ongoing trial (T-TRANSPORT trial) for the first time aims to provide conclusive evidence on whether transdermal testosterone administration can improve the reproductive outcomes in patients undergoing IVF/ICSI.


The research was conducted in May 2013 at the Fish Hatchery and Breeding Laboratory Fisheries and Marine Science Faculty, Riau University. The aim of the research to know the productivity of catfish (Clarias gariepinus) with aquaponic system. The experimental methode with two treatments was applied in the research namely aquaponic and non-aquaponic. The result indicated that aquaponic have differential on growth of catfish (Clarias gariepinus). The best result was achieved by non-aquaponic. Total absolute body weight, absolute body length, daily growth rate, survival rate and productivity was 20,45 grams, 10,14 cm, 6,40 %/day, 78,89 %, and 7.421 grams respectively. Water quality during in the research with pH 6-7, disolved oxygen (DO) 1,78-4,7 mg/l, ammonia (NH3) 0,22-2,2 mg/l, nitrat (NO3-) 0,06-0,08 mg/l, nitrit (NO2-) 0,06-0,44 mg/l, temperature 30-310C. Keyword: Aquaponic, Survival rate, Clarias gariepinus